The rail electrification project is only electrifying the system between Swanson in the west and Papakura in the south. This leaves two parts of the current network where we need to ask a question: what to do? Those parts are between Swanson and Waitakere (Waitakere township, not to be confused with Henderson station) in the west (and potentially further west to Huapai and Waimauku, although the Helensville rail service was a dismal failure), and between Papakura and Pukekohe in the south.
Interestingly, in 2003 Waitakere and Pukekohe had similarly low patronage, with less than 100 boardings a day at each station. However, since then usage of the two stations has diverged massively – as shown in the graph below:
Along with Te Mahia station (down from 161 boardings in 2003 to 145 last year and surely another candidate for closure/shifting), Waitakere is one of just two stations on the entire network that has seen boardings fall since 2003. That’s quite a feat considering overall rail patronage has increase something like five-fold over the last nine years. Pukekohe sits at the other end of the spectrum, with patronage increasing ten-fold since 2003.
Looking forward, the respective future land-use patterns around Waitakere and Pukekohe suggest a different approach for the future of either station. Pukekohe is planned to be a satellite centre with a population of around 50,000, with the area between Pukekohe and Papakura also being significantly urbanised over the next 3o years (and therefore clearly a case for three or even four stations along the 18 km between Papakura and Pukekohe). In contrast, Waitakere station sits outside the main development corridor in the northwest, while residents in the area have tended to strongly battle against any further development happening (the same is true for around Swanson). In fact, when you look at the location of Waitakere township, it’s a bit unusual that it’s served by trains at all as it’s beyond the boundary of the urban area and not a particularly large place:
So surely the way forward is to extend electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe. This is included in the Auckland Plan as a project for the 2012-2022 decade, but perhaps should happen sooner rather than later to take advantage of having all the machinery in place for the current electrification project (extending an existing project is often cheaper than starting a whole new project). Extending electrification would also significantly reduce our need to once again refurbish and extend the life of our pretty old and decrepit DMU trains. In fact, if we replaced the proposed Swanson to Waitakere shuttle train with a bus (for the same cost you could probably get at least twice the frequencies) then we can do away with having any diesel passenger services on the rail network once the EMUs arrive – which would surely be a huge cost saving in terms of reduced maintenance requirements.
The final question to consider is when might be the best time to close Waitakere Station. The other day Matt L pointed out in a comment that we might actually want to close the station sooner rather than later, so that we get all the negative publicity out of the way and ensure that it doesn’t cloud the positive feelings associated with when the new electric trains arrive. I thoroughly agree. I’d like to see Auckland Transport running an analysis of just how much it costs to serve those 90-odd passengers a day who use Waitakere Station (including requirements for additional trainsets as I think Waitakere is just over an hour from Britomart which makes running a clockface timetable need an extra train) and having the courage to cut the service sooner rather than later. The passengers might whine a bit, but if they’re provided with bus services at the same frequencies, or better, once integrated ticketing is rolled out they’re probably going to have a better service – while the rest of us who help fund the rail system, will save what is probably quite a lot of money.
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What about Kumeu / Huapai? Surely there will be more people over the coming 5 years who would take the train from there to work rather than go by car? I know that there will have to be major work done to the Waitakere tunnel to allow for electrification but instead of closing the Waitakere station, wouldn’t be better to mothball the station then lay on a bus service as you say? The case for extention of electrification in that area is not from Swanson to Waitakere but from Swanson to Huapai or Kumeu.
From a marketing and customer communications perspective, it should be put to the residents of Waitakere that their station will be mothballed over the next say 5 years, as preparations are made to extend the electrified service up to the Kumeu area (including new station and park n ride construction at Kumeu)…and during that time, a feeder bus service will run from Waitakere station to Swanson.
Certainly agree that there is a very strong case for extending the electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe given the clear growth patterns and the sooner that is done the better. Kumeu also has a growing population base from which a train service could be run and that service I believe should be an electrified one as given the demographic of the area, I cant see any of the residents there, riding on one of the old DMUs to then have to change at Swanson….neither can I see then riding on a bus into town.
