The Dunedin City Council and Port Otago could be squaring up for a scrap over a $275,000 bill for damage to the city's railway pedestrian overbridge.
The bridge was partially destroyed after being struck by a freight train 10 months ago, and it was revealed last week DCC staff were writing to the port company seeking to recover the cost of the recently completed restoration project.
However, Port Otago chief executive Geoff Plunket said late last week the company was still awaiting the DCC letter and had "absolutely not" accepted liability for the February 12 accident.
The mishap has been blamed on the metal flaps of a collapsible container which flipped up as the train passed beneath the bridge, tearing down the mid-section of the 104-year-old structure.
The container was loaded at South Freight, a division of Port Otago, but it has never been publicly confirmed what caused the flaps to fly up.
DCC roading projects engineer Evan Matheson last week told the Otago Daily Times he did not know if human error, or a mechanical fault, was to blame, but was only seeking costs from the port company - not KiwiRail.
Mr Plunket said late last week the company had completed its own internal investigation into the accident, but he declined to release the document to the ODT.
He also declined to comment on what the report said caused the flaps to strike the bridge, "because it goes to the issue of liability".
"The thing you can't deny is that [the container] was loaded at South Freight. The facts at issue are reasonably clear. It's just a question, within those facts, where liability lies," Mr Plunket said.
"We absolutely don't accept liability, but we have to work through the process."
Asked if that meant Port Otago would be rejecting the DCC request for costs, Mr Plunket said: "We are going to take one step at a time.
"Until we see what they [the DCC] have got, we are not in a position to accept liability. It's up to our insurers at the end of the day how we move forward."
Mr Matheson could not be reached for further comment late last week, and other DCC staff were not prepared to comment on the likelihood of the dispute going to court.
Mr Plunket said the letter would be discussed with the port company's insurers, once it was received.
If liability was found to lie with Port Otago, the $275,000 bill could be covered with only a "relatively low" excess.
The exact timeline would depend on the contents of the letter, but he doubted earlier claims that it could take months for a resolution.
"We always try to move these things on as quickly as we can, but we haven't received the letter yet. Until we do so, it's impossible to know," Mr Plunket said.
