This is a cross post from Adventures in Transitland by Darren Davis. However, based on the rhetoric of the incoming government it’s hard to see any of it progressing.
Plans are proceeding for additional train stations for Te Huia in the Upper North Waikato. Here’s an update on where this work has got to.
Up in the Upper North Waikato
A business case wrapped up in August 2023 into additional station stops for Te Huia in the Upper North Waikato at Te Kauwhata, Pōkeno and Tūākau. These station stops are all closer to Auckland than any of the current Te Huia station stops. In particular, Pōkeno has grown very strongly, with a larger number of people who commute to work in Auckland, while significant growth is planned for Te Kauwhata and more modest growth in Tūākau
Work on this business case has been reported to community boards such as Pōkeno and Tūākau and to the Waikato District Council and Waikato Regional Council. But before we dive into the detail, let’s look at some of these opportunities to provide fast-growing communities in the North Waikato with access to existing and future rail services.
The story of the stations
In 2005, Pōkeno had a population of just 500. By 2021, that number had increased by 341% to 5,545 with growth continuing unabated. According to 2018 Census data, 666 Pōkeno residents commuted to work in Auckland, a number that has likely significantly increased since then. At present, the first bus from Pōkeno at 6:10am would get you to Waitematā/ Britomart Station in Auckland City Centre at 8:46am by connecting to another bus at Pukekohe which connects to the train at Papakura, while Google Maps estimates a car travel time of up to 2 hours and 10 minutes, which is not much better. The Te Huia Hamilton to Auckland train passes through but does not stop in Pōkeno. But if it did, it would take well over an hour off the current public transport travel time.
Similarly, Te Kauwhata’s current population of 2,760 is projected to triple over the next eight years with 1,600 new homes being developed by Winton and Kāinga Ora. This significant residential population increase is not accompanied by a commensurate increase in nearby employment meaning that most residents are required to commute to areas with substantial employment, such as South Auckland and Hamilton. Currently, Te Kauwhata has just two weekday bus services to Hamilton, taking just under an hour and a half and a single weekday bus service to Pukekohe, taking an hour. Te Huia, if it stopped, would take around an hour and a quarter to Puhinui and 40 minutes to Rotokauri Station in Te Rapa, Hamilton.
While growth is more muted in Tūākau, there is strong support there for the town to be once again served by rail. Tūākau has a population of 5,890 with a higher-than-average growth rate which could see the population almost double by 2031. At the 2018 Census, 1,113 people left Tūākau for work with the vast majority going to Auckland. This means that even though growth is more muted, the size of the potential market, at least in the short term, is the largest.
All three towns were considered as potential station stop locations in the business case process. But Ngāruawāhia, not considered, also presents a good opportunity for a revived station location as one platform still exists at the former station site. The town is the kick-off point for the Te Awa cycleway to Hamilton, Cambridge and beyond and is a key site for Waikato Tainui with the Turangawaewae Marae, Kingitanga Reserve, Turangawaewae House and the Puke-i-aahua Pā site. And if you feel like getting some exercise, I can recommend the Hakarimata Summit Track, easily accessible from the town centre. It is a 335 metre climb to the 374 metre summit (higher than the Auckland SkyTower) with 1,349 nearly continuous steps. Quite the workout as I can attest to from personal experience!
Now back to the business case…
The completed business case was reported to Waikato District Council’s Infrastructure Committee on 16 August 2023, to the full Waikato District Council on 28 August 2023 and to the Waikato Regional Council Future Proof Public Transport subcommittee on 25 August 2023. The business case is included in this agenda here.
The business case recommended a station at Tūākau in the short term (within 3-5 years) and said that there was also a good case for a station at Pōkeno within the same period. However, it noted that this two-station solution would require time savings for Te Huia which would be further investigated in a Detailed Business Case (DBC). The economic case for one or both stations would be strengthened by more Te Huia services, noting as per my previous post here that Waka Kotahi declined reallocation of already existing funds to enable such additional service to be provided.
The business case did not preclude the re-opening of Te Kauwhata Station in the medium term (within 6+ years of a station being constructed at Tūākau and/or Pōkeno) particularly if additional Te Huia services are introduced which provides for commuter travel to and from Hamilton.
