Some good news today, it has been confirmed that the government have not cancelled electrification, and will loan KiwiRail the $500 million it needs to buy Auckland some electric trains.

We don’t yet know how many trains we will be getting, or exactly when they will arrive. But it is still good to see that electrification has not been cancelled and will definitely happen. It is slightly frustrating that it has taken from March until now for this to happen, which has meant that any chances of having electric trains by the time of the World Cup have evaporated (although we might well have the wires up by then).

But at least it’s happening. More from me later.

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10 comments

  1. It depends on how far back you want to go Ian, the first proposal out of ARTA had the electric trains up and running by 2010.

    1. Possibly. But Ontrack have consistently said that the netowrk wont be electrified until 2012/13 (see their website). So its a brave ARTA that will commit to operating new trains than the completion of the network.

  2. Hmmm, I’m curious to see what track work will happen now… Don’t be suprised if 15 minute peak frequencies are announced… Which means we will all have to hound the Government mercilessly maybe till Labour are back – and then hound them, I did notice the third track at Newmarket connecting to out west did not happen, a sign of track work (or lack of it) to come..?

  3. But 500 million as a loan is not really the same as funding the purchase, no roading project is told here’s 1 billion but you have to pay it back over the next 10 years, it honestly is setting up Kiwirail to fail by loading it up with debt. A failing Kiwirail is the best of both worlds for National, they can claim rail is a failure and flog off what’s left..

  4. People seem fairly confident the trains will pay for themselves as Kiwirail’s track access fees will cover the loan…

  5. Good-ish news. The $500m as a loan is a disaster – it blocks Kiwirail from being able to get commercial loans (how will they fund Marsden Pt rail line?), and what happens when the recession ends and interest rates double again? Rail loans take decades to pay off, and economic cycles are far shorter that that, so high interest rates will happen during this electrification loan lifetime.

    @ Ian W – Mike Lee has it right, and ARTA & Ontrack should achieve or be sacked. There is no shortage of East Eurpoean & Asian electrification experts who would welcome a job in NZ…

    Ontrack should start with Morningside -> Newmarket -> Britomart to be done by RWC 2011. Achievable, with only works being Kingsland’s subway & ’emergency’ footbridge, and Khyber Pass works. That way the predicted surge of rugby patrons can zip in and out of town while the DMUs handle the traffic Morningside-West and South & East.

  6. Bob, they would also need to do down to Otahuhu as that’s where the trains are kept.

    I think it’s likely the wires will be up (or ready to go up) about 2 years before we get any trains.

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