Yesterday’s blog post that analysed station patronage numbers over the past eight years highlighted some stations which seem to have somehow avoided the massive increase in general patronage over this time. Waitakere and Te Mahia stations were the two most obvious examples of this. I’ll look at Waitakere separately in a future blog post, but for now I want to focus on the Manurewa to Papakura section of the rail system – because Auckland Transport’s station upgrade programme proposes to spend around $3.5 million on upgrading Te Mahia and Takanini stations. I hope that before such money is spent, a good hard look is taken at whether the two stations are in the right place.
Firstly, we can see that patronage growth at Takanini and Te Mahia over the past ten years has been pretty small compared to other stations in the ‘far southern’ section of the rail network:
Amazingly, Te Mahia has actually lost patronage over this time – although only ever so slightly. And while Takanini’s patronage has increased more respectably, it is still relatively low and hasn’t experienced anything like the upswing of Homai for example.
Some of the reason behind Te Mahia’s poor performance becomes fairly obvious when you look at both the general location of its station, and its poor visibility/access. By my calculations it’s only around 1.3km south of Manurewa and considering Manurewa is the stage boundary one would imagine that many people who might be closer to Te Mahia are actually walking/driving further to Manurewa (which also has a park and ride and bus interchange) so they can save on the extra stage fare:
That’s quite uneven spacing between these stations, resulting in a large gap between Takanini and Papakura that means a significant area of urban development that’s happening quite near the railway line isn’t actually served by a station.
This growing area is known as Addison, and is a fairly large and relatively high density development which has been occurring between Takanini and Papakura over the past few years. It is guided by a master plan that is based around a new station being located just to the north of where Walters Road crosses the railway line: 
The part of Addison that has been built and is closest to the railway line is also at reasonably high densities – exactly the kind of thing one would want in a transit-oriented development. Here are a couple of photos I took last year of new housing in the area:
Plenty of attached terraced housing, all within a few minutes walk of the rail system. Only problem is there’s no station for all these people to use to get on the frequent trains travelling past.
Now the obvious response could be just to add in a station just to the north of Walters Road, and leave things at that. But extra stations slow down our services – adding to travel times and undoing much of the good work to speeds that electrification will bring. So I think we should try to avoid extra stations on the network. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a very close look at whether we have the locations of our stations in this part of Auckland right. And I wonder, by shifting Takanini station north a bit as well as closing Te Mahia station, we could achieve a lot of good things here – evening up station spacing, closing a station that nobody seems to be using and providing a new station to service a fast-growing part of the city that is being built to densities that should encourage public transport use. Maybe we need to look at something like this:
The Addison Station would also be quite close to a reasonably large shopping centre – so could be used by people elsewhere on the network who want to travel there to shop.
Overall, I think locating the stations in this part of Auckland more evenly, and effectively shifting Te Mahia station to Addison (and slightly relocating Takanini station to ensure the spacings are even) would lead to a significant patronage boost as well as supporting the planning documents that are sitting behind the significant number of new houses being built at the moment between Takanini and Papakura. One wonders whether the Auckland Transport Board had a think about this before giving the OK to the station upgrade programme earlier this year.
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Something i’ve been thinking about is a new west branch line off from about Henderson then following approx Don Buck Rd, to Westgate, then following the new SH 18 to Hobsonville. Most of this is along the old Metropolitan Urban Limit meaning its not build on yet but soon will be.
The west line about Henderson doesn’t really follow any population density leaving the rest of the west very isolated from any good PT (although it has a motorway unlike the East)
Hobsonville is a huge new residential development with no good PT earmarked – and its a long way into the CBD by bus with no buslanes.
admin, i’d be keen to hear your thoughts.
Threading a rail line through a part of Auckland where rail hasn’t been envisaged will be very difficult. Think about the topography too – pretty steep from my memory.
Very steep – Don Buck Road from the Henderson end has a significant hill for about 1km where its windy, then its rolling all the way to Westgate. The better way if you were trying to put rail in there would to almost go from the other side where the grades would be significantly easier – i.e. from Kumeu or Taupaki.
Great to see this in picture, Ive always thought the same about the spacing and the Addison development.
Addison has always seemed a logical station with growth in that area as it is poorly served at present by public transport. It would be interesting to see if a Southern rail link to Manukau would have any impact on patronage seeing that Manukau is a key regional hub in the Southern Area. I guess there might be projections floating around somewhere, unfortunately the physical presence of the link is many years off yet.
Previous plans by the former Papakura District Council to shift the Takanini station nearer to the Addison development (the so called Glenora station didn’t come to anything as the new station would have required a road overbridge over the NIMT to facilitate access by connecting buses. PDC could not afford to pay for an overbridge at the station as well as one at Mataroa Road which was already planned. Hence PDC elected to retain the Takanini station in its current location (which is served by Mataroa Rd).
Perhaps this funding constraint may not be such an issue for Auckland Transport.
