City Rail Link Timetable/Operation – Proposal

 

The Proposal

After seeing one or two particular proposals for CRL Timetable and/or Operations (that is how passenger trains would run along the Auckland Rail Metro Network) I thought to myself if I could come up with my own proposal.

So I did, I came up with a proposal for building a CRL Timetable that would in my opinion make best and efficient use of the Inner Circuit (so the rail network and services running between New Lynn and Otahuhu (this includes Onehunga and the CRL)) infrastructure while being as flexible as possible in serving a wide-range of rail passenger needs as possible. In building my own version of the CRL Timetable I had to take into account the following:

• The CRL Timetable/Operation reflects the staged development of the CRL project. That is the CRL tunnel including THE EAST LINK at Mt Eden along with Aotea Station is built first, then over the next seven years the K Road and Newton Stations will be developed and built.
• That is; no other lines built and operating prior to 2032 apart from maybe the Airport Line. This means my timetable/operation proposal assumes the North Shore Line will not be up and operating until post 2032. This gives around at minimum 8 years of running my proposed plan before doing a minor alteration to incorporate The North Shore Line (if it actually ever gets built)
• The Grafton Question; which is how to effectively get passengers from either South or West to Grafton (which is a heavy patronage station) without buggering them up service wise as all focus is set for the CBD.

With the above now taken into account in my timetable/operation building, lets lay it out for all to see and get constructive feedback on so that this plan is the most efficient and suited plan for the metro rail system.

Frequency of services with the three service lines will be dealt (or rather published here at VOAKL) with later as improvements and changes are made to this CRL Timetable/Operation Plan. Our first priority is to “test” actual basic service running along these three proposed lines to see their strengths and weaknesses in passenger service delivery. The three lines for CRL and wider Auckland rail service delivery are the following (fancy names and colours later) (each line is also bi-directional):

• The South to West Line via Newmarket and Grafton (brown on the map)
• The East to West Line via Britomart, CRL and Mt Eden/Kingsland Station (red on map)
• The Onehunga Loop via Newmarket, Britomart , CRL, CRL East Link, Grafton,Newmarket(or vice versa – bi-directional loop system) (pink on map)

Note: If the Airport Line via Onehunga is opened prior to the North Shore Line, the Pink Line would be simply extended to the airport. If the Airport line also includes via Puhinui (so an airport loop) then a new line would be introduced.

 

Breaking down these lines

The South to West Line via Newmarket and Grafton (brown on the map)

Starting/Terminating either at; Papakura, Pukekohe, Henderson, or Swanson with trains popping into Manukau via both the existing north and the need to be built south links. This particular service does not touch the CRL or Britomart as it serves the South-West link pattern in moving passengers. To reach Britomart or the CRL stations one would have to either use the East to West Line service OR transfer at Newmarket or Grafton and wait for the Onehunga Loop service train to complete the journey.

The purpose of the South-West Line is to form the basis of a cross-city service that current and potential passengers miss out on. Not all passengers want to go to the CBD and there are passengers who do travel South to West and vice versa. The South-West Line also means freeing up the CRL, its stations, and the Newmarket-Britomart Line thus freeing capacity up for other services such as the proposed high-frequency Onehunga Loop. The South-West Link coupled with the Onehunga Loop also removes the current Western Line situation were Western Line trains leave from Britomart and head to Newmarket, wait for three minutes from drivers changing ends, then continuing out west for the rest of the journey (vice versa applies as well heading from west to Britomart). Removing that situation removes the congestion from Newmarket as well.

See the embedded worksheet on draft timetable/operation plan for South-West Line

 

The East to West Line via Britomart, CRL and Mt Eden/Kingsland Station (red on map)

Starting/Terminating either at; Papakura, Pukekohe, Henderson, or Swanson with trains popping into Manukau via both the existing north and the need to be built south links. This particular service does touch Britomart and the CRL line (including the CRL stations) as it serves the East-West Link in moving passengers. To reach Newmarket, Grafton or the current Onehunga Line, passengers would either transfer at Otahuhu, Britomart, Newton Station, or Mt Eden Station to complete their respective journeys. The Eastern Line becomes the primary line to Britomart and Aotea Station from south of Otahuhu.

Like the South to West Line, the East to West Line also forms the basis of a cross city service linking up the south with the west. However in this Line operation, the service would travel via the Eastern Line (so Sylvia Park – Orakei) before stopping at Britomart, then continuing up the CRL through the West Link, and finally out on the Western Line towards Henderson/Swanson. So while we get a similar cross city service, the CBD and Eastern Line Inner Circuit gets served (as well as connected to the wider network) as well.

There is demand for East to West and vice versa with passengers often starting their journey from the current Eastern Line, and needing to head out and complete their journey on the current Western Line (or again vice versa). Cross City travel is there and very relevant to commuters, thus once the CRL is up and running, the CRL Timetable/Operation not only needs to reflect the needs of CBD people, but people who commute cross-city as well. Hence the three lines I am proposing cater for both CBD bound and Cross-City bound commuters.

