This post is a little bit of a rant about something that has been annoying me. Recently a change was made to how city bound trains operate through New Lynn which has resulted in dwell times being considerably slowed down. In the past trains would turn up at the platform, train staff would go though their normal procedure and then the train would depart. The signalling system had already picked up that the train was approaching the station and had activated the level crossing at the nearby Portage Rd.
New procedures mean that the train manager now needs to get off the train and has to walk to a box in the middle of the platform to swipe an electronic token which will then activate the crossing and signals. Now this may not sound too bad but I have often noticed that the train manager is not in a carriage that is close to where the box is meaning that they have to walk down the platform to do this and some even walk all the way back before closing the doors so the train can proceed. All up I have noticed that this adds up to 30 seconds to the stop at New Lynn which just makes it that much harder for trains to reach Britomart on time. In many ways this is the same sort of thing that used to have to happen under the old Mt Albert station and was something that was meant to have been eliminated with our new signalling system.
Of course there needs to be a reason for this change and unfortunately I don’t know what that reason is but is most likely to do with the length of time the barriers were down. The problem is that Portage Rd isn’t heavily used and normally I will only see a very small handful of cars waiting for trains to cross yet at in the morning peak trains already have hundreds of people on them by this point. To me it feels like we are now deliberately delaying trains just so that we can make it easier for a few drivers.
So Auckland Transport/Veolia/Kiwirail are you able to give us an explanation as to why you are now holding up packed trains at New Lynn. Better yet can you scrap this stupid policy and go back to the one that seemed to perfectly fine up until recently as in my books saving 30 seconds for a few hundred people on a train is far more important than making a few cars having to wait a bit longer.
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Yes, this seems particularly stupid. Vehicular traffic levels are pretty low on Portage Road and it can’t have been introduced as a result of residents complaining about the duration of the bells because there are no residential buildings in the vicinity. It has always struck me as bizarre that they didn’t deal with this issue at the time the New Lynn trench was constructed. I mean, eliminating level crossings was its primary rationale. More short-termist cost-cutting? Maybe AT should think about closing off Portage Road at the crossing once the Wolverton Road raceway is completed and then they can channel all vehicular traffic across the four overbridges in the vicinity.
“I mean, eliminating level crossings was its primary rationale. More short-termist cost-cutting?”
Depneds. It clearly was cost-cutting in a certain form, because yes – Portage Road COULD have been grade-separated. However, I presume it would have been quite costly, because it would have been at the eastern end of the trench, dirctly in front of a major rail bridge over the creek. So you couldn’t really have placed the rails lower or higher. So the road would have had to go quite a bit “up and over” – that adds not only the costs of the bridge itself, but also lots of property purchase, because you are cutting off access with the bridge embankments and need to provide alternatives etc… If you remember how expensive the trench was, and how hard it was to get it over the line, financially, not grade-separating this may have helped the trench become a reality. And as Matt L says – it used to work fine before the recent change.
From recollection, and I may well be wrong on this, the New Lynn trench came in way under budget, largely, I suspect, because it was wildly overestimated in the first place, being the first major piece of rail infrastructure constructed in Auckland for a very long time, although it is moot to consider it a piece of rail infrastructure when it is primarily about facilitating motor vehicle access.
Why don’t they just do what they do everywhere else that has a level crossing near a station (Ranui, Fruitvale, Glen Eden etc) and have a simple time delay on the signal? I can’t think of any reason why they need manual activation.
That’s the obvious thing to do. I have no idea why there is any need for manual intervention. Surely these things operate automatically… it isn’t the 19th century any more.
Around 1992 or so, I encountered a level crossing on the outskirts of Rome that was operated by a man in a hut. The barriers went down when the train was timetabled to arrive, and stayed down until it passed. With timetable delays, that could be 30 minutes or more. Knowing Italy, it’ll probably still be the same today. And the conductors on the trains will still be ripping off tourists… A friend only had a 100,000lira note (about $150?) to pay for his ticket. The conductor invented some sort of fine or charge that needed to be paid and stole the 100,000. He tried to get the police interested at Termini station, but to no avail.
yes and in Italy the trains are still limited to 80 km/h.
Ah, that explains why a couple of months back my Frecciarossa (with a specified max speed of 340 km/h) from Torino Porta Nuova to Roma Termini was so late!
it obviously had to wait for the man in the hut to lower the barriers. Or for the train manager to get change for a kiwi guy that wants to buy a 10$ ticket with a 150$ cheque
Not that fast. According to http://www.optolab.uniroma2.it/iwce9/train_timetable_frascati.pdf it takes 28 minutes to go around 20km. And it’s an hourly service. Not quite the frequency we have in Auckland or Wellington (where even Kapiti services are twice-hourly).
