UK train operators target New Zealand

LONDON-based New Zealanders struggling to cope with striking rail workers and declining train services could be in for a taste of the same medicine when they go home. Three of the top train operators have been lined up take over running the commuter train network in the New Zealand capital Wellington.

The city's local authority has announced that Connex Management Australia, whose French-owned sister company holds the South East franchise in London, South West Trains parent Stagecoach, and National Express, operator of the south Essex line into the Square Mile as well as Midland Mainline and the Gatwick Express, have all been shortlisted to take on the business worth NZ$35m(£10m) a year - half of which comes in government subsidies.

A fourth bidder has also been shortlisted, Transdev Australia, owned by French government finance house CD3.

Stagecoach was a front runner to win the contract before New Zealand's Commerce Commission raised concerns over Stagecoach's status as the country's largest bus operator.

Commuter groups had complained that if Stagecoach operated the city's trains and buses it might fix prices, a charge it vigorously denied.