For a number of months I’ve felt rather uneasy about the proposed Parnell Station. On the one hand I think a station in the vicinity of Parnell makes a lot of sense – particularly one that could serve the university. But on the other hand I have been worried whether the actual proposed location for the station misses the golden opportunity for it to become a de facto university station.
Auckland Transport has released further details on the proposed design of the station and the exact location. Once again this is a bit of a mixed bag as it confirms the station is a bit far “up the hill” compared to where I had envisaged an ideal location, but on the other hand it highlights some really good opportunities for enhancing connections between the station and its surrounding area – including possibilities for connections through to the university that are a lot better than I had originally envisaged.
I know I keep going on about how important it is for the station to connect well with the University, but there are many reasons for my focus on this matter. The key reason is simply patronage. Parnell is going to be a destination station rather than a station where people get on the train in the morning – unless you live across the road from both the station and work across the road from Britomart it’s unlikely to make any sense to catch the train into the city. I guess people working elsewhere along the southern and western lines and living in Parnell may use the station, but largely I think it will be people travelling to Parnell which will provide the bulk of the station’s patronage.
Who will those people be? Well there’s a lot of employment within the wider area – as you can see in the above aerial photograph. The Carlaw Park redevelopment has created a lot of office space, there are many offices just off Parnell Road (as well as many other offices just to the north of the earlier image). Plus, of course, there are the two universities with their 50,000+ students who generally catch public transport a lot more than your average person. On the one hand, this means fewer trips diverted from cars than you might typically get from serving office areas, but on the other hand if we could offer students a rail alternative then that makes life a whole heaps easier when it comes to operating buses from the west, south and southeast more efficiently through turning them into feeder services.
Measuring “how far are the stations from the universities” is a pretty complicated task because if you put both Auckland University and AUT together they cover a pretty large chunk of the eastern part of Auckland’s CBD. However, the Auckland University library is a fairly useful central point, with the current distance from Britomart station (via the quickest route which is possibly not the most commonly taken route as it’s rubbish for pedestrian safety) comes to around 830 metres:
This includes a pretty steep walk up Emily Place (or through Albert Park if you’re coming up from the Queen Street entrance to Britomart), so while I’m sure plenty of students do take the train the current situation is not particularly ideal for them.
If you measure from the proposed Parnell Station location to the library, you come up with a surprisingly similar distance – about 20 metres further if it was possible to easily travel up through the business school:
What makes me feel better about the proposed station location is the very building I just mentioned though – the university’s business school which opened in the past few years. Apparently the opening of this building has led to a quite significant shift in what might be thought of as the university’s “centre of gravity” – with many more students having classes in this part of Auckland University. In terms of access to AUT, probably Parnell and Britomart would continue to be equidistant, and the great opportunity there relates to Aotea Station on the City Rail Link.
Looking at a few more details of Parnell Station, I quite like the effort in the design to integrate the station with its surrounding area:
The design of the Nicholls Lane extension will be, in my opinion, critical to the success or failure of the station – to ensure that it has two key frontages – to Parnell village in the east and to Carlaw Park, the universities and the city centre in the northwest. The project’s vision also relies on the station being a catalyst for significant brownfield redevelopment in areas with immediate proximity to the station on its eastern side – the part of Parnell between the railway line and Parnell Road.
Overall, having seen the design ideas I do feel comforted about this project. While I think it would be smarter for the station to be located further “down the hill”, to give better access to the universities in particular, clearly a lot of thought is going into the broader design plans for the area – to ensure the station integrates well with its surrounds and isn’t just a small station down the bottom of a neglected gully, which is what the area feels like now. I feel that, if a number of other things fall into place (like the station being a catalyst for redevelopment in the immediate area, like the centre of gravity of the university continuing to shift southeast and like better pedestrian connections across Stanley Street/SH16) Parnell Station could turn out to be a success after all.
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And how about a bike path from there parallel to the tracks and through the 2nd tunnel under Parnell Rd? Saving cyclists the grind up Parnell Rise / Rd to Newmarket.
It will be interesting to see what, if any, pedestrian improvements Auckland Transport will enact across and on Stanley Street in the short term if this station is built. Aside from the massive cover proposed with the City Master Plan, has anyone heard anything?
My main concern with the location is actually the walk up to Parnell, from the station it is quite steep and narrow and the buildings around having many carpark entrances, not the most inviting place. I always thought that having the station further north and linking it into Heather St would be a better idea as that road is wide and could eventually become an extension of the mainstreet.
Also are they going to take out some buildings along Cheshire St as it looks like that bridge and plaza is right where is some currently.