I think that just having a single track electrified line from Huapai / Kumeu to Swanson would be fine as it would be then, the same as the Onehunga line and like the Onehunga line, patronage will quickly grow once the service is in place.
Papakura-Pukekohe should certainly be electrified by 2016 and Swanson-Kumeu electrified by 2018.
Huapai-Kumeu commuters would get a much better level of service out of a bus route via Westgate and the NW corridor, especially with a busway or some level of priority. THat is a far more direct route to both the CBD and most of the rest of Auckland.
Really the railway only provides a direct (ish) route through to about Henderson, anything else it’s actually quite indirect.
Given the not insignificant funds involved in rail operations beyond the suburbs I’d expect we could provide a much more regular and useful network for the rural north west spending those funds on bus operations direct to the CBD (with connection at Westgate to the North SHore) and connecting at Swanson or Henderson for local trips.
At the end of the day that rail line is located there because it provided the best route to the river heads of the Kaipara and Waitemata over a hundred years ago… the fact that rails are there doesn’t necessarily make it the best path to operate a passenger transit system on.
oooh, you’d be picking a big fight there! Too many greenies who like to live out there in their massive houses on their tiny, winding roads (which must cost the council a mint to maintain by the way) and drive 40 minutes/day just to get to the train station and fight any new developments in the area viciously (Go and live in a sustainable, high density development in the nasty town – Do as I say, Not as I Do).
what are you on about? National won both seats in the last election & Helensville has always been a national strong hold which is where Huapai/Kumeu is located
Well, if there as many Green Party supporters out in the Waitakere / Kumeu area as you say Amy, that should speed up the electrification extension from Swanson to Kumeu…and that would be a good thing! In place by 2016 then?
The problem with running a train from Kumeu is that it is not a “fast” way into the downtown – it really is the long way round. However, a train service could connect Kumeu into Henderson much better, esp if it could work in with the Helensville bus services (so connecting Helensville to Henderson). I’m not sure if the scale of this sort of operation would justify electrification tho’. Thots?
I’m sure I saw an analysis that showed (contrary to what Amy is saying) that National had a large majority in ballot boxes in the Waitakere Ranges at the last election.
Waitakere does not require an extra train as the trains all go up and come back in the same order. However, the Swanson Trains sit at Swanson for around 20-25 minutes. If that gap was minimised and Waitakere withdrawn, then that would free up at least one train, if not possibly 2 depending on how you did it…
Yeah I’d mothball Waitakere, any case for services like to Kumeu should be left for another day when land use patterns have solidified and the new rail network has developed scale through focus on high value improvements.
Certainly extending electrification south to Puke has a much more pressing claim on our attention. Places on the line like Drury could become nice little satellite dormitory towns. If if was done now are ther savings to be made on the transfer station planned for Papakura? Wouldn’t it be great for people south of there to not have to transfer and for Ak to only be running new electric kit?
And couldn’t the new bus service cover more points than just the Waitakere station, thereby offering a better service. That’s how you sell it. Timing; be better with actual integrated fares, wouldn’t it?
That Mahia station is foul! You have to walk up an alleyway from Great South Rd and the platform is hidden from view.
It’s worth pointing out that only half the trains go as far as Waitakere now, with the other half terminating at Swanson, so I wonder how many Waitakere Village residents are already driving through to Swanson for greater flexibility and reliability. Also contributing to this could be the fact that the parking area at Waitakere is not on the road frontage and has a reputation for break-ins and vandalism, while the Swanson car park is right on Swanson Rd.
Having said that, there’s very little likelihood of double tracking past the tunnel between Swanson and Waitakere, so why not operate a park-and-ride shuttle? Also, speed restrictions between Waitakere and Huapai mean that the service beyond Waitekere is alsoways going to be slow (and heading in the wrong direction). Let’s create a second public transport spine in the form of a busway or light-rail down the North Western Motorway instead?
Yes.
I agree with Jeremy on all accounts
Yes. Makes a lot more sense to run a RTN down the NW.
A product of fitting a metro passenger system to a freight line.
If it was up to me i’d build a line from around ranui through to westgate (big growth area) and on to hobsonville following the new motorway. Buses to feed into stations.