The unconfirmed minutes of the Waikato Regional Council Future Proof Public Transport Subcommittee on 25 August 2023 follows:
Of note is that Waikato Regional Council has made its commitment dependent on a joint Auckland Waikato inter-regional rail and passenger transport strategy.
The Waikato District Council staff recommendations covered similar ground. But it did include the perhaps obvious proviso that progressing additional Upper North Waikato stations was interdependent on Te Huia actually continuing to run beyond when its current funding runs out on 30 June 2024.
One interesting element of the business case is the assessment of station costs. These are P95 costs (at the 95th percentile of probability):
- Tūākau – $6,390,000
- Pōkeno – $9,230,000
- Te Kauwhata – $7,420,000
These costs exclude any land acquisition as the two stations can be constructed entirely on KiwiRail/ Waikato District Council owned land. This assumes no Park and Ride or bus interchange at Tūākau, and no bus interchange at Pōkeno.
But, at $23,040,000, this is still rather cheaper than the $495,000,000 budgeted for three southern stations in Auckland at Drury, Ngākōroa and Paerātā.1
Next steps
Both Waikato Regional Council and Waikato District Council are seeking $500,000 (assuming 51% co-funding from Waka Kotahi) to take this to the Detailed Business Case stage in the first year of the next Regional Land Transport Plan cycle (2024-2025). This of course assumes that Te Huia continues to operate beyond 30 June 2024.
Implementation funding for Tūākau (and possibly Pōkeno) stations would be considered for post year 4 in Waikato District Council Council’s 2024-2034 Long Term Plan (that is from 2028 onwards) and in the Waikato Regional Land Transport Plan.
This means that it would be unlikely to see any stations completed before the end of the decade and any re-opening Te Kauwhata Station would be well into the 2030s. Interestingly, Waikato Regional Council is undertaking a Detailed Business Case into a hybrid longer-term rolling stock solution for Te Huia, piggy-backing on the Lower North Island’s rolling stock order. According to current timings shared by Greater Wellington and Horizons regional councils, this rolling stock could be delivered in tranches in 2028 and 2029.
So while seeing new and re-opened stations outside of Auckland, like Rotokauri and Huntly in 2021, is a good thing, it seems that there will be a while to wait before we see new old stations (as there used to be stations in all three towns) in the Upper North Waikato.
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Literally the only thing stopping me and my partner and family doing the Te Awa cycleway and pumping all our hard-earned Auckland cash into the Waikato economy for food and accommodation etc is the fact that we can’t get to it without a car + bike rack which would need to be parked at one end, meaning we’d need to do the trail both ways. Why is it so hard.
Not that it’s much use for larger groups, but the buses from Hamilton to Ngāruawāhia and Cambridge both have racks for two bikes on the front and will also take folding bikes inside. We’ve taken the bus north from Hamilton and ridden back on Te Awa that way.
Does Te Huia even run in the weekends yet? I was going to take my kids down to Hamilton for a day and from memory there isn’t a service to do that!
I runs on Saturday but from Hamilton to Auckland then back.
Te Huia is gone the day Simeon Brown becomes transport minister. The guy sees transport entirely through a culture war lens and he is going to kill as much PT as possible simply to own the libs.
It’s hard because there’s no one organisation responsible for managing and developing inter-regional passenger rail in New Zealand. Te Huia is effectively spread between different bits of Auckland Transport, Kiwirail, Waikato Council, Waka Kotahi and probably a few others. It’s good that it exists, but it has taken much more work to get to this stage than is ideal.
These unclear, overlapping juristictions are a bureacratic bungle and are not conducive to long-term stability. They’re also irrelevant to 99% of passengers; they just want a public transport system that works.
Agreed and don’t forget Hamilton city council yet another entity.
Yes of course: Hamilton CC. I’d forgotten about them but they’re really important in this story.
The Pukekohe electrification team should just roll on Southwards once they are done – electrify to Tuakau and Pokeno and run Auckland’s trains into the North Waikato.
I think they want to realign some of the track to allow for faster trains…. until National arrived again. I guess good things take time, unfortunately counted in political terms in NZ.