The Ministry for the Environment criticised the station spacing in 2007. Here’s something I wrote a little later:
“For instance, McConnell Property’s Addison housing development, intended to house 5,000 people in a master-planned community adjacement to the North Island Main Trunk railway some 26 km from downtown Auckland, has been estimated by the Ministry for the Environment to yield a premium of $80,000 per housing unit (MFE 2007, p. 2). But a proposed rapid transit station at Glenora, which appears in the 1999 Regional Growth Strategy and which is the keystone of the value arch in Addison is not now being proceeded with”
To quote the MFE report directly:
“The whole focus of the Addison housing development has been on place-making and trying to create something essentially ‘urban’ in a traditional suburban environment… One of the early motivators for the intensive development of this site was the location of a proposed new railway station at Glenora. This is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future because of a regional decision to pursue other transport options….The Takanini railway station is a five minute walk from the north-western part of the site, but it is not easily accessible to those living to the east of Portchester Road. Bus connections are also poor. Thus, while the intent was to be transit-oriented, this aspect of the development has not materialised.” (MFE 2007, pp. 9)
The MFE report is called ‘Urban Design Case Study: Addison Housing Development’ (Wellington, NZ: Ministry for the Environment Publication MFE 817, 2007).
I actually used to live in the Addison development, and you are right, I drove to Manurewa to avoid the stage boundary and to use the park and ride. Also Takanini’s parking was very limited and very insecure – on a poorly lit cul-de-sac with nobody in sight and no cameras. Not ideal on winter nights when it’s dark by 5.30.
I support the moving of Te Mahia further south to make it a true Takanini Station…however land is a premium down there where would you fit a station + a 3rd track and the associated infrastructure (park and ride etc).
I have always supported a station close to Addison/South Gate, it just makes sense…..
Realatively cheap option for relocating Takanini could be between the current station and Manuroa Rd. Access from Manuroa, Maru & Station roads. Should be enough space to get 3 lines plus platform & possibly some P&R spaces into the wide corridor there.
Whilst I agree that the Takanini station is in a pretty dreary place, its location does serve Conifer Grove well and it would be a shame to loose this for the sake of another new development slightly further south.
These stations are a case study in incompetent town & transport planning! The only reason there is a short gap between Te Mahia and Manurewa stations is because Manurewa has twice(!!) been relocated south (which has left a yawning gap between Manurewa and Homai). And there was a station (Tironui, closed decades ago) halfway between Takanini and Papakura.
The original spacing was 1 mile intervals, and worked fine. The balls-up relocations took place based on the same shonky thinking this post is based on. Oooh look, we have a shiny new (middle class pakeha) property development (Addison/Glenora) – we should close other people’s stations and build a shiny new one for us. Sorry to be blunt, but that is the truth of the matter.
Te Mahia and Takanini suffer from geographically limited catchments of poor, mostly Maori folks. Clearly not worth a station, right? Better take it off them, and make them walk to whitey’s station, aye?
Te Mahia is right next to 1 of 3 intermediate schools in Manurewa, and is closest station to isolated Wattle Downs community (but Wattle Downs buses go straight to Manurewa station). Takanini (as Ian M notes) serves the isolated Conifer Grove community also.
Fix the Te Mahia and Takanini stations up, and open them up to the roads (AT has missed several chances to buy the commercial land in front of Te Mahia cheaply in the last 5 years, for car & bus park and to open up visibility) and fix the security. Then people will use them. Note Homai’s patronage rise AFTER they fixed security. It had the same rep as Te Mahia prior to upgrade.
And prioritise dog & crime patrols around Te Mahia and Takanini stations – pit bulls and car break-ins & intimidation by gangs in the past have put off passengers from using these stations. Any new Glenora station would suffer the same problem of crime, so shifting stations a little won’t solve that. Face community problems; don’t just sweep them under the table.
But most of all, ancient fare stages kill off the outer stations like Te Mahia and Takanini. Stages should group (Papakura, Tironui, Takanini), then (Te Mahia, Manurewa, Homai) then (Puhinui, Papatoetoe, Middlemore). This will get exposed when Manukau CC station opens – it will be an extra stage over Papatoetoe – ooops.
Deeper thinking required than more stations shifts.
Just reopen Tironui station? It’s pretty damned close to the Addison development, and there seems to be other developments happening nearby.
I live in Wattle Downs and have seen all the local stations. Would never use Mahia or Takanini as they are disgusting. Lack of visibility from road is one basic reason. My choice would be to drive to Manurewa.
Mahia should be closed and the patronage figures support this. Virtually all other stations usage has skyrocketed. My only concern would be for those living to the east of the line who use the walkway to access Great South Road.
Some more information to add to the discussion.
The Glenora Structure Plan is a subset of the Takanini Structure Plan within the old Papakura District. You will see located on the Takanini Structure Plan the proposed train station locations at Glenora Road and Spartan Road. The Te Mahia Station was in Manukau District under separate administration.
Underpinning the Addison Development is the County Glen Development Agreement (County Glen being an earlier name for Addison through the planning stages) In the County Glen Development Agreement there were contributions paid by the developer to provide for land and the construction of a new stations at Glenora Road and Spartan Road plus upgrades to the Papakura Town Centre Station.
There was also considerable debate over construction budgets with various engineering experts consulted. Putting aside land, design and consent costs etc for the rail overbridge, the budgets varied at the time from $6.5 million to $17.5 million in 2008 dollar values for the overbridge at Glenora Road.
The principle reason for the wide variation in budgets was the different construction methodologies proposed. The $6.5 million budget proposed building the overbridge alongside the rail line and rolling in to place the way the Parnell Overbridge had been completed requiring the main rail line to be shut for a short period. The more $17.5 million budget proposed construction a temporary line alongside the main rail line to make space to construct the overbridge then transfer the rail line back once constructed.
There were also schematic drawings prepared of the proposed Glenora Station as an integrated public transport hub to prove the concept was technically viable for a private landowner.