“But the SH16 busway will do this!” you say, and indeed it will, but at some point the busway will be full and unlike the Northern Express the SH16 busway wont be upgradable to rail.
In the next 30 years there will be a *lot* more people out westgate/kumeu/whenuapai, even in 10 years there will be many, so thinking about how to integrate these people into Auckland rather than condemning them to the current dearth of PT like east auckland currently is. Only rail can really bring communities “closer” in the sense that the commute doesn’t become their life. With express rail you can move many, far & quickly.
It will take a long while for an SH16 busway to be full, like 30+. And why couldn’t the corridor be upgraded to rail, it’s much the same as the Northern Busway in terms of width, grades and curvatures.
I’m not sure that people from Westgate and Hobsonville would take the western line much even if you did extend it up there. Westgate to Britomart via the western line would be a 32km trip. Westgate to Britomart via the proposed NW bus corridor is 18km.
As for Hobsonville, that would be about 36km, you’d actually do much better to send buses along SH18 and on to the Northern Busway (18km).
The western line is great for the core of West Auckland, but it’s actually pretty damned remote from the northwest-upper harbour area.
“unlike the Northern Express the SH16 busway wont be upgradable to rail”
How do you know this when the busway hasn’t been designed yet?
Surely if NZTA’s analysis of the Auckland Council CBD Tunnel business case has been criticised on the basis that you can’t bring a lot more buses in to the CBD, then we shouldn’t be proposing new busways that will do just that. In which case it’d be irresponsible not to propose an SH16 rail line.
The Northern Busway is not upgradable to heavy rail, only light rail. I gather any NW Busway would be the same.
I like the idea of extending to Pukekohe, after that just keep on extending to Te Rapa. (Actually staged extensions to Pokeno, Te Kauwhata, Huntly etc – just like a motorway project)
Until integrated fares come along, you can make the shuttle bus free, and no one has a reason to complain. Freeing up some trains mean you can have Newmarket bound trains and Britomart direct trains (not reversing at Newmarket).
I thought Waitakere only had a rail service because the loop was once required for loco hauled trains to reverse.
With double track and reversal and Swanson, electrification, and no loco hauled trains in future, why would you still keep the station open?
If there were more late night trains to Pukekohe, including the last service ( 10:10pm ) that now terminates in Papakura then the patronage from and to Pukekohe would quickly shoot off the chart.
Pukekohe is receiving a third class service in the newly amalgamated Auckland, no weekend service, the last Pukekohe terminating train leaves Britomart 7:12pm and are expected to pay an extra premium for a monthly ticket.
Also why is the existing Glenbrook – Waiuku line being ignored, there is far more scope for expansion out in that area than anywhere else in the whole Auckland region.
Can it. There is a balance between quality and quantity, but this is a case of trying to provide too much (quantity).
As I said earlier, mothball Waitakere station for the next 5 years, get electrification extended to Pukekohe and then look at extending electrification up to Kumeu as a single tack line, reopening the station at Waitakere and putting in stations at Taupaki and Kumeu. Along with a NW motorway-based express bus service, electrification to Kumeu then makes much better PT sense…we are talking 5-7 years from now of course. Electrification extention to Pukekoke needs to be done within the next 3 years as clearly the demand is higher and the ROI quicker.
A few points regarding Waitakere:
1) It has no bus service, because patronage doesn’t support either bus or train. The trains run there because originally that’s where they used to turn the locos on the turntable, and until about 2006 the signalling required trains to go there, as there was no ability to change direction at Swanson.
2) The issue is not about whether Waitakere should remain open or be closed. The issue is about whether or not trains should operate to Kumeu or Waimauku. Waitakere’s fate is linked to that decision.
3) Buses take an hour to get from Waimauku to Henderson. Although less direct, trains are faster.
4) Waitakere patronage suffers because Veolia/AT cancel trains there every single day without informing passengers. This is because they regard this section as expendible and utilise it to get later runners back on schedule by turning them around early from Swanson. It is the most unreliable rail service in Auckland, and passengers have developed a significant mistrust of the service, choosing instead to drive. If Waitakere was given a reliable rail service, patronage would increase.
