One key element of the rail electrification project is that the wires only extend as far as Swanson in the west and Papakura in the south, whereas services currently go to Waitakere and Pukekohe stations. Furthermore, with a full EMU fleet it is not possible to intermix diesel and electric trains, meaning that all services from Waitakere and Pukekohe (or beyond) will need to terminate at Swanson and Papakura, with passengers transfering onto regular services to continue their trip. The fortunes of these two stations has differed quite significantly over the past eight years, with daily boarding from Waitakere station declining (from 93 in 2003 to 80 in 2011) while boardings at Pukekohe station have increased tenfold, from a mere 40 in 2003 to over 500 this year. Personally I can’t quite see how 80 passengers a day justifies a shuttle train between Waitakere and Swanson – I’m not sure if that’s still being proposed.
The situation in the south is quite different though, with Pukekohe being the fastest growing station in the network (percentage wise). Pukekohe is also noted in the Auckland Plan as a priority satellite centre, so can probably expect to grow fairly significantly over the next 30 years. In the medium to long term I see the extension of electrification to Pukekohe being inevitable – but until such a time it seems that transfers at Papakura will be required.
To facilitate these transfers, Papakura station is being redesigned, and Auckland Transport have released the details of that redesign. A useful “step by step” look at how the station will be rebuilt is also on their website. A summary of the upgrade is included below:
Auckland Transport is upgrading Papakura Rail Station and the rail yard to improve passenger experience and transport efficiency. This project recognises that well-designed facilities are a key element in attracting people to public transport.
The upgrade will also allow the station to meet future patronage growth and modernise existing platform amenities. At the same time, KiwiRail are undertaking a re-arrangement of the tracks to provide a dedicated freight line through the station, and optimising track and platform layout in preparation for electrification.
More than 2000 people a day use Papakura train station. It is the third busiest station after Britomart and Newmarket. In the near future the station will also function as an interchange for diesel shuttle trains from or to Pukekohe when the Auckland rail network is electrified.
Benefits will include:
- Upgrading platform amenities such as canopies, furniture, lighting, CCTV, signage and passenger information displays.
- The existing heritage station building will be relocated and refurbished to create a new entry and ticket and travel info office.
- New public toilets to be installed
- Space for a possible future café kiosk
- New staff facilities for train operators on the east side of the station
- The Park n Ride is to be enlarged and improved with 100 new car park spaces
- An improved Kiss n Ride drop-off and link to buses and township
- Dedicated freight line
- Back-shunt area for diesel and electric trains
- Upgraded track formations and drainage
The current station layout is shown in the diagram below:
And the proposed layout.
You can see that people transfering from Pukekohe shuttles (which will pull into Platform 2) onto citybound trains (which will leave from Platform 1) will have a pretty simply change. The reverse will be a bit more challenging, but it’s good to see some thought has gone into making the annoyance of the transfer.The project should be completed by early 2013, in time for the first electric trains.
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I suspect that there will be certain trains that are timed to connect with a shuttle and those trains will use platform 1 to make things easier for people travelling on to Pukekohe (remember all EMU’s will be terminating here so they will have to cross over to platform one at some point).
Also if you look at the station plan that is attached to the AT page you can see that there will also be a covered walkway from the shelter for Platform 1 to the shelter for Platform 2 which should also help to prevent people from getting wet.
Whats wrong with the existing oplatform layout?
Diesel train arrives at A, electric train arrives at B, passengers walk straight across to change trains.
Why do we need all the extra platforms?
Terminating trains can dwell at stations for some time to allow for staff to have breaks etc. At the moment that is split up between Papakura and Pukekohe but once all trains from the north stop at Papakura along with the shuttles from Puke then it wouldn’t take much for everything to go pear shaped without those additional platforms. Also it has probably been designed with a bit of future proofing in mind so that frequencies can be increased without needing to do more physical works to allow it.
It makes sense to do more with the side platform. It is easier to access for most people (most who catch the train to and from Papakura seem to come from that side of the station) than the other two, and yet is used far less frequently.
Just extend electrification to Pukekohe in the first instance et voila, no need for these changeovers.
Though, a vote for National is a guarantee no more money will be allocated to electrification.
That line of yours gets very old, especially considering no parties are promising to electrify that section. There is good reason not to as well, based on the rest of the rest of the network it could cost up to $100m to do it which just isn’t practical for the number of passengers who would use it.
Actually, I would dispute that – the ability to run an electric-only network, and the higher attractiveness (plus the intention to intensify Pukekohe) make it sensible to eventually electrify. It just isn’t that high on the priority list, compared to so many other things we also should/need to do.
I agree, eventually it should be done but there are a lot of other things that could be done with that money that would probably drive a lot more paronage than electrifing to Pukekohe would
Don’t vote National or ACT if you want public transport improvements, simple as that.
Hmm, so looking closely at the zoom in of the new ticket office interior,
They have thought out space for a “travel brochure display rack” but not for a automated Hop card top-up machine, (sure you want one outside for 24/7 use as well, but the fact they have not included one protected from the elements/vandals etc is telling)
Sort of sums up the attitude to integrated ticketing in a nice vignette really…
Is there space for a platforms 5/6 between the four-track section? If you are going to upgrade the station why not do it properly. I agree 1/2 provides for easy change inbound, but why not use the advantages two island platforms would have?