Tuakau and Pokeno are under the Waikato Regional Council so, there will will be need to have discussion between the Waikato regional Council, Auckland Council and Auckland Transport. Since Auckland Council and Auckland Transport are currently not happy that Te Huia is operating on the Auckland metro rail network north of Papakura, there is needs to be discussion about Auckland helping to pay for Te Huia, as it is a passenger train ‘extention’ from Auckland to Hamilton, especially when the National Ticketing system is being rolled out from 2024.
A point to note, Auckland metro rail network finishes at Papakura.
No it doesn’t. It finishes at Pukekohe!
Tuakau and Pokeno are under the Waikato District Council, not the Regional Council.
For such a small amount comparative to pretty much everything else that is built this is a no brainer. Give them the money and get it done, no need to wait years and years.
Great well constucted comment _thanks
It will be great when the rebuilt Pukekohe Railway Station opens in late 2024 and Te Huia users can disembark Pukekohe.
Do you know if everyone will change trains in Puke? Or will Te Huia continue on to The Strand still? Or changing trains at Puke just becomes an option?
I presume Te Huia will continue to the Strand. Passengers should be able to disembark at Pukekohe, including to transfer to a suburban all stations train or a bus.
Te Huia is still planned to terminate at The Strand but the question is, will Kiwirail and Auckland Council allow Te Huia to stop at Pukekohe once the station is completed. Waikato Regional Council is open to a Pukekohe stop for Te Huia.
There is good numbers of boarding’s and deboarding’s at Papakura due to good Metro bus and train connections compared to Pukekohe.
Why Pukekohe or Papakura – they have their own regular train service on the southern line? I can understand Puhinui, given the airport express…
KLK – it makes sense to stop at one of them, probably Pukekohe, as it’s the first station coming into Auckland, making it easier for transfers south of Puhinui.
It shouldn’t be both though.
Yeah just stop Pukekohe rather than Papakura.
Once hybrids are in use then Britomart not The Strand.
If they need to make transfers south of Puhinui, get off at Puhinui and take the southern line south.
It would add over an hour to the trip to:
1. zoom past Pukekohe
2. zoom past Papakura
3. arrive at Puhinui
4. catch a train back to Pukekohe, the destination, stopping at all stops
And it’d surely still be an hour if (4) was an express.
That’d be an insane route design, KLK. Even just doubling back from Papakura adds a lot of pointless travel, but it’s a moot point right now.
If Te Huia can only stop at one Auckland station, the answer will always be the first one available because you can never make a transfer compensate for traversing x km away from the destination and then x km back. Especially when x > 20km.
As to the question of whether it should be Pukekohe or Pukekohe and Papakura… well, obviously the most sensible thing to do would be to rip up that insane barrier separating platforms 1 & 2 and just have everyone disembark Te Huia and hop into an EMU, and then run that Puhinui -> Otahuhu -> Britomart. But that’s unlikely to happen because bureaucracy. If the new Pukekohe has got that kind of transfer potential, then the rational thing to do would be to do it then.
I guess you could try and do a platform 3 and 4 transfer, but the whole exercise is moot because the reasons why it’s not done have nothing to do with rational operations but instead what makes the most sense for the agencies involved.
We don’t know whether that will be the case. If Pukekohe is permitted then will Papakura be not permitted? Puhinui was added to serve Auckland Airport so I can’t see that being dropped.
Of course a sensible solution would be to have a commuter rail authority that stops AT being so damned possessive about “their” stations.
Its a service to get people between the Waikato and Auckland central as fast as possible.
Will there really be that much demand for people going to/from Pukekohe? Sorry if I am missing some current/pent up demand. I suppose if we increase speed in other areas it wouldn’t make much difference.
A significant number of people use it to get to/from the airport. Lots of people also get on and off at Papakura so Te Huia is much more than just “central Auckland”. It makes transfers easy.
Puhinui gets to the airport too.
It actually is about central auckland, otherwise we wouldn’t have it. That was its whole business case.
It’s going to be very slow if we start adding stops already on the southern line. Maybe there is an argument for Pukekohe given its the first stop across the border. But Papakura and then Puhinui is going to start to weigh it down, time wise. Unless we get some express services or greatly enhance speed through the greenfield areas.