That’s terrible.
Here’s an idea – actually run a decent service and see if it gets used.
I have to agree with point 4, the service is terrible. We often get stranded at Swanson with no way of getting over the hill.
Trains are often cancelled without any thought to the people sitting at the Station and we are told operational reasons?
A lot of people have given up on the train, which is very sad but what does Auckland Transport think would happened with this type of treatment of customers.
The text update service is great in the fact that we get told the service has been cancelled, but why are so many trains cancelled? Do cancelled trains show up on the services running on time graph on the train walls?
Gary
What? No one here speaking up in support of retaining Waitakere Station! Here is one very good and immediate reason not to close it: It sends totally the wrong message about rail to loyal customers (even if only a few), and also to the public at large. In effect it is saying, “You customers are a nuisance to us rail operators. We will turn our backs on you”. So what might superficially look like economic sense in the short term may be quite detrimental to the whole perception of rail in that area, later on. It might make the Kumeu service more difficult to instigate when desired. And it will likely lead to a net transfer of patronage from public transport to car. It is a bit like the taxi driver who refuses a short-hop fare, only to find that customer he turned away, yesterday then chooses not to use him for a long-distance fare today. Moral of story: Be very wary about turning ANY customer away, EVER!
We had the same argument over the Johnsonville Line in Wellington, ad nauseam. It would be “cheaper with buses”, “more frequent with buses”, “more varied destinations with buses”, quicker with buses, better with buses, not enough people to justify trains, blah blah blah… But happily those arguing these things did not prevail and we now have upgraded infrastructure and attractive new Matangis providing a service that most people are happy with (though it definitely needs extending to the south of the CBD along with all the other rail routes – Wellington’s own CBD tunnel, more-than affordable if the vast sums earmarked for the Ngaurange-Airport road-corridor can just be transferred to rail!).
So my advice: Refuse to quit. Soldier on with the Waitakere rail service in the expectation that rail has a vital future even here, and that things will not just pick-up but will one day boom!
Dave, NZR has been turning pax away from far more useful services than this one. Keeping it sends a message we are proud to waste public funds, undermining the message on the proposed city loop, the airport line, north shore line and a host of other good ideas. Let it go. It was a departmental, safeworking stop, that happened to allow a few pax on and off. It now has no purpose, and should be closed.
I agree, paying through the nose to hang on to every historic whistlestop station with a handful of passengers is no way to run an effective rail service, or ensure its long term growth and efficiency. The question always has to be how many people are missing out elsewhere if we keep pouring relatively huge resources into servicing a negligible amount of passengers here.
Most people using Waitakere are park-n-riders anyway, and surely they’ll just head one stop along to Swanson where the frequent electric trains are in any case.
People, its not a matter of keeping Waitakere station open or permanently shutting it. Its about ensuring that the electrification does get up to at least Kumeu within the next 5-10 years. Mothballing the station is a necessary part of ensuring that electrification extention to Kumeu and maybe even as far as Waimauk, happens within a 10-year timeframe.
As several people have pointed out here, bus services from that area to at least the direction of Henderson are not as fast as use of the existing rail line. The Kumeu area while not growing as rapidly as Pukekohe and environs is neverthless a growth area and has ever increasing numbers of middle-upper income earners living/moving there. That demographic is not totally wedded to motor vehicle transport as some would have us believe. If a modern, smart-looking, reliable train service (AC really must make AT ditch Veolia and have AT take on the running of the service themselves) were in place, it would most certainly be used and used with increasing regularity from service launch. Double tracking up to the Kumeu area is not practical because of the cost in widening the Waitakere tunnel. i’m convinced that an Onehunga line-style single track, suitably electrified, is the most practical option for the Swanson-Kumeu area section of the line.I can see trains from for example Kumeu, running at least every 30 minutes during the day with at least one of those trains being a through service to Newmarket/Britomart. Same goes for trains heading up to Kumeu from the city.
I don’t see how mothballing a line helps the case for getting it electrified? It’ll just make it even harder to reopen at some point in the future. I think we should be trying to expand the reach of the network not looking for ways to cut it back futher.