See the embedded worksheet on draft timetable/operation plan for East-West Line

 

The Onehunga Loop via Newmarket, Britomart , CRL, CRL East Link, Grafton,Newmarket(or vice versa – bi-directional loop system) (pink on map)

Both starting and terminating effectively at Onehunga Station, this particular line forms the basis of a high frequency loop that utilises; Grafton, The CRL East Link, and the Newmarket-Britomart Branch Line.  The Line basically follows the existing Onehunga Line from Onehunga to Britomart, however at Newmarket the service can either continue to Britomart or swing a left and head up to Grafton, then go down the CRL via The East Link through to Britomart, before heading back out to Onehunga via Newmarket as current. The beauty of the Onehunga (high-frequency)Loop is twin-fold:

First it forms an alternative City Loop system that would move passengers from one end of the CBD to the other, and through to Newmarket in a more quick and efficient manner than the Inner Link Bus could ever provide. In a sense of irony post-CRL the entire operation I have proposed actually allows the Parnell Station (which I currently bitterly oppose due its potential to foul the congested Newmarket-Britomart Line) to be effective and allow train passengers to reach Parnell, due to my CRL Timetable/operation proposal de-congesting that particular part of the line.

Second, The Onehunga Loop allows from very quick transfers to/from the other two lines (as the Onehunga Loop shares the same track as both the South to West, And East to West Lines at some point. I count nine potential transfer stations that the Onehunga Loop passes through to allow seamless transfers from one line to another.

However I do see a snag forming a 5-7 minute frequency (that is between Onehunga and Newmarket, 10-14 minute frequency once the loop splits at Newmarket and each train goes in opposite directions on the loop) for the Onehunga Loop and that is the fact that it is single track between Penrose and Onehunga itself. It takes 8 minutes for the train currently to reach Onehunga once it leaves the dual tracked main line, around a 3-5min park up at Onehunga to exchange passengers and crews to change ends, then another 8 mins back to the dual main line heading towards the city. That means the line is blocked for upwards of 21 minutes before another train can go down – which means in short it buggers my Loop pattern for the CRL. 21 minute frequency between Onehunga and Newmarket, with 42 mins on the actual loop is not quite the high frequency I had in mind. There is an intermediate solution and there is an optimal solution to this problem.

The optimal solution is to double track the Onehunga Line – which will be needed when the Airport Line is built and open. The intermediate solution is to electrify and utilise the passing-loop between Penrose Platform 3 and Te Papapa stations. The idea is that either the arriving or departing Onehunga service could park up in the passing loop briefly while the other train moves out of the road. I believe by using the passing loop until track duplication is complete would increase the frequency by double (so 12 minutes between Newmarket and Onehunga, and 20-24min frequencies on the loop). However you could still have passengers waiting somewhere as the train makes it way through the passing loop which is not quite acceptable in my books for a high frequency rail service – especially for the kind of line/loop I am proposing. But pragmatism, experience and wisdom will tell me that we will be using this passing loop on the Onehunga Line first, before the Onehunga Line track is duplicated for the Airport Line. So I suppose once the CRL is open, the next project would be the Airport Line via Onehunga QUICK SMART!

 

The Map

Below is the map of the three lines (within in the Inner Circuit) and the direction they run (remember the lines are bi-direction):

Click for full view

Now I am attaching a PDF version of a worksheet that I am using to build the service routes and subsequent frequencies for my proposal. Now admittedly you will either need your glasses on or increase the zoom above 100%, the conversion dropped the worksheet from A3 to A4 size 😛 !

 

The Baseline CRL Timetable/Operation Worksheet (PDF Mode)

Now this is baseline stuff here people, I have not built the frequency of the lines’ services yet above the base rate of 1. Remember I am testing to see if my proposed lines actually work first through the different frequencies, before I publish the final lines’ map with the final frequencies for “public consumption” built-in.

But as you can see from the base line the following base frequency passed each station within in the Inner Circuit on each line. The baseline being departing effectively one train an hour in each direction on each line and allowing them to pass through each of the stations along the respective line. As you can see from the baseline model, that the stations between Penrose and Newmarket get served well with 3 trains in each direction passing through while the Eastern Line (except Britomart) and The East Link get just one train in each direction. Grafton and the rest station get two trains in each direction on the base model.

So with the baseline model in position I can slowly ramp up the frequencies along the lines and try to mitigate any bottlenecks or congestion that arises. At the same time I will have to take into account the Outer Lines (south of Otahuhu and west of New Lynn) so I do not cause any problems out in those directions. But from a quick look, the Outer Lines should be able to handle the frequencies the Inner Circuit will be put through.

I will keep people posted as I work through my proposal as there is going to be a few changes yet before I publish “the final” CRL Timetable/Operation (Pre North Shore). That way a virtual record of the work on this proposal can be seen from start to beginning. I will also go through the spin off’s from my proposed timetable/operation such as possible urban development effects.

 

So what are your thoughts folks? Post a comment and let me know what can tweaked on this idea.

Remember this is only the first version of the proposal and plenty of changes are certain to happen. But at least we get a high frequency – cross-city service that serves both the CBD and the wider city (unlike current arrangements). The Grafton Question also gets answered and the East Link gets used in normal operations (as well as redundancy operations if we lose the Newmarket-Britomart Line).