Took a trip out to Panmure today to get an update as to what is happening with AMETI and to watch the mayor ceremonially pour some concrete. We were mainly looking at the bit in what will be a covered trench and will eventually form part of a new road that bypasses the Panmure town centre which is shown in blue in the image below (the tunnel part will be between Ellerslie Panmure Highway and Mountain Rd which is the part next to the train station).

The trench itself has pretty much been fully dug out now and the walls around it are largely installed. Part of what will eventually form the new busway bridge has also been installed already so it appears good progress is being made.

Once the project is completed the platform shown will be widened out to the wall you can see going in down the middle of the photo. It doesn’t show it that well but that will make the platform really really wide (by Auckland standards) so there will be plenty of space for people to wait. And here is what things look like from within the trench, looking north.

And some images of Len pouring the concrete along with the end result.

AT say that once this link road is finished it will free up the North/South traffic from the Panmure roundabout which will enable it to be turned into a signalised intersection and that piece of work will be started in Phase 2. That will provide vastly improved connections for walking/cycling to occur, especially for those who live to the south of the town centre (Ireland Rd/Lagoon Dr) and also includes the busway from Panmure to Pakuragna. AT also released images of what the upgraded Panmure train station and bus interchange will look like and as soon as they flick me the soft copies I will put together a separate post for them but it is fair to say they are a vast improvement on what exists today.

(edit: The station pics were in an email that they had already sent me but that I hadn’t looked at properly)

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26 comments

  1. Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but will the new road (in blue) be next to the railway? The map makes it look like it’s replacing the railway line which I’m assuming is not what the intention is.

        1. The trench is only 220m long so for most it would probably take less than a minute. I imagine it would be less hassle to carry on through it than go up to street level, cross EP highway, the busway and go along the local road before heading back down to the new link road to head north.

        2. At least there is a separated cycle path. Making the lighting and barrier design good between the car section and the path is critical to it being friendly and used

        3. Ignoring the whole point that cyclists tend to be fresh air people… That is a shit load of dirt they’ll have to move for a transport mode that is likely to be pretty marginal. Also, they have a high median barrier between the traffic but a low wide margin between the traffic and the bicycles, and they’ve avoided putting in glass panels to protect cyclists from fumes like I’ve seen in an image for the proposed second Mt Vic tunnel in Wellington. Are the cycle lanes actually just a quick way of enabling the tunnel to be made 2×2 in the future? Does it make sense to have a 2×2 tunnel, given the road width on each end?

        4. Yes I believe it is designed to be 2×2 in the future if it is needed so that median between the traffic and cycle lane would be reduced. I agree that having cyclists in a tunnel is not ideal but as mentioned there are actually both options available. Carry on through the tunnel which is only just over 200m or go up to the street level and cross the street, at least people are being given the option rather than be forced through.

        5. the tunnel is at least orientated reasonbly well to the prevailing winds and should have a pretty good natural flushing action

  2. Plans for the station are available on the AT site (link below). Another awesome addition to the station network. I wouldn’t be surprised if this place ultimately ranks third on the entire network, patronage wise, after Britomart and Newmarket – especially if the bus routes are built right out to Pakuranga (knock on wood). Will really give New Lynn a run for its money. Good stuff LB!
    http://www.aucklandtransport.govt.nz/improving-transport/ameti/phase-1-panmure-construction/Documents/panmure-station-update.pdf

    1. Yes they have just gone up today. I still prefer the look of New Lynn myself and agree this will be a very important station. I really like the way these stations are developing.

      1. Very nasty computer graphics showing a b-grade design, a step down from New Lynn for sure. But still a vast improvement on what we had.

        And what’s with the park ‘n’ rides? These will go with the new bus programme, surely?

    1. Thats after the CRL is built…use the tunneling machine to then dig under the existing double track line all the way from Waipuna Road to Glen Innes…with ventilation stacks every 50 metres!!

    2. The third track will go to the east of the current station so just out of shot to the left on the photo below the map. My understanding though is that while the bridges are being designed for it, the ground around the area will have to be dug out again to put it in.

  3. We need some over head wires for the EMU´s as well on that cross section. Surely the wiring through Panmure must be coming shortly?

        1. One (small) good thing for me is that you can make a connection without crossing the tracks, e.g. if a South-East Line was built diverging south of Panmure, you might transfer at Panmure if you were going from (say) Sylvia Park to Flat Bush. It’s not likely to be the case for Panmure, but it’d be a shame to build Newton as anything but a central island.

          Don’s reasons, though, I guess will remain mysterious.

        2. One of the main reasons for an island platform is that the access points to the platforms are reduced so that the number of turnstiles required is also less. In the AT drawings there is tow sets of escalators, stairs and lifts from the platforms each of which would require manned turnstiles, assuming that these were to be fitted in the future (which IMHO should be provided for in any new station). The duplication of escalators and lifts doubles installation and running costs
          Another reason is that should there be a need to single line run services this can be achieved much more easily with an island platform ie passengers only have to change sides of a platform instead of going up then down to change sides. Given that there may be a third main for freight (but not a forth) this could mean that one of the passenger lines may be used at times for bothway freight use. As mentioned by SteveD if another line were added interconnections are easier.
          In general the use of island platforms allows greater flexibility.

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