Why are they reusing a worn out old second hand station? Can’t they afford a new one?
Erm, those communications paths they have on the first picture pass through buildings, and involve roads that don’t exist. Are they really going to demolish buildings to extend lanes and construct a series of overbridges for this station?
Regardless of the university issue most people working in Parnell work around the lower part, particularly along the Strand. It’s a shame they had to put the station back in the domain gully, the other site would have afforded a straight flat walk along to the Strand, Quay Park, Stanley St and Beach Rd… not to mention the fact the Link bus route would have passed right past an entrance.
No opportunity for bus connections here, it will always be stuck as walk-up only.
I guess a bonus is the much improved pedestrian linkage between Carlaw park and Parnell.
A quick check in Google Maps shows the distance from Wellington Railway Station to VUW Library to be around 1.4km. Plus their main campus is half way up a mountain. That isn’t a problem for students who tend to be young and fit, and plenty of them use the train to come in to the city from the Hutt Valley and Porirua.
800m should be less than a 10 minute walk for most people.
Why wouldn’t they just carry on into Brittomart and catch a bus up Symonds street to the front door?
Because an 18 year old shouldn’t be taking a bus to avoid an 800m walk?
That’s great for the 18 year olds, but how about the 4,608 staff and 3,780 postgraduate students, or the other 34,000 students who might not be eighteen? That’s just the UofA campus, what about AUT too?
I find it very frustrating that just because it’s a university people assume that its full of poor lazy students who have nothing better to do than waste their time and can walk anywhere, so we don’t have to consider them when planning transport. Fact is it is a huge employer and the single largest daily destination of commuters in the CBD by a mile.
If you need to take a bus, then take one. But the overwhelming majority of people do not need a bus to avoid an 800m walk. Assuming that large numbers of people will need to take a bus instead of undertaking an 8 minute walk shouldn’t be the basis of transport planning.
My point was more about getting the station in the right place and having good direct access to the university, than shuttling everyone onto buses for the last km.
Obi, you seem to be getting confused between “need” and “choose”!
International studies have shown that as a rule of thumb as soon as people have to walk further than 400-450M between the PT node and their destination then they start considering other modes of transport.
This distance is 800m with a fair bit uphill. True most people could walk it but whether they chose to walk it is a different matter.
Note: I am not against this station though I do have issues with placement and design my point is that given the distance I don’t think you will see a very high percentage of University people choosing to use it.
Really! I have raised 3 18 year olds, they would all take a bus to avoid 800m uphill. They would also not mind the additional time into the station as that would allow them another 5 mins snoozing…..
Wow, I realise Gen Y are the “instant” generation, but unable or unwilling to walk 800m!? Good Lord, I walk twice that distance from Britomart each morning, and I’m on the other side of 50. Perhaps Auckland Transport could install a travelator from Parnell to the University for them. 🙂
Bryan: Do try and keep up old man!
Gen Y are 30+ now! 18 Year olds are Gen Z and “naughties”(after 2000) ……
Some of it is definitely the saving time approach rather than physical limitations, they really are the “now” bunch.
I watched a girl on the Melbourne trams the other day about 12 she jumped on and rode two stops. I thought “even I would have walked that far”
Me? Same decade as you!
This is looking more promising than I had initially thought, although I do think the relocation of the old Newmarket station building in the name of ‘heritage’ is misguided. The building will form a solid barrier between the platform and the new plaza.
Also, wouldn’t a third rail and platform be useful here given the no of train movements from both the western and southern line (pre CRL)?
If a good connection across to the university is made I think it will be highly used, as not only is the distance similar as from Britomart, but also students save the travel time from the new Parnell station to Britomart, which can often be a crawl around Vector….
Anyone know when the Parnell station will probably be but and open?
Also, I think a pedestrian overbridge over Stanley Street will be crucial to making it work well
Why a pedestrian overbridge? There is only a single road to be crossed and it already has a pedestrian crossing on it.
Two reasons I can think of:
1. It would reduce the grade between the station and the university as from looking at the map you’ve got to go down further into the gulley and then back up the other side.
2. Stanley Steet is absolutely horrible. There is a crossing by the enterance to the Domain but its one of those typical “3mins wait, 10 seconds to cross” jobs that Auckland is reknowned for. Also traffic is often near or at motorway speeds either speeding up to get on to the motorway, or after having just come off the motorway.
There is a crossing at Alten Rd which is right where you would want to cross. The grade issue could be overcome by having an entrance to the buisiness school building at the lower level and using the internal escalators to climb up to (not sure if this entrance exists or not, but there seems to be some sort of cortyard at the Stanley St level).
