Auckland’s rail system in 2030?

I have done a number of posts on ideas about what Auckland’s rail system should look like in 20 or so years time before, partly because it’s fun to come up with the ideas, but also because I think it is essential that we have a long-term vision for what we want the rail system to look like in 2020, 2030 and beyond. This is critical for a number of reasons:

1. It is good from a ‘public relations’ perspective to have a grand plan to be aiming for – so that each project looks like it’s ‘part of the whole’ rather than being isolated. People looking at a possible future rail map would get excited about ‘what could be achieved’, and see a variety of projects not simply individually, but as part of a whole integrated approach to developing a proper rail system for Auckland.
2. It’s essential to have a long-term vision so that land-use planning changes can be developed around the transport system. A lot of work has gone into aligning various land-use strategies with various transportation strategies over the past decade – however in practice the two often don’t seem to line up effectively at all. Flat Bush’s poor transport links to the rest of Auckland are a classic example. It takes time to rezone an area for higher density development, and also it takes time to develop large-scale public transport networks to serve these areas.
3. It will ensure that those who hold the purse strings realise that projects such as rail electrification and the CBD rail tunnel have their true value in how they can “unlock the system” for future growth of the network. One of the most critical reasons why electrification is so essential is because without it, the CBD rail tunnel is impossible – and without the CBD rail tunnel any further expansion of the network is pretty much impossible. Having an obvious “here’s what we’re working towards” plan would show how important projects like electrification and the CBD rail tunnel are in allowing Auckland to expand its rail system.

So what’s my latest plan? Well, there are still some potential issue with it – but previous schemes have been analysed an improved upon to create a system that is shown in the map below:

As you can see, we have four lines. Let’s work through each one at a time:

1) Western/Southern Line
This line forms the main part of the existing system – and as a result would obviously be very busy. Effectively it runs from Swanson to Papakura. Through the city we see southbound services travel Kingsland-Mt Eden-K Road-Midtown-Britomart-Parnell-Newmarket-Remuera and so on. I’m not quite sure how I’d deal with Huapai and Pukekohe trains – perhaps run them as express services independent of the main services operating on this line. By linking up the two lines we allow for people travelling west to south, and vice-versa.

2) Northern/Airport Line
Apart from the bit of the Southern Line between Newmarket and Penrose, and the Onehunga Branch, this line doesn’t exist at all at the moment. It would run from Albany to Manukau City via the Airport. Interestingly, I wouldn’t have this line service Britomart (as it’s the only line which makes sense to run between Newmarket and Mt Eden and I wouldn’t want the trains to have to reverse in and out of Britomart), but there would still be CBD stations at K Road, Midtown and Gaunt Street (Tank Farm). There might be the opportunity to have either this or the Western/Southern Line skip Ellerslie, Greenlane and Remuera stations – due to there being little need for these low patronage stations to be served by two lines.

3) Botany/Northwest Line
Apart from a stretch of the Eastern Line, none of this line exists yet. From the south, it would be the “Howick/Botany Line” that has been mentioned so often on this forum. Once it reached Britomart I would have it travel underneath Nelson or Hobson Streets, rather than Albert Street (where the CBD Rail Tunnel would be), perhaps have a Ponsonby Station near the corner of K Road and Ponsonby Road, before having the tunnel emerge around Newton Road next to SH16. From there it would follow SH16 out to Westgate (the long-term replacement for the Northwest busway).

4) The Isthmus Circle Line
This line would hold the network together, allowing transfers from pretty much every part of the city to every other part that’s on the rail network. The line would effective be the existing Eastern Line, the inner part of the Western Line and the Avondale-Southdown Line. There would be some tricky trackwork at Onehunga and Southdown to organise, but it would be doable. The parts of the line shared with Red Line and Green Line trains could enable one line to run as “express” services (although that would need track amplification to work I imagine).

There are some aspects of this system that I am still to be decided upon though. Is it best for the airport line to link with the Northern Line, or to have a clear north-south line? Same with the western line linking with the southern line – would it just be better to have a clear east-west line?

The main addition here, compared to past maps, is the line running effectively along state highway 16 between Westgate and the CBD. I have included this mainly because I think that the route would form a very effective busway at the moment, and it would make sense for that busway to be built in such a way that it could potentially provide for rail in the longer-term. It would probably be the last link of the above map to be built – and would probably require some serious intensification around the stations to make it worthwhile.

Another map showing a possible future public transport system that has always impressed me is one put together by “Nick R” from the Campaign for Better Transport forums. It is somewhat similar to what I have proposed above, although includes a number of light-rail lines as well (shown in a thinner black line). His map is included below for further thought: That’s one mighty good system.

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