Tag: transportation

Melbourne Chaos This Morning

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We are not the only ones suffering transit issues

 

I saw this Tweet from The Age this morning:

 

Seems we in Auckland are not the only one suffering road and transit chaos (on a regular basis) with for some unknown reason last night the CBD jammed up and both cars and buses unable to move very far very fast.

Melbourne this morning is gripped with a major accident on one of its Free-ways which has brought road traffic to a stand-still while their City Loop suffered a fault causing a meltdown on the heavy rail network.

 

There was a common theme though between Auckland and Melbourne as I looked through The Age – well three themes:

  1. Decades long infrastructure deficits and neglect that both Auckland and Melbourne are trying to catch up on
  2. Governments self congratulating themselves
  3. Governments heading rather fast towards ineptness with major transport upgrades required (our Government with the CRL start date at 2020 despite the Prime Minister’s conditions for the speed up now being met, and the Melbourne State Government for differing its mass transit investment programs for two more electoral cycles (while hell-bent on their East-West Link motorway)).

 

Meanwhile I notice the very conservative Utah is continuing to push through its mass transit investment which patronage levels doing very well indeed. For that matter I am noticing more Northern Hemisphere Conservative Governments pushing through large mass transit programs while the Southern Hemisphere Conservative Governments fall behind the 8-ball. Not amusing when you live in one of those Southern Hemisphere countries…

 

Agendas for Committees of the Whole – April 2014

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Regional Strategy and Policy, and Auckland Development Committee Agendas Out

St James Theatre, and Special Housing Areas up for debate

 

The agendas for the Regional Strategy and Policy, and Auckland Development Committees are out.

 

Auckland Development Committee – April 2014

 

Of note is that the entire Committee will be behind closed doors as the sole item is on the long-awaited Third Tranche for the Special Housing Area. While the discussion is behind closed doors for the Committee a public announcement is due either next month or in June. From what I have gathered so far this third tranche is larger than the first two and a particular focus could be around Brownfield development (so existing urban areas). We await the public announcement when it comes out (ironically at the same time as Auckland Transport releases the Rail Strategy as well).

 

Regional Strategy and Policy Committee

I see two things of note in this Committee; the first being an update on Wynyard Quarter, and the second being (behind closed doors) on the St James Theatre.

No point of me commenting on Wynyard Quarter otherwise I am rehashing old ground covered in the A Perspective on the CBD and Waterfront post.

What did catch my attention though and no doubt will catch the attention of a few is St James Theatre is being debated again. Exactly what I do not know as it is in the Closed Agenda of the Committee but no doubt the media will start running its commentary on it from tomorrow if not Thursday.

 

 

Today at 2pm the Prime Minister and Minister of Transport will be at Britomart to officially launch “electrification” in Auckland. Our first EMU services on the Onehunga Line do not start however, until April 28th with the Manukau Line being in August, and the Southern and Western Lines after that. I have heard rumour some other announcement was planned to be tagged on today as well but we will have to wait and see. I highly doubt it will be a CRL package for 2017 – but hey we can keep pushing.

 

Passenger Rail from Tauranga to Auckland?

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Possible but needs a lot of investment

 

I have noted a Herald article about Auckland metro rail passenger numbers at record levels while ferry numbers are dipping (it will be the fares) this morning. Check “Rail clips the ticket as ferry trips fall away” for more on that story.

 

Tauranga to Auckland by Rail?

Before the last Labour Government (1999-2008) ditched the service the Silver Fern rail car use to run a daily service between Tauranga and Auckland that would take around 3.5 hours each way. As a kid I use to catch it when holidaying with my grandparents who reside in Tauranga and the trip wasn’t that bad – even though it took an hour longer than going by car.

There have been numerous attempts since the service was scrapped to reinstate the service but the infrastructure investment alone would be costly to allow dual freight/passenger running again. None-the-less a new attempt via a study is being pushed to reinstate the inter-city rail service.

From Sun Media:

Railing in commuting costs

Posted at 7:01am Sunday 30 Mar, 2014 | By Luke Balvert luke@thesun.co.nz

The re-instatement of a passenger train between Tauranga and Auckland continues to gain strong interest from a group of city firms currently shelling out more than $100,000 a week on commuting costs.

A Priority One study investigated 37 targeted corporates and other businesses in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty to find what their inter-city travel requirements, practices and costs are and whether they would be interested in the concept of commuting by rail.

Corporates and businesses commuting the most include Zespri International, BECA, Comvita, Sharp Tudhope and Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

Travelling by road means several hours of unproductive time, while flying can be costly and still requires a trip into the city from the airport – both expensive and time consuming.

Together the 37 firms currently spend $104,558 in travel costs and staff time on weekly commutes, including $71,550 in unproductive staff time, $23,408 in driving mileage and $9600 in air travel, including taxi fares.

Priority One project manager Annie Hill says in the last few years interest has been generated in reinstating the passenger train service, with firms supportive to align with business needs in Auckland.

Of those that travel at least once a week to Auckland, 88 per cent say they would consider using the service. But they note the service would need to be faster than driving, have wi-fi capabilities, not be too expensive, and have reasonable departure times to suit business needs.

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So we have a problem and that is the inter-city commute between Auckland and Tauranga. Passenger rail between Auckland and Tauranga could work but as it was noted in red: “the service would need to be faster than driving, have wi-fi capabilities, not be too expensive, and have reasonable departure times to suit business needs.“

So the infrastructure (tracks, signals, points and eventually rolling stock) will need to be brought up to scratch before even attempting to run passenger rail between the two cities again.

 

Annie says despite the survey, giving New Zealand Transport Agency via SmartGrowth an economic viewpoint on the cost, the chances of a commuter service are very slim in the next 20-30 years as the rail lines do not have the capacity.

With freight rail the current priority, the rail service would need a significant upgrade to accommodate a fast passenger service, says Annie.

– See more at: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/68182-railing-commuting-costs.html#sthash.zw4rXLpX.dpuf

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Yep that is the case with the current set up of the lines at the moment. To get a viable passenger service between Auckland and Tauranga you would need to do the following upgrades first:

  • The third main between Westfield and Pukekohe
  • Double tracking between Pukekohe and Hamilton
  • More passing loops between Hamilton and Tauranga with possible full double tracking in 30-years
  • Reinstatement of Tauranga Station which would need to be on its own loop away from main line to allow freight trains to continue to move unimpeded
  • Rolling stock to support three services a day in each direction between Tauranga and Papakura (you would transfer to an EMU to continue the trip north)

All this would take time and considerable investment. But with increasing freight trains to Hamilton and Tauranga from Auckland you could tie the investment in double/triple tracking plus more passing loops with freight as well as wanting passenger services as well. This would make investment in the rail system more viable. And with plans afoot around growth (residential and industrial) in the Golden Triangle (Auckland-Hamilton-Tauranga) that is to occur over the next 40-50 years, passenger rail between Auckland (Papakura) and Tauranga is certainly not dead.