Moth ball Waitakere, Helensville via Waimauku…. to CBD has the 60 bus. Maybe a few more express services are needed? In the future I hope a dedicated bus way covers most this journey. If housing intensifies around Waitakere then I can see the train station being re-opened. It should be moth balled for this reason and a long term plan of electrified rail from Helensville
(protect routes extra).
As for Papakura the electrification should carry on to Pukekohe with a station built at Drury (with a park and ride) now utilising the current resources available for electrification.
If I had my way I would also extend the electrification to Waiuku with a station at Patumahoe and release the land around the station for medium density residential building.
Hmmm, I wouldn’t want to see the GVR scene blighted by overhead wires. A diesel shuttle to Waiuku would suffice.
Rather than spending energy on fighting for a reduction in the rail network, I would say fighting for expansion would be better. Huapai is a logical extension to where a large number of people are choosing to reside (or work).
Yes, the line might be indirect for those who want to go to Britomart, so those people can choose to take a bus. But for others where the destination is anything but Britomart expanding the commuter services to Huapai is a “no brainer”.
Sometimes it is hard to see wood through the trees.
I would disagree with that, the line is indirect to anywhere except perhaps Swanson and Ranui. Huapai to Henderson is 16km via the SH16 corridor, and just under 20km via the rail corridor. Albany and the North Shore is obviously much more direct via SH16, and southeastern Auckland would be a function of whatever gets you to an interchange point near the center the fastest.
Why fight to expand the rail network just because there is a historic freight track there? Just because it is rail regardless of whether it is well located, effective or efficient? Regardless of whether it wastes a heap of funds that could be used to provide much better service with other modes?
Why not fight to expand the public transport network instead and not just focus blindly on trains? If you get rid of the trains where they are costly and almost useless, you can build and improve trains, buses, ferries and whatever where they would be very useful and less of a drain on operating budgets.
For a start let us forget any comparison between Pukekohe and Waitakere. These are two very different situations. Pukekohe is a large town and Waitakere is a village on the way to nowhere.
As a Helensville resident that would often use a train (I do now by driving to Waitakere), I would be happy to see diesel shuttles running at least to Huapai from Swanson to meet the new electric units say every two hours. That would only need ONE unit. The existing bus service from Helensville is patchy and by the time it wanders all around Helensville and Parakai before heading to the city it takes too long. In off-peak there are NO direct services via the motorway to and from Westgate so it means a long trip through the wilds of the western suburbs to get to the city.
At the moment we are forced to use our cars and you may not have noticed petrol is now $2.19 a litre. Kumeu/ Huapai and Helensville are also planned growth nodes and while taking a bit longer to develop than Pukekohe the existing congestion around Kumeu during peak hours is becoming evident.
I would happily drive the 20 minutes to Huapai to catch a train rather than the 40 minutes it takes to Waitakere, but if I had to go to Swanson I would probably just stay in the car and drive to the city or Henderson. Even if it wasn’t a great success with commuters it would work for shoppers, movie-goers, and the like.
Forget the failed Helensville train service. It was always designed to fail with only one daily service each way, and buses running in parallel. A really enlightened provider would have a bus connecting with the trains but that would be too intelligent for our transport planners. Why not use the existing rail corridor and get some return on it, rather than let it rot. That is just common sense.
So my immediate post-electrification suggestion is a two-hourly diesel shuttle between Swanson and Huapai and extend it to Waimauku and Helensville as patronage growth demands.
I like the shuttle idea rather than a whole train swanson to huapai
Geoff, Scott, and Jon make good points about possible services north of Swanson. I agree that they should be considered, although a diesel Swanson north service would need to be left a few years until the EMUs have freed up existing kit. These areas are likely to grow we should plan for the likely launch of such a service both with the care taken with existing infrastructure and rolling stock but also in planning new bus routes and housing. Of course a case for any such services should be pushed by the local residents, So Scott you should organise and deal first with your local board, by all means write a guest post to work through your thoughts.
This all supports the end of the Swanson-Waitakere run with electrification.
Electrify to Pukekohe, station at Drury. And likewise plan for future Waiuku-Puke diesel run?, timed to meet the Pukekohe services.
