Electrification “past point of no return”
It did get rather lost in the news surrounding the opening of Newmarket station, but on Thursday there was perhaps an even more important milestone for Auckland’s rail system – the signing of the contract for electrification. Here’s some extracts from the Herald article on the signing of the contract:
Auckland’s $1 billion rail electrification project is considered past the point of no return after a contract was signed yesterday for about 3500 masts and 80km of overhead wires.…
7 Comments The 1974 CBD Rail Tunnel Proposal
ARC Chairman Mike Lee has sent me parts of a fascinating article on the 1974 proposal to upgrade Auckland’s rail system – know as “Robbie’s Rail” – after famous mayor Sir Dove-Myer Robinson. It makes for a fascinating read: Tragically, the incoming National government in 1975 cancelled the project.…
Idiotic buses
This will be just a short post from my phone.
Just turned up at my bus stop to catch the 5.15 bus home. At about 5.14 two buses turn up, a 005 in front of a 004. Everyone gets on the 005, as do I.…
USA’s transport policy dramatically changed
The USA has dramatically altered the way in which it assesses which transportation projects should be funded, their equivalent of our cost-benefit analysis. The big shift is that impacts on overall urban form and “livability” need to be taken into greater consideration – rather than just simple “time savings”.…
Newmarket Station officially opens
I popped over to Newmarket to see the official opening of Newmarket station today, and also to take a few photos of the place. It ended up being quite an interesting opening, as I had the opportunity to speak to quite a few people – a fair few councillors, KiwiRail Chairman Jim Bolger and even Steven Joyce himself (briefly).…
An Idea
I think it’s pretty obvious that a better job could be done to market public transport in Auckland. How many people are even aware that it only takes the Northern Express bus 22 minutes to get from Britomart to Constellation Drive off-peak, and 30 minutes during the evening peak?…
Newmarket Station formal opening tomorrow
A joint press release from KiwiRail and ARTA announces that Newmarket station will have its formal opening tomorrow:
Transport Minister opens 21st Century Newmarket Train Station
The Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce, will join an array of Auckland dignitaries including Local Government Minister Rodney Hide and the Mayor of Auckland, John Banks, to officially open a state of the art new Newmarket train station at a special celebration hosted by the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) and KiwiRail on Thursday.…
Cross-town routes
Cross-town routes, by which I mean routes that don’t travel to or via the CBD, are quite a conundrum when it comes to planning an effective public transport system. Everyone kind of realises that we need cross-town routes – particularly in a city such as Auckland where 88% of the region’s jobs are located outside of the CBD.…
The Auckland Spatial Plan
A few posts back I mentioned how the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill will require the Auckland Council to draft up a “Spatial Plan”. Part 6 of the Bill says that the Spatial Plan needs to include these aspects:
As regular readers of this blog would well know, one of the biggest annoyances I have with Auckland is the lack of co-ordination between land-use planning and transportation planning.…
Getting the most bang for your buck
A lot of the time when one asks the question “how can we improve public transport in Auckland?” the answer involves spending money. Build a busway, build a railway line, increase frequencies by buying more buses, add a new route and so forth.…
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