The government will spend more than $600 million to upgrade the country's rail network as part of this year's Budget.
The funding includes $461m to maintain and improve freight rail, and more than $140m to replace and upgrade metropolitan rail in Auckland and Wellington.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said rail services had been made less reliable by a backlog of overdue upgrades.
"Metro rail investment in Auckland and Wellington will improve the level of service for passengers by addressing overdue and critical renewals work. The poor state of our metro networks has flow-on impacts for performance.
"For example, temporary speed restrictions are often needed as a safety precaution, leading to increased travel times and disrupting service schedules."
Councils in Auckland and Wellington would need to meet their fair share of costs to deliver on rail services, Bishop said.
"The Budget investment in metro rail will continue to support delivery of modern networks that are more reliable, can be efficiently maintained, ease congestion on the busiest parts of the network, and allow for increased future demand."
Winston Peters and Chris Bishop at Wellington Rail Station, May 2025. Photo: Mary Argue / RNZ
Meanwhile, Rail Minister Winston Peters said a programme to replace decades-old bridges, culverts and other assets with long-lasting infrastructure was also now funded.
"The Rail Network Investment Programme for 2024-2027 is now funded, meaning maintenance, network operations, asset renewals and modest improvements are funded. We want railways to succeed for this country - rail freight backs our business, and business backs our cities and provinces."
What train users want
Wellington commuters at Wellington Railway Station told RNZ they wanted more frequent and reliable trains at cheaper prices from this year's Budget.
One man travelling from Waikanae said he took took the train a handful of times a week for work and would like to see fewer delays and more carriages. Another passenger on the Waikanae line said affordability was an issue, with the cost of tickets rising.
"Paticularly if there's a mum or dad and one or two children - it really adds up."
Another person said the Johnsonville line was great, but she only took it once a week because the morning services ran too early.
She said despite the fares getting more expensive, she would choose to take the train more regularly if the timetable expanded.
KiwiRail welcomes funding
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said the funding continued "strong backing" for the country's rail network and provided the organisation certainty.
He said maintenance funding had not kept pace with wear and tear on the metro lines, and the $143m meant it could "continue addressing overdue rail infrastructure renewals in Auckland and Wellington to 2027".
Reidy said there was still a lot of work to do get the metro networks up to standard.
He said KiwiRail would continue to replace aging infrastructure that resulted in track faults, "which can delay or cancel passenger trains", and would include replacing worn sleepers and end-of-life turnouts, in addition to extra slope and coastal protection to mitigate severe weather disruptions in Wellington.
KiwiRail had not asked for money for the commercial freight business, Reidy said, "as new locomotives and wagons are arriving in the next few years to replace much of our aging fleet, thanks to previous shareholder investment".
Heckler interupts
At the end of Peters' and Bishop's press conference on Tuesday morning, a member of the public heckled Peters as he was answering questions about the potential punishment for Te Pāti Māori MPs to be debated in Parliament later that day.
Peters said the MPs had treated the Parliament protocols with "absolute contempt" when a passerby yelled "what a load of bollocks".
"Who said bollocks? You look like bollocks, go look in the mirror, sunshine. You look like bollocks, mate," Peters said.
The man took issue with being called sunshine and said Peters was a "tosser". Peters responded by telling the man to "naff off".
The man then said to Peters: "When are you going naff off? You're 80 years old now."
"Oh, so it's an age thing is it?" Peters said. "You look older than I do, mate."
The verbal spat continued for a short time longer before Peters wrapped up.
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