Very odd this is. In Japan, the vast majority of level crossing bells (irrespective of crossing usage) that are near stations, are triggered automatically like all other level crossings. On lines in the countryside, certain level crossings near stations are triggered manually from the station platform but the devices for this are at either end of the platform and certainly not in the middle.
Modernising of the rail network through electrification and station upgrades, brings Auckland in to the 20th Century at last but unfortunately, this method of triggering the Portage Road crossing gates, is yet another example of the 19th century rail thinking that is still pervasive in New Zealand. When will we grow up?
why can’t the train manager use a radio signal from a remote to triger the crossing signals? best of both worlds
Sorry, this is off-topic, but I wasn’t sure how/where to leave a “tip” for a future blog post. Are there stats on how crowded the car-parks servicing train stations are? The ones nearest mine, and others I’ve seen, are pretty full, making me wonder whether the lack of carpark space near the train station is deterring possible users of public transport? And is there some way to ask AT to look into this issue, or prepare some future plans? Thanks.
There are multiple posts discussing the costs of providing carparking at stations and how the cost associated isn’t worth the few extra passengers they would provide. The money is better spent on providing better frequencies or infrastructure elsewhere. Personally, I’d like to see 2 carparks at every station that has them converted to bicycle parking, you could provide space for 20-30 people instead of just 2 cars.
I’ve never come across data for train station parking lots, but have recently seen some on the Northern Busway Park n Rides. As an aside, they make very little impact upon busway patronage, furnishing about a 1,000 commuters per weekday (about 0.5 million unique trips a year) out of 5.7 million unique passenger trips per year on the busway overall. So less than 10%.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it were well less than that on the rail system.
Thanks, Nick & bbc. Maybe the bus system review will help- by having more frequent “feeder” buses to send passengers to the stations from the suburbs.
Yes that’s the plan which is why integrated ticketing and fares are so important….
Simple solution – why doesn’t the train manager get themselves organized and make sure they’re on the right carriage at new Lynn? That way it should take no time at all. The professionalism and efficiency of these train mangers in Auckland leaves a lot to be desired.
How will they know which carriage to be in, given that different trains stop at different parts of the platform?
Oh sorry, excuse my ‘ignorant’ thinking. I guess I’m just used to living in a city where the trains ALWAYS stop at the same spot on the platform. For example, if I want to get on carriage 3, I know exactly where to stand. Maybe this will change in Auckland with the new trains. Train managers should have a rough idea of what train will stop where. Why be on the last carriage if the box is near the first carriage? Etc
Maybe because you were BUSY dealing with customers in another part of the carriage? But heck, yeah, let’s blame an inefficient system on those who have to work around it.
Is it so hard at fruitvale rd to step out and get in the right carriage? I think it’s rediculius having this manual switch but since it’s there, the staff could certainly help speed things up a bit. It’s the same at Newmarket when most drivers just wonder leisurely to the other side.
I was crossing the Laxon Terrace level crossing on the Parnell-Newmarket line today (by foot), and noticed something a little weird. Just after I crossed the track the bells started ringing nd a city-bound train travelled through. The barrier then dropped, but another train then immediately came along (this one Newmarket-bound), and had to wait about 20-30 seconds for the barrier to drop again, before it could proceed.
This was in the peak of the pm rush hour, and it would seem a (most likely) very full train heading out of the city was given second priority to nothing (as no-one went through when the barrier was raised either time). The level crossing is only to assess a quiet cul-de-sac.
Not being a regular train to user (as I work very close to home, the bus network lacks integration, and the frequency’s are mainly crap (all things that can be fixed)), so I am wondering:
a) What causes a level crossing to be activated (asides from when it is manual like in this post)?
b) Will these issues (and others) be fixed with our electric trains – what about freight?
c) If not, will this cause issues once the CRL, Onehunga duplication and more trains have allowed frequency’s to be increased?
d) If not, what are we planning to do about this? (besides costly full grade-separation)
Thanks in advance.
Sarawia St is a major issue due to it’s proximity to the station and junction, so much so that apparently they considered grade separating it just to make the signalling system less complex there. The reason for the trains being held up is complex but I understand that they are still to go live with a key piece of equipment at train control that will automate things much more and improve things.
