Dear KiwiRail,

In November 2017, I requested the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) provide a copy of the Two Crown business cases that were prepared jointly by GWRC and KiwiRail and submitted to the Ministry of Transport. (Refer: https://fyi.org.nz/request/6865-request-...).

The GWRC transferred this request to Kiwirail on 5th December 2017. The Kiwirail substantive response to the request for business case information was provided on 23rd January 2018 (Refer: https://fyi.org.nz/request/6865-request-...). KiwiRail refused to provide most of the requested business case information stating the following:

"KiwiRail has decided that the business cases to which your request relates
are to be withheld pursuant to s9(2)(f)(iv). These documents have been
tendered to Government officials as part of a wider transport sector
process ahead of the 2018/19 Crown funding round.

These documents are confidential and to release them at this point in time
would be likely to stifle the ability for Ministers, Officials and
agencies to consider the advice and to make funding decisions.

The information requested in questions 2-4 of your request is part of the
advice in these business cases and accordingly this information is also
withheld under s9(2)(f)(iv)."

I understand the 2018/19 Crown funding round is now complete and so the following information is requested.

Background: At the Greater Wellington General Managers' report to the Sustainable Transport Committee meeting 31 October 2017 (http://www.gw.govt.nz/committee-meetings...) included the following statement:

"4.1.3 Crown Business Cases
Two Crown business cases are being prepared jointly with KiwiRail for submission to Ministry of Transport on 1 November. The first covers KiwiRail network track infrastructure deferred renewals, which predominantly affect the Wairarapa Line. The second business case is to remove network constraints to enable increased capacity (more frequent and longer trains) to operate principally on the Hutt and Kapiti lines. "

1) Can I please have a copy of the Two Crown business cases submitted to the Ministry of Transport ?

Assuming each of these business cases includes a Benefit Cost analysis:

2) Can I please have a copy of the Benefit Cost Ratio Calculation used to support each Crown business case ?

3) Can I please have a copy of the detailed benefits calculation used to support each Crown business case ?

4) Can I please have a copy of the detailed cost calculation used to support each Crown business case ?

Yours faithfully,

Tony Randle

Dear KiwiRail,

On May 29th I sent Kiwirail an OIA request. Can Kiwirail please acknowledge the receipt of this information request ?

Yours faithfully,

Tony Randle

Dear David Allard,

Thank you for the information. However as we discussed, I understand these business case documents are held by KwiRail in MS Word format and it is the documents in their complete and original electronic format that I have requested. Please provide the requested information in the requested format or explain why, under the OIA, KiwiRail refuses to provide the information in the preferred format which is also the format in which it is held ?

Finally, can KiwiRail please outline the date when KiwiRail received these business cases in MS Word ? Also can KiwiRail please provide a copy of the communication (email, letter etc) from the provider of these documents that accompanied the provision of these business cases in MS Word format ?

Yours sincerely,

Tony Randle

Dear David Allard,

Thank you for the information. However as we discussed, I understand these business case documents are held by KwiRail in MS Word format and it is the documents in their complete and original electronic format that I have requested. Please provide the requested information in the requested format or explain why, under the OIA, KiwiRail refuses to provide the information in the preferred format which is also the format in which it is held ?

Finally, can KiwiRail please outline the date when KiwiRail received these business cases in MS Word ? Also can KiwiRail please provide a copy of the communication (email, letter etc) from the provider of these documents that accompanied the provision of these business cases in MS Word format ?

Yours sincerely,

Tony Randle

Dear David Allard,

We had a good phone discussion on the issue for KiwiRail providing the business cases in PDF format when it was requested that it "be provided in its complete and original electronic format" which is MS Word format. You explained some of the reasoning behind this KiwiRail decision to only provide the requested information in a modified PDF format on the phone. This is the second time KiwiRail has decided to refuse to provide the requested information in the requested format. I think the least KiwiRail can do is at explain this latest decision in a letter to accompany this latest release of requested information.

With respect to clarifying the second part of my request, I would first note that the document information of the business case documents state there is version one and version two of each business case and they were completed/provided between 10th November 2017 and 17th November 2017. I seek the correspondence from the provider of the business cases that accompanied each provision of each version of both business cases. Please come back to me if you require further clarification.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Randle