City Rail Link slated for 2018/19 start date (potentially) From the Office of the Mayor, Len Brown Auckland Mayor welcomes Government infrastructure plan The 30-year New Zealand Infrastructure Plan announced … Continue reading Mayor Welcomes Government Infrastructure Plan. CRL Date About to Be Confirmed? #AKLPols #nzpols
How long until 15 million Auckland Transport yesterday announced that we have hit 14 million annual rail passenger trips after going through the 13 million mark in March THIS YEAR. … Continue reading Rail Breaks 14 Million Threshold
Again in Australia (this time Sydney) things get done while we continue to dither around.
From SMH:
Transport Minister Andrew Constance briefed hundreds of industry executives on Tuesday morning about the $10 billion-plus project, which the government recently dubbed “Sydney Metro”.
“This massive city shaping project will be the new spine of our city’s public transport system and will serve us for generations to come with room to grow,” Mr Constance said.
…….The new line, which will use single-deck driverless trains, will connect to the proposed extension of the north west rail link at Chatswood, run under the city, and connect to the Bankstown Line at Sydenham.
At least three new train stations will be built in the city, at Martin Place, Pitt Street near Town Hall, and Central, with the possibility of another station at Barangaroo.
The stations that are being built for the north west rail link in Sydney’s outer north west suburbs have involved the digging of large boxes underground, a process that could need to be repeated in Sydney’s central business district.
Asked if new developments could be built on station boxes in central Sydney, Mr Constance said: “We’ve got to be open to everything.
“We are going to see a massive influx of people into Sydney as we grow, we are going to see the population grow to six million people by 2031, that means a combination of transport projects facilitating both urban developments in terms of brownfield sites and obviously greenfield sites as well,” he said.
“You only need to look at the development that’s happening in the north-west, and what we will see in terms of the uplift associated with Sydney Metro North West, to know that this type of infrastructure is a game changer in terms of urban design, urban planning,” he said.
“We want to maximise the development opportunities off the investments we are making on behalf of the taxpayer because it makes economic and social sense.”
Construction on the project is slated to start in 2017 and finish in 2024.
……
So like In Victoria They Are Getting Stuff Done, New South Wales is also getting stuff done. This is while our Government continues its fine form of excuses and complete dithering.
Consortia in place for enabling works I was forwarded this piece from (NZ) Contractor Magazine yesterday afternoon for a read. Below is an introductory extract: Auckland’s missing link JUNE 12TH, … Continue reading The Missing (Auckland Transit) Link #CRLFacts
NSW Conservative State Government Tunnels Ahead While our National Government Continues to Dither And we wonder why Auckland can often been seeing as struggling to compete with Sydney when you have this … Continue reading New South Wales to Build Second Harbour Rail Crossing, While We Still Wait for the CRL to enable ONE! #Auckland2016
Time to forget Government and do the Auckland Transit Link (CRL) Ourselves? With the Government continuing to dither of its contribution to the Auckland Transit Link (the City Rail … Continue reading Ben’s Thoughts: What if Auckland Could Build the City Rail Link Itself? #Auckland2016
Blind ideology can not get in the way of the Auckland Transit Link (City Rail Link) As Transport Minister Simon Bridges continues to show ideological blindness to a cruical link … Continue reading Bridges Obfuscates So Time For #CRLFacts
As the Auckland motorways are grid locked owing to multiple accidents at the time I wrote this all four Lines on the rail network were running clear in getting people home from work tonight. But there will be a time very soon where the rail network will need that missing link built to open up the latent capacity needed to move more Aucklanders.
From Voxy
Mayor: Patronage leap highlights urgent need for CRL
Auckland Mayor Len Brown says the latest leap in public transport patronage highlights the need for the City Rail Link to be built as soon as possible.
Mr Brown is warning there will soon be serious congestion issues at Britomart both in terms of the number of trains trying to access the station and the number of passengers waiting to board them.
“At this rate, Auckland will meet the Government’s patronage threshold for financial support for the CRL early in 2017, three years earlier than projected. Growth has been accelerating since late 2013.”
“This confirms what Aucklanders keep telling me. They want to get off the congested roads and onto efficient, reliable and modern public transport.”
In the past 12 months:
– Auckland’s overall public transport patronage has grown by 10%
– Rail patronage has grown by 22%
– Northern Express bus services patronage has grown 17% in the 12 months to Apr-2015
– Bus services excluding Northern Express patronage has grown by 7.6%
– Ferry patronage has increased by 6.6%
In April alone, overall public transport patronage jumped 4% year on year with rail up 18.1%.
Auckland Transport Chairman Dr Lester Levy says the growth in rail patronage is particularly pleasing.
“It has been a difficult time as we run both an electric and a diesel system. We expect the growth to continue as we are just weeks away from a full electric operation from Swanson in the west to Papakura in the south.”
Len Brown says the big next leap in rail patronage will come when electric trains service the Western Line from late July. Already the new electric trains have started running on that line at the weekends.
“We have seen huge leaps in patronage once the comfortable quieter and reliable electric trains started running on lines such as Onehunga and Manukau.’
Last week, Auckland Council’s Finance and Performance Committee supported an Accelerated Transport Programme made possible by funding from the new Interim Transport Levy for the next three years.
The money generated from the levy will help fund The Accelerated Transport Programme, which will include projects across the region.
Len Brown says “This means we can now star
—ends—
See: Budget 2015: Even PwC Stipulates Need For City Rail Link to Unlock South Auckland on pressing need for the CRL (Auckland Transit Link).
Emphasis on the Link linking all of Auckland When I was writing my commentary on PwC stipulating the need for the City Rail Link to unlock South Auckland (Budget 2015: … Continue reading Auckland Transit Link – What the City Rail Link Should Be Called
Fastest growing sub-region of Auckland needs to be unlocked In 2013 I wrote a piece on how South Auckland was the rising jewel in Auckland’s Crown (South Auckland – The … Continue reading Budget 2015: Even PwC Stipulates Need For City Rail Link to Unlock South Auckland
Talking Southern Auckland 