Despite the fact that KiwiRail is behind its revenue and the targeted profit for the December, it's very positive. It says that it is progressing towards a sustainable future.

Interislander ferries and Dunedin's Hillside Engineering today released its financial results for the six months ended December 2, 2009.

KiwiRail said revenue of $299.7 million was just over 8% lower than the SCI target of $327.8m, but income before interest, taxation; depreciation and amortization of $16.1m were almost 12% up on target of $14.4m.

After tax figure of $125.6m, the net profit was 66% below the SCI target. KiwiRail expected a profit of $348.3m for 2010.

"During the half year, we made considerable progress towards improving relationships with key customers and we took significant steps towards improving the reliability of the business. However, there is a lot more to do, as highlighted by the recent issues in Wellington, that affected our customers", said Mr. Bolger.

$90m a year are received by KiwiRail from the Government.