Transport Minister Steven Joyce was yesterday "invited" to visit KiwiRail's Hillside workshops to find out for himself whether it is capable of building trains for Auckland.
The invitation was extended by Labour's Dunedin South MP Clare Curran after she was told in Parliament Mr Joyce had never been there.
Ms Curran initiated a working party to look at having the workshops tender for the $375 million contract to build Auckland's 38 three-car electric multiple units (EMUs) and 13 electric locomotives.
Mr Joyce and KiwiRail have indicated it is unlikely the workshops will be asked to put in a tender.
Ms Curran told the Otago Daily Times it was "very clear" Mr Joyce wanted to talk down the capability of the workshops.
"You've got to ask yourself 'Why?'."
Asked about Ms Curran's invitation, Mr Joyce's office advised last night he was scheduled to visit Dunedin later in the year and would consider a visit to the Hillside workshops while he was in town.
The workshops' capability has been the central issue since the release on Sunday of a Berl Economics report pointing out the economic benefits of building the trains in New Zealand.
The 30-page report did not examine in any detail the existing abilities of the workshops but raised it as an issue in its second paragraph.
It said "some stakeholders" questioned whether New Zealand had the capacity to build the rolling stock in the timeframe suggested by KiwiRail.
The report gave as an answer that "some stakeholders" believed a 69-month timeline was "more realistic" than the 45-month timeframe required by KiwiRail.
The report suggested New Zealand workshops could do up to 69% of the work while "around 31%" of the work would "almost certainly be captured" by overseas providers.
It contained no assessment of the skills or plant available in KiwiRail's workshops but suggested that before work could start on the EMUs, $8.5 million would need to be spent on a purpose-built "assembly shop", installing semi-automated welding stations and building a test track.
A 57-page KiwiRail report on the workshops' capabilities, leaked to the ODT, says KiwiRail was "well equipped to specify, design, develop, manufacture and procure rolling stock" and in another KiwiRail " has the capability to produce complete rail vehicles for both freight and passenger applications".
KiwiRail spokesman Kevin Ramshaw said last night the document was a draft designed for companies who might bid for the Auckland job.
It underlined KiwiRail's commitment to securing elements of the project for New Zealand businesses, Mr Ramshaw said, but was developed by consultants "and to that extent it had no relevance to the current debate".
