I use rail every day to go from my flat in New Lynn to Auckland Uni. I've heard about
some changes to Auckland's rail system, but I don't know what that means, so I am going to find out.
Who better to ask, than the Mayor?
Well the big plan for Auckland's rail system is a City Rail Link and this is very exciting, because it will double the capacity in the whole rail network.
The city is growing flat out, in another 20-25 years we expect another extra million people to
be in Auckland, so it's time to invest in the infrastructure now. We've got buses operating
and that's fabulous, but for example in the inner city area, we are at congestion point for
the buses too, we have got a bus every 30 to 40 seconds, so with rail it's great, you
can move 3 times the number of people on rail as you do on busways and 10 times the number
of people on rail as you do on motorway lanes. We have done double tracking of our rail systems,
lots of station upgrades and we also got electric trains coming on, but we need that inner
City Rail Link to ensure that we expand the full rail network for all of our people.
What does the City rail link mean for Auckland Transport users?
Well, it's critical because if you are coming from the West, it will halve the time that
it will take for you to get into the city, if you are coming from the South, the East,
it will take about 30 or 40% of the time, of getting into the city and getting around the network.
Also, it will make sure Britomart station is a full through station as it presently
stands, you basically have a cul de sac, you come in and you go out, you shunt in and you
shunt out at Newmarket; The system is constrained.
We expect to get 2 to 3 times the number of people, presently 11 million rail users, up to
30 million people in total on the rail network as a consequence of travelling faster and also
quieter on the new electric rail train.
So, how will all this work? To find out, I'm meeting with David Warburton,
Chief Executive of Auckland Transport. They have got this scaled model of the new Auckland trains.
Starting with the big question, how much will it cost?
How long will it take and how far will it go?
There will be 2 tunnels, one for the trains going each way, so there is safety separation, they will only come together at the stations.
The tunnel itself goes from Britomart through
to Eden Terrace, thats about 3 and a half kilometres long, the total price of that project
is 2.86 billion in inflated dollars and that will include the price of the land, the construction,
the purchase of additional rolling stock for the extended track and some other optimising
work around the track, will allow all the benefits to be realised.
How will the City Rail Link benefit our economy? The real benefit is actually bringing Aucklanders
into the city, it's estimated that it will double the number of people with access into
the city centre, with less than 30 minute travel time. That increases productivity, it also
reduces congestion. We will have significant uplift in investment, there are 3 new stations
being built in the city with Aotea, K Road station and Newton station and there will be
significant development opportunities, so there are a lot of benefits and it will allow
a better return on the investment already made.
What about the environmental impacts? The first one that's obvious, is that the trains
are electric, so there is a significant reduction in the CO2 emission, they have what we call
regenerative braking, so we actually generate electricity as the train slows down and so the
overall efficiency of the units are very good. Secondly the number of people being carried
on the trains, you know there's 200 odd per carriage. That will reduce the energy requirements per
person getting to work and take a lot of the vehicles off the roads.
The government and the Auckland Council have agreed to secure the route because strategically
that's important now.The funding to purchase property is that may be required as part of
that process is now available by Council, the future funding of the total project is a matter
that is being discussed between the government and Auckland Council and that's really a timing
issue in terms of when the project starts and when funding is needed.
Well, if it unlocks Auckland, that should be good for everyone. I talk to some Aucklanders about what they thought.
AUT is a city based campus, has 2 and a half thousand staff and19,000 plus students.
It's an ongoing challenge for them coming in and out
of the city, so the environmental and sustainability impacts will be on congestion on the roads
as well as alleviating some of the parking issues. City Rail Link is part of an integrated solution
to Auckland's transport problems. If you take congestion off the roads, businesses can transport
their goods around more quickly and the experience on the roads improves. Remember, we started
investing in the system, rail system many years ago, the time for the debate is over.
We just got to go and build the thing. To keep up to date, go to aucklandtransport.govt.nz.