I’m hesitant of this overbridge idea. For one there is no immediately logical place to put one, making it an awkward/expensive thing to design. Secondly it would need to be very long to overcome the change in height. More likely people would end up walking down the hill, climbing up some stairs, over the overbridge, down the stairs on the other side then up the opposite hill!
There needs to be quite a bit of work done to overcome the barrier that we know as Stanley St. I don’t use it as a pedestrian but, as an observant driver, I would hate to have to cross either at the bottom of Parnell Rise or up at the Alton Rd crossing. The whole area is very pedestrian unfriendly.
I agree with the others – the rail line and Stanley Street are the two big barriers to west-east walking & cycling, and need to be adressed a lot better if we want more connectivity between Parnell and City Centre. I am somewhat hesitant whether this will do it for cycling (where’s the link over the rail line?) but walking should get better.
Work is supposed to start over the Xmas shut down when they will regrade the whole area, then I think construction starts in earnest in 2012.
The document linked in the article shows says that the works to on the tracks will happen over christmas (we already knew this part), after that there will be a phase developing a masterplan for the station followed by detailed design and costing works before construction starts on it around May/June. The station appears to be targeted to be opened around September next year. After that they will then do the work on implementating the rest of the master plan which I assume means things like the plaza and Nicholls Lane extension.
A couple of thoughts:
1. Aotea will become the main station for the Universities [esp for AUT]…. eventually, although some will choose this one especially if their destination is at the eastern end of campus
2. I really like the plaza; and it will do a huge job in revitalising a very undervalued part of town.
3. This placement will drag the Domain and Parnell together, very import severance bridging here… we’ll all wonder why we ignored this valley for so long.
4. So this has a very high ‘placemaking’ component that is possibly more valuable than getting the station as close as possible to the University. Parnell and the Domain deserve their stop too.
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Sorry Patrick – I overlooked this post of yours. I agree with you absolutely.
So… Does anyone know, is a bus depot still planned for down there?
No depot- mad idea. Anyway, store your junk on the edge of town where the land is cheap and run your routes through, edge to edge. Or better still run local feeder routes to interchange train stations…. of course that would require real integrated ticketing and a strong planning authority that can set routes and timetables.
Interesting. I didn’t think it was a particularly good idea for a bus depot, but it is interesting to see how quickly we have gone from bus depot to pretty pictures of a train station with construction next year. Very responsive from the council.
Surely it wouldn’t cost too much to get a third track past the station though to add a bit of resilience?
LOL, Patrick R, I would have thought better of YOU in terms of discussing the stabling needs of PT. Buses aren’t “junk” and stabling them outside of town has numerous issues. Not saying they should have done it here, but don’t diss the “ugly” bits that are needed to make a system work and then demand the system work better.
Well I do think diesel buses are not that great, especially on crowded city streets, and even more so when high value inner city sites are used to store them. Speaks to me of a poorly co-ordinated system. Agree they have their place and, as a rule, that place is where demand is more diffuse. But I do accept that we need them in AK for quite a while yet because we have not invested in the cleaner faster better off road systems that we need.
We will always need buses and they do need to have a depot at least somewhere near where their run is i.e. there would be no point in having the link buses based out Manukau as they would have to spend so much time and petrol just getting to the start of their route.
Patrick, you should jump on Google Earth and look at the amount of inner city space used to “store” rail in Auckland down around Quay Park junction.
Then have a look at Brisbane, Adelaide etc and tell me whether you think buses or trains take up more space downtown. You’d be surprised at how inefficiently rail uses space, especially in central locations where loads of platforms/junctions are required.
In Brisbane there’s evem a stretch of the Gold Coast Rail Line that runs in parallel with the busway – guess which has the narrower right-of-way; it’s not the rail corridor!
The suggestion that buses are more space intensive is not backed by my experience.
Stu you are lumping the freight operation in with the commuter service; commuter trains are stabled out further, as they should be…. Anyway that Parnell site should not be used to store any sort transport infrastructure… my point is that it needs development and the station is an ideal way to open up both links across the valley and severing rail line and to open up an under used and under valued part of town close to high value property. This will surely lead to a net benefit for the city in terms of recreation amenity, business opportunity and, indeed, the rating base. Admin is right it will be a destination station, and could be a very successful one with the right amenity and marketing. For example:
If I was the proprietors of the Strand Tavern, lost as it now is on a motorway on ramp, I would have a good look at moving up to the new plaza, big marketing opportunity for a Gastro-Pub leveraging off the proximity to the Museum, Mainline Steam, the Tennis Centre, and Parnell itself. catch the train, wander up to the Museum etc… reward yourself with good food and a drink away from the traffic down in the secret valley….