“In 2005, Pōkeno had a population of just 500. By 2021, that number had increased by 341% to 5,545 with growth continuing unabated.” The math does not check out here. 5545 is about 1100% of 500, so it had grown by 1000%.
Way before 2005 I was one of the 500 (pretty stable count for years) residents! Yes maybe that percent is year on year growth or something.
They only intent to spend 500k on the business case, how much accurate math do you think such a paltry sum buys?
I was a semi regular traveller on the early morning 394 buses from Pukekohe to Papakura getting out of a heated car and into a freezing bus during August. It took till Dury for the bus to warm up a bit. The staff at Papakura were great making sure we got onto the train. The park and ride was usually about half full wben I returned at 2 pm. Of course as soon as the trains return I expect only the early birdies will get a park. They also held the bus at Pukekohe waiting for the bus from Pokeno. I learnt the correct prouncment from the voice so Pu ke kohe. Don’t run it all together.
If there were hybrid trains running between Hamilton and Britomart would the safety police allow them into Britomart. I am thinking of the fire risk with lithium batteries. Presumably the everyday units have batteries I note that the lights don’t go out when you go through a neutral section.
The Lower NI trains are tri-mode (DC/Battery/Diesel) given that the electric gear would need replacing to operate on the Auckland (and central NI if you wanted to extend services further south) network removing that batteries at the same time would be easy.
Think of it like the British class 800/801/802/805/810, they are all Hitachi A trains but with different power configurations, buying a mix of models still has a economies of scale benefits.
Have they been ordered?
All very well but the Te Huia trial period ends 30 June 2024. Will this government commit to continuing the service?
The only thing that could save Te Huia is the inclusion of NZ First in the government.
Almost certainly can guarantee that they will not
Chris Bishop is on record saying that he has zero interest in expanding Rail in provincial New Zealand. This was stated at the Rail in NZ conference in Welling ton a couple of months ago. It was just a flat NO.
So, say goodbye to any hopes and dreams of a rail revolution in NZ for the next 6 years. Lux has already announced cancellation of Light Rail today, according to the headline I just saw.
Buy shares in Fulton Hogan and asphalt companies instead…
Seems in keeping, once a cigarette lobbyist now saying he is against a safe mode (rail) in preference for a mode that results in hundreds killed directly and indirectly each year. Hope he doesn’t have designs on the health portfolio.
Per passenger mile in the US buses are now safer than trains. Seems like National has its priorities right if they’re deprecating the more dangerous mode. Also males are much more likely to die on bicycles than females on a per capita basis. For health reasons the single biggest way to improve cycling death statistics (even bigger than improved infrastructure) would be to ban males from cycling.
Obviously passenger rail is vital for any climate change mitigation; and the fact that we have an underutilised network is very sad. But yes the helpful multi agency set up makes it very easy for infinite delays, while we all, quite literally, burn.
I caught the Onehunga Limited Stop train yesterday, 7 minutes from Britomart to Newmarket.
The efficiency is undeniable with the investment that the CRL has received, but we cannot stop at just our biggest city.
Our greatest asset as a country are the rail lines preserved for freight, and they should be returned to passengers also. I am tired of hearing about Great Train Journeys followed by Fix the Pot Holes.
The 1950s are over, we need to move to the 1940s!
Is it the Waikato ratepayers who pay for the thing. along with some NZTA funding?
If that is the case, would those Waikato folk be happy subsidising those Auckland commuters?
These are all Waikato residents remember.
This is such a no brained.
What staggers me is the cost of the stations and the extended timeline to procure.
If this still a ‘trial’ all we need is a couple of long concrete pads with a shelter and ablution blocks. Granted the necessary grade separated connection between the platforms and safety barriers will be expensive, but $6M plus each must be a gold plated price.
When AT ran the trial trains through to Helensville they did the absolute minimum upgrade to the intermediate stations but it worked. There were no toilets, no car park, just some signage, some fences and some extra height on the platforms. Why is this not good enough for the Waikato trial? And if it all works add the gold leaf later.
Yes and the Helensville trial failed, what does that tell you?
One unreliable slow old crappy train each peak does not a service make. THAT is why it failed.