Trains stop at Sarawia St because of the conflicting track movements at the junctions and crossovers. They need to wait for the points to change, and the signal won’t clear until the route has been set. These delays would still happen even if the level crossing were removed.
Why they built the junction with a single track section for Western trains, I’ll never understand. There were other junction options available to them that would have eliminated about 50% of these delays, but they chose to spend all the money for it on providing a double track link on the north side of the junction, where it’s not needed. So single track for where all the trains are, and double track for where there are no trains.
And what if, for example, the TM forgot to swipe the token?
Then the train sits at the platform there till he does as the signal for the driver is tied in with it.
Or just have the track circuit that trips the crossing immediately east of the platform, so the train trips the crossing only after it starts, thus avoiding the station dwell time adding to the crossing closed time.
Then the train is speed limited as necessary to allow the regulation warning time before it reaches the crossing. At a guess this would cost no more than a few seconds, certainly not 30 seconds.
Hamish, I use the Sarawia St crossing occasionally and agree there’s a problem (for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians) with train frequency that will only get worse with electrification. You’re right that trains often stop on the Parnell tunnel side for some reason.
Grade separation is not feasible due to the sharp right hand turn into Laxon Tce. I believe that KiwiRail’s preference is closure (it will also be one of the under-height crossings). While it may appear to be a quiet cul-de-sac, there are actually a large number of dwellings, including the apartment blocks at #3.
There was a proposal to close this crossing and provide access to Laxon Tce from James Cook Cres via Furneaux Way (a private road) and the private walkway, but there just isn’t enough room. I understand that council thinking now is to replace the Sarawia St crossing with a road bridge from Cowie St into Newmarket Park, where there’s much more room. This would involve a 100m bridge and 150m extension of Laxon Tce. I’m not sure whether a pedestrian footbridge would be built at Sarawia St as well.
The trains stop on the Parnell side to wait for track clearance through the single track portion of the junction, which was a design cock up by KiwiRail Infrastructure (then Ontrack). It’s unrelated to the level crossing.
Thanks Geoff, but where is the single track? Or are you referring to a west-bound train on the NBL downline waiting to cross the NBL upline at the delta onto the NAL? As I recall, whenever a train is waiting on the Parnell side downline there’s a Newmarket to Britomart train coming through on the upline.
There’s only one track between the Sarawia St crossovers, and the two Western Line platforms, so opposing Western Line services between Newmarket and Britomart have to take turns using it.
Sorry Geoff, I still don’t get this. There’s a double crossover just south of Sarawia St – an X if you like – then the NBL downline to NAL upline crossover at the delta, and finally the third track at Newmarket Station (Patform 1) that duplicates the NAL upline. So I still can’t see a single line section. Maybe you mean that the single NBL upline serves the dual NAL upline platforms, but it’s downline trains from Britomart that have to wait.
Grade separation isn’t necessary, as it would be easier and cheaper to just reroute Sarawia St to come down the hill behind the Mobil service station, avoiding the need to cross the railway at all.
Geoff, the problem is access to Laxon Tce which is a cul-de-sac, coupled with the increasing train frequency at the Sarawia St level crossing such that when the EMUs start running it will be frequently closed during the day.
Yes I know, and if you relocate the road to come down the hill behind the Mobil, then problem solved, as there’s no need to cross the railway.
Regarding the single track at Newmarket, that all Western Line trains need to share, see the below drawing:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8007/7634922190_7a44dfaa9f_c.jpg
Since they skimped on the track layout to save costs, they doubled the number of conflicts at the junction, which is why so many trains wait at the signals near Sarawia St. Would still happen if the level crossing was removed.
Thanks for your patience Geoff.
OK, Laxon Tce: I think you’re suggesting it could be extended through Newmarket Park to Ayr St, which I agree is another (albeit expensive) option. Sorry, I thought you were alluding to Sarawia St. But I believe the current plan is to extend Cowie St over the rail line as it’s already elevated and there’s vacant land at the end of the street (not sure who owns it though). Of course it may not happen, and the Laxon Tce residents may have to put up with it.
As for the single/dual line, the design shows continuous up and down lines which I thought were already built – I’ll have to pop up on my Segway to check! You’ll be aware that the Google map is about two years old, taken during construction of the delta. Even the substation (cross-tie) within the delta was not built then. Sorry, don’t know how to upload links to photos etc. A bit ignorant in that department I’m afraid (yeah, as well).
There are other tracks at Newmarket, but I haven’t included the ones that Western Line trains can’t use.