Patrick – trains are currently stabled in various places further out from town but there are plans for a stabling yard at Quay park because by having them stored all around the place it allows them to be more operationally efficient. Also Mainline Steam will still ne in Parnell storing their trains so there will be transport infrastrucure based there.
I don’t think it’s possible to enter the business school in the manner suggested by Admin – from memory the ‘courtyard’ that can be seen on the map is just a gravel lot. A pedestrian walking to the university from the proposed train station site either has to go up Alten Rd or Grafton Rd. It might improve things for students at the School of Music, perhaps…
I’m surprised that it’s no quicker to get to the university from there than Britomart. However, I think students might still choose to get off there – it might save a few minutes in the morning, which could be important if impatient or late to class. No doubt the university will look into making access easier to this station.
I’m unsure why University access is given such high priority for the Parnell station. I have often gone up to the University from Britomart. It’s an easy 10 minute walk with no motorway crossing. Further, looking ahead a while (quite a while I admit), I expect one of the CRL stations will be closer to both universities which should then be pretty well served by PT.
I would have thought Parnell station would be primarily attractive to commuters to and from Parnell village.
Because in reality there are very few commuters going to Parnell Village (it is mostly retail and hospitality) and the future potential for job growth and development is quite limited in that historical and mostly residential area.
Most commuters are actually headed to the lower parts of Parnell and Mechanics Bay, along the Strand, Stanley St, Beach Rd and of course the two university campuses and their related workplaces.
I agree that eventually the Aotea station will service the universities best, but looking at the just the Parnell area most train users will be heading down towards Carlaw Park and the Strand rather than up to Parnell Rd.
But Nick, commuters aren’t the only important people. And of course there are few train riders heading to Parnell now, how can they?; exactly why the station is a good idea… I predict this will grow into a good destination and exactly what is needed; transforming the rail network into a system with multiple purposes, not just to and from Britomart. This is very good urban renewal
Of course bring on the CRL and watch K’rd and Newton become more viable destinations too. Good Transit infrastructure as ‘placemaking’; it works.
I realise that Patrick, but Jennifer had said “commuters to and from Parnell village” and I was responding to that. As for few train riders heading to Parnell now, I never said there were any. My point was that of any commuters (car, train, bus, foot whatever) few of those are going to be headed to the shopping strip in Parnell village. The majority will (now and in the future) be headed to the lower part of Parnell where most of the jobs and residences (and development opportunities) are.
For sure commuters aren’t the only people and urban renewal of the area and better domain linkages will bring in a lot of non-commuters too, but lets be realistic about where the lions share of patronage will come from. Ok we can’t discount the attraction of the area as a new place, the attraction of the domain etc, but there are already 2,970 residents and 3,711 jobs (2006 census) in the northern half of the station catchment.
In my opinion there is way too much focus here on the small development site around Mainline Steam and access to the small strip of boutiques and cafes on Parnell Rd, and almost no concern for the much larger concentration of jobs, residences and development sites around Carlaw Park, the Strand and Beach Rd. More focus on good connections from the station that way will benefit thousands more people, now and in the future.
Unfortunately I see this plan as a triumph of urban design vision over mundane nuts and bolts planning. I’m not saying its a bad station or won’t be a success, quite the contrary, I just think they need to take a quick step back and look at what they are really trying to achieve and tweak things accordingly. Is it a station to service the Parnell area, or a station for the domain and a mainline Steam development? Any station at this site is going to facilitate the latter, but to be really sucessful it also has to focus on the wider area, especially where people already live, work and play.
Patrick I think you miss the point, when we build infrastructure like this it should about getting the most use out of it that we can, if by building it a few hundred metres down the track means we can get 10% more patronage then that is what should be done. Also if you think that a few hundred metres won’t make that much difference then I would suggest you look at the impact Grafton has had. Back when the station was at Boston Rd it only really was useful for students going to St Peters or Auckland Grammer, since it was moved it saw a 44% increase in patronage in only a few months and that increase is continuing.
Matt L, I’m not even arguing the station should be a few hundred metres down the track anymore. I think that (somewhat unfortunately) we are well past that point already. I’m just talking about the pedestrian connections and linkages to the station site, in particular the lack of anything northward.
Take a look at the first image in the post showing the station and the proposed flows to and from it. We have three primary flows and one secondary up to the village on Parnell Rd, three secondary flows into the Domain and one secondary flow between the Domain/Carlaw and the village.