Slightly off topic, but regards your comment – “Electrify to Pukekohe, station at Drury. And likewise plan for future Waiuku-Puke diesel run?, timed to meet the Pukekohe services.” Agree with the first part, but nobody is going to catch a train from Waiuku to Puke in order to change for Auckland. Such a service would be viable if it ran Waiuku to Papakura (and preferably through to Manukau when they can bother to lay the southern connection). A huge chunk of Waiuku’s population heads north up the motorway every morning, a PT alternative couldn’t fail – especially connecting to the new electrified system. All the infrastructure is in place apart from about four sets of level crossing signals.
Why wouldn’t people change at Puke? Still be quicker to city if the connections were timed, this is assuming EMUs running fom Puke.
But not as quick as heading North to Papakura, which is the direction of the major commuting flow. Why travel South for several Kms and then re-trace your route in a northerly direction? Look at the map – it makes no sense. Surely the whole point of electrification is that it gets you there quicker.
Well this is not a big deal as I’m sure buses and park’n’ride will do for a long time but Puke IS NOT south of Waiuku. It is northeast. It’s on the way. But sure if the EMUs stop at Papakura that’s where you would expect people to join the RTN, but I am expecting them to be going as far a Pukekohe either from the start or not too long after. So it would make sense for Pukekohe to be served by feeder services from the the surrounding hinterland; Pokeno, Waiuku etc. buses, trains, mopeds, whatever.
The junction of the Mission Bush branch and the NIMT is at Paerata. To get from Paerata to Pukekohe one travels South on the NIMT. Given that the Papakura station track layout is being modified for a diesel shuttle operation it would make more sense to run a Waiuku-Papakura shuttle rather than a Waiuku-Pukekohe shuttle. Such a shuttle could stop at Waiuku, Glenbrook, and perhaps a new station on the western edge of Pukekohe (Helvetia).
hi Trickster. I haven’t seen the breakdown for individual polling booths in Waitakere. But historically, it depends where you are in Waitakere Electorate how people vote. For example, people in Kumeu tend to be pretty solid National Party voters because it’s a rural, highly affluent, lifestyle block style area. Whereas people in Piha are very Green.
I’d also make the point that you don’t actually need the majority of a population to be opposed to a project, juts a very vocal and well organized minority. I certainly know many environmentalists who live in the Waitakere area, and could run well organized opposition to the cancellation of a rail service.
Also, I don’t think it matters how green you are in Waitakere in terms of your transport choices – if you live in such a sprawling, low density area, you’re going to drive most of the time. This is why I’m a little bit sceptical about environmentalists who choose to live in such areas and then campaign for a compact city, low carbon lifestyle etc. There’s a whiff of hypocrisy about it.
I’m pretty sceptical about the prospect of any rail service ever being viable out in the far West for many years. When I looked into why the Helensville rail service trial had failed, the answer was pretty clear. There is just not the population out in that part of Auckland to support a service – the towns to the south like Pukekohe and Drury have much bigger populations than towns to the North-West like Huapai and Waitakere.
Also, are any of those North-West areas zoned for major development in the Plan? I thought that was happening further to the East, around Westgate and Massey.
“When I looked into why the Helensville rail service trial had failed, the answer was pretty clear. There is just not the population out in that part of Auckland to support a service – the towns to the south like Pukekohe and Drury have much bigger populations than towns to the North-West like Huapai and Waitakere.”
Actually, there’s plenty of commuters to make the route viable – the road between Kumeu and Brigham’s Creak Rd is the busiest stretch of non-motorway road in North Auckland (maybe even Auckland – but I’m not sure about that) outside of the metro-urban limit – it’s traffic flow is even higher than the road that will be replaced by the Holiday Highway. The reason it failed was because there was only one service in each direction a day, it was miles too slow, and it kept breaking down.
In order for it to be viable, the infrastructure needs serious investment, which is why I think a shuttle service to Brighams Creek or Westgate, and then a busway down the NW Motorway is a much better idea.
