Government confirms a light rail rethink
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus.
Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects.…
198 Comments The Mayor on Light Rail
Yesterday the Herald ran an op-ed from Mayor Wayne Brown titled “The case for light rail is lighter than ever“, and a few things stood out. Here’s a snippet:
However, it’s getting more and more tricky to make a strong economic case for spending up to $29 billion on a single route of Auckland light rail, especially as the cost is expected to further increase according to Treasury’s Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update.…
What are the Rail Network Shutdown Outcomes?
The first of Kiwirail’s big network shutdowns to fix the foundations on our tracks is now well underway with the Southern Line closed between Otahuhu and Newmarket. This is following on from the network wide Christmas/New Year shutdown, during which Kiwirail say that nearly 1,300 people working across 69 different sites achieved: More than 28,000m3 of ballast laid (stones that the tracks sit on)
More than 4,600 new sleepers
More than 2.6km of new rail track
Installation of 16 complex structures, including turnouts and crossovers (which allow trains to move from one track to another) Earlier this week Transport Minister Michael Wood toured some of the work with Radio NZ reporting:
Wood said the projects were part of the Government’s commitment to providing better transport options for Aucklanders, and defended the disruption they would cause in the short term.…
A different Tunnelled Light Rail Option
Following the surprise resignation of Jacinda Ardern last week, her replacement, Chis Hipkins, has said:
Over the coming week, Cabinet will be making decisions on reining in some programs and projects that aren’t essential right now
That messaging is similar to what Jacinda Ardern said late last year and as with then, it’s unclear yet what projects will be reined in.…
Improving AT’s responses to PT disruption
Disruptions to public transport have long been a frustrating fact of life in Auckland, but the last year has taken this to a whole new level, with the ongoing longterm rail shutdowns with bus replacement services, plus thousands of bus cancellations a day becoming a regular occurrence.…
Rail buses are a pain – but they don’t have to be
This is a guest post by reader Grady Connell. It was originally published (in October 2022) on Today FM.
Road closed ahead. It’s a dreaded sign to see during any journey on the roading network. Seeing this sign usually means bumper-to-bumper traffic and a 10-minute or more longer detour winding through random back streets to get to your destination.…
Flashback Saturday: How to fund the CFN and save $14 billion
Most Saturdays we dig into the archives. This post by Matt was first published in September 2013 (note: you can now dig into our archives yourself by scrolling down and looking on the right hand side of the page).
On the topic of the Congestion Free Network, we frequently get asked what we would do about the roading network, and what projects we would change to go along with our proposal.…
2023 – The Year Ahead
Welcome to 2023. After wrapping up 2022 before Christmas, here’s a look at some of the things we can expect to see and will be watching for this year. Public Transport
Public Transport Disruption
Disruption to our PT network dominated much of last year, first with the driver shortages then with news of the planned rail network shutdowns, the first of which is now underway. …
2022 – A Year in Review
With the year quickly drawing to a close it’s time for a quick wrap up the most important things that happened and WOW, what a year it’s been.
Thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and supported us in making Auckland greater.…
Flashback Saturday: A Congestion Free Network
With 2022 drawing to a close, expect us to take it easy over the next couple of weeks. We will also look back at 2022 as a whole and forward to what 2023 may have to offer. For today we have dug into the archives and found a post that was originally published in July 2013.…
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