What is there on the other side? A single primary flow through Carlaw to the university (good) and one currently impossible link from the village area to Stanley St. Where are the links to Carlaw Park Avenue, to The Strand, to Augustus Tce, Beach Rd etc? They don’t even include that lower part of Parnell in the picture, let alone consider linking to it!
I’m not arguing against the plaza development, links to the village or up to the domain, those are all fantastic… but they really need to look at putting in at least one proper northern linkage to those areas where Parnelites primarily live and work today.
For what it’s worth, I intend to happily walk the 8-10 minutes from the proposed station location to my workplace in lower St George’s Bay Rd. I think with good connections in each direction, this station will be a boost to the area, as Patrick suggests.
Matt L well I’m afraid you’re thinking like Joyce now; falling into the trap of thinking that all investment must be based on current stats. I’m interested in investment that helps transform the city into the place we want it to be like, not that maintains things as they are.
I repeat, this station will lead change in a currently under-valued and frankly ugly corner of town… The patronage for this station will be created by its existence, and not depend on current counts. Your analogy with Grafton is a stretch. And as well as disagreeing with your certainty around figures for this station, I would also like to stress that while building patronage is important it is not absolutely everything, placemaking is vital too. Part of the cause of the current motorway imbalance is a concentration on moving stuff at the expense of quality of place. If there is anything that I could change it would be this: how to quantify these qualities into BCRs? How to factor aesthetics into quants?
Why aren’t they replacing the underpass with a bridge?
Would moving the station closer to Britomart make the station spacing too close?
I like the design. Just a simple open plaza was all that was needed. Too many buildings would have constrained the area too much. Im not to sure about the old Newmarket station for that reason.
Ill be interested to see how the links to the domain turn out. A large part of this project is not only about the train lines and station but is an urban design project to give Parnell a gateway towards the domain,rather than walking around the roads. That to me is the big gain of this station location over the location further down the hill. It has a better position to provide through access from the domain to Parnell, in what is really an unused and scrub covered part of the domain.
As for rail proximity to high employment areas such as the Strand, Beach rd, and Quay park mentioned before , I would advocate for a station on the eastern line near the Strand. The eastern line has a very large gap between Britomart and Orakei station. There is plenty of room for a station there. People living or working in lower Parnell would then benefit from having easy access to two different stations on two different lines and have rail access to most parts of eastern Auckland on the isthmus, making this an attractive development area.
I agree that the links to the Domain must be upgraded and marketed. The wooded valley is an under-used urban gem; New well lit tracks up to the Museum and elsewhere must be part of the development. As is the links from the western end of the station to Alten Rd and the Tennis centre, the Nicholls Lane through route must be well designed and intuitive too.
And then the various destinations must be marketed, during the tennis, as a restaurant route, for the museum…
I agree with Saljen that a station on the eastern line between Britomart and Orakei is a good idea. Maybe next to the Parnell Baths and the footbridge up to St Stephens Ave. Could encourage some commuters to use rail to get into the city, plus allow tourists and Aucklanders to get to the pools and Judges Bay without needing a car or trying to find a bus.
Patrick – It is frankly quite offensive comparing me to Joyce. Putting a train station in somewhere because it seems like a nice thing to do is not the attitude we should be taking as that is the kind of thing that leads us into the situation we were in before. I’m also not suggesting we build stations on current stats but actually the opposite, we build them based on what has the most long term potential because that will make the network more successful and lead to greater investment.
There is also nothing stopping things like the station plaza and other improvements to the area from happening even if the actual platforms were moved northwards slightly as it would only be a fairly short, flat section to get there. My Grafton analogy is far from a stretch but you are right, the numbers aren’t correct, I just looked up the figures again and there was actually an even larger increase (the 44% was from Grafton and Newmarket combined), in 2009 there 421 people that boarded a train daily at Boston Rd, Grafton opened in early 2010 and the daily count was 676 people boarding, an increase of 61%, what’s more I believe that figure is now up over 800.
My plan would be to have the northern end of the station just across from the corner of Bedford St and Heather St, because that is already quite a bit above the level of the tracks it would be quite simple to build a nice overbridge (I’m thinking something like what is out at Henderson) out from here with access down to the platforms. The other end of the platform would then be around the northern end of the tennis court you can see so would only be 30m from where the pedestrian bridge is in the pictures above so the plaza would still be a great development that wouldn’t suffer but there becomes the option to provide much better connections including the ability for buses to interchange with the station.