I think it is due to the virtual banning of at grade pedestrian crossings on the rail tracks. Therefore you must provide a bridge or an underpass. If it’s a bridge it must have elevators to cater for disabled people and others who struggle with steps. That’s where the multi-million dollar price tag even for the simplest of station layouts comes from.
In Tuakau there’s an obvious gap there where the station used to be. There’s an island plaform which looks like it may have been accessed at its western end from the adjacent level crossing. Look at Google Streetview: https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.2566952,174.9474609,3a,67.3y,127.57h,88.58t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sOVYMtkGYKCA4TCzsGvRZng!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
The civil engineering to restore this station would be extremely simple if previously-existing standards were able to be used.
If there were a bit more ambition it’d be an outstanding spot for some medium-rise transit-oriented development.
As another reasonably cheap option I wonder if they would run shuttles between waiuku and pukekohe or paerata.
The ADLs that ran between puke and papakura are stored at glenbrook vintage railway and maybe could be used.
Stops at waiuku, glenbrook, and patumahoe before hitting the auckland network at either puke or patumahoe.
Of course GVR owns the line from glenbrook to waiuku so would have to be paid track access charges.
What is with these ridiculous costings?
100m long platform, 4m wide. 1m high. That’s 400m3 of concrete, add in steel mesh/rebar and boxing etc you can do all this for about $200k. Add in a shelter and some toilets and fencing. All up under $500k. Why are they trying to gold plate everything (and yet still get a barely above shitty outcome)?
As for Te Huia, I’m interested in plans to speed it up, are track improvements going to do this or what?
I would imagine that realistically moving to a _MU is really the only way to efficiently get more speed out.
The existing train set could run a lot faster than an Auckland – Hamilton timetable which is today over two and a half hours. And given the third main hopefully will.
Is this business case available to the public yet?
It’s been available for years. You can download it here: https://docplayer.net/103573477-Waikato-regional-council-401-grey-street-hamilton-east-council-agenda.html
https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/media/new-services-added-to-te-huia-timetable/
New services for Te Huia.
Nice. That will be a lot better, a Sunday service next maybe??
Anyway pity for uptake, that all the holiday weekend etc services won’t be running I see, I guess due to mainly Auckland rail shutdowns. If Pukekohe had finished it’s station work/electrification like all these things should of years ago it could of gone to there at least.
You say upper north Waikato however generally it’s either referred to as North Waikato OR Lower Waikato. Upper Waikato is closer to Taupo so your terms are oxymoronic
You’ve forgot to put “River” in there.
As someone who calls Ngaruawahia home, I’ve always seen myself as being from the upper Waikato.
I feel that kicking the can down the road for the reinstatement of Ngaruawahia’s railway station and rail services is a bigger miss then Pokeno. It has a larger population who would be more likely to use it to go both ways, especially towards Hamilton, then the other turns mentioned. It is also poorer, so would provide better access to employment and a greater social good for the town then the others mentioned.
Yes I think Ngaruawahia should be the next one after the other three.
How can on earth can Upper Waikato be closer to Taupo?
I imagine the terminology might have something to do with the flow of the Waikato River
I am hoping that commonsense will prevail when the new Pukekohe station opens, and that Te Huia will stop there, and not at Papakura? At the moment, whenI travel to Hamilton, I have to travel from Pukekohe NORTH to Papakura to catch Te Huia, which then comes all the way back to Pukekoke to go to Hamilton. Surely that will be what happens when the new station opens?
Yes I agree they should drop Papakura and pickup Pukekohe instead. Further north we have the fabulous Puhinui if not The Strand or hopefully in the future, Waitemata. While the service is still pretty slow I would be tempted to add in Otahuhu as stop as it has great connections to save users time (It should have a spare platform if they drop the post CRL west to south direct line). Once the service is faster Otahuhu could be dropped & the Auckland metro service could be used instead.
National just announced they have cut funding for regional rail.
It seems you can subsidise regional roads, but not regional rail.
Sucks, but not a surprise. The Minister loathes anything that’s not a car/truck, and NACT hates anything not a car/truck.
NZF has done a shit job advocating for rail, they were meant to temper NACT but so far they’ve just been rolling over. Between Interislander, Marsden Point branch, and letting their transport needs be wrecked by the transport statements, transport wise NZF is just losing.