Re comments about the rail service to Helensville not working, it did not work because there was only one train each way a day, it was unreliable and often broke down. Also the fact that it is a long way & a slow journey via diesel probably did not help.
Westgate is in the process of big development, how about direct light rail via highway 16 from town servicing this area out to Kumeu, Waimauku maybe even further eventually depending on demand instead of the suggestion of going to Kumeu via Waitakere via train, it would be more direct, quicker and therefore probably more appealing to commuters
Nick R wrote: [Huapai to Henderson is 16km via the SH16 corridor, and just under 20km via the rail corridor.]
Indeed, but the bus still takes an hour, while a train would be 30 odd minutes. Half the time!
Amy wrote: [When I looked into why the Helensville rail service trial had failed, the answer was pretty clear. There is just not the population out in that part of Auckland to support a service]
Have you seen SH16 through Kumeu at 7am? It’s nose to tail traffic. The reason the train failed is that it misidentified the market. The main market is for people travelling to Henderson and New Lynn to work their 9 to 5 jobs. However, the train would drop them off at 7:30am (way too early), and not pick them up again until 6pm. Too early in the morning and too late in the evening. The key to making it work was to have a second train an hour after the morning service, and an hour ahead of the evening service. ARTA wasn’t interested in making it work, so no changes were made. They didn’t even bother advertising the service.
Agree about the Helensville service, it was set up to fail, the train would have also been used by school children that go to the schools in town had they not been running at such ridiculous hours
Maybe time for a comment from a Waimauku resident who actually uses Waitakere Station and even used Waimauku when the Helensville trial was running. A few points;
1st to get it off my chest: The Helensville trial was the right idea at the wrong time – repeat again once petrol is over $3/lt using smaller more frequent railcar type trains shuttling between Helensville & Swanson and see what happens. Even though a simple look at a map shows going to the city from Helensville via Waitakere is a daft idea given the more direct Wastgate route.
2nd: Once I have driven all the way to Waitakere the extra five mins up & over the hill to Swanson is worth it for a nicer station better parking and COFFEE!! So most of us not within walking distance of Waitakere would say close it. But increase the parking at Swanson please.
3rd: Make it temporary until electrification goes further North.
4th: Don’t get precious about closing parts of the network that arent working, try some other PT option, it may work better. Remember the objective is increased efficient PT use.
Thanks for all the contributions, it’s nice to know you care about us Outer Westies even though we vote strange.
You’ll be please to know that AT is currently negotiating with Kiwirail to lease some land next to the station to expand the park n ride at Swanson.
And prize for the most reasoned comment of the thread goes to Mr Plod! Nice tone sir and balanced thinking.
You lot are welcome to stop wasting your time discussing trains to Waiuku – it will not happen, Period.
To do so would require massive changes to the GVR safety case, installation of full signalling and interlocking, reclassification under the Railways Act, and it would have to become part of the National Controlled network – ie GVR will not have control of their line!
With the limited resources we have, Pukekohe should be the sole focus for Rail Operations south of Papakura, as it is already established. Before we even consider trains to Waiuku, which as I have already pointed out will not happen at all, we should first and foremost establish that there is actually demand for it. Best way to do this is establish a network of relatively frequent Bus Services to the country towns and build up demand first!
Never say never. While I love going to GVR, improved pt is the goal and EMU’s are the means to achieving said goal on heavy rail lines. If, in the future, demand from Waiuku is then change will happen.
I will quite confidently say never! Unless GVR relenquish their line to Kiwirail Network (which they won’t), serious money be planted into the line itself and its signalling (who pays as Waiuku is part in Waikato, and they certainly will not fund this), demand has not been proven (Waiuku only gets one bus a day with very poor loadings).
Please tell me Bryce EXACTLY how rail to Waiuku will happen? I am yet to see any case for it, nor any evidence to suggest it is even remotely possible, both legally and financially!!
I think it’s more likely that a park ‘n ride could be built at Mission Bush, and run the diesel shuttle between there and Papakura.
We all got letters over the weekend about the proposed closure in 2016, so looks like it will be closing.
Quite sad, but with the degraded service and constant cancelled trains I guess this reduce people using the service.
Gary Fawcett