The Opportunity Cost of Auckland’s “Big Digs”
On Monday, I posted about Labour’s harbour crossing boondoggle. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins called it a “bold” project, but really it represents a twenty year delay to building the rest of Auckland’s Rapid Transit Network.
I also noted on Monday that for the combined cost of the project and the City Centre to Mangere light rail project, you could build about 300km of surface-running light rail all over the region.…
68 Comments Rail Safety and closing level crossings
It’s rail safety week – and as part of their latest safety campaign, Kiwirail have highlighted just how many collisions and near misses there are:
In the year to 30 June, 40 vehicles or people collided with trains across the national rail network and there were 305 near misses.…
The Harbour Crossing Boondoggle
Yesterday, not to be outdone by National’s mega roads plan, Labour announced an absurd $35-45 billion harbour crossing programme that doubles down on the transport planning mistakes of Auckland’s past.
Two new three lane road tunnels under the Waitemata Harbour, one going in each direction, and a separate light rail tunnel that will link to the existing Auckland Light Rail corridor is the proposed plan for a second Auckland harbour crossing, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Transport Minister David Parker announced today.…
ATs 2023-2031 Public Transport Plan
Auckland Transport have launched consultation for their Regional Public Transport Plan (RPTP). The RPTP is an important statutory document that lays out how public transport will develop and operate in the region. It includes Auckland Transport’s vision, goals, policies, plans for PT as well as a description for all services they intend to run and the frequencies they will run at.…
Western Line is double tracked again
Today marks the latest milestone for the City Rail Link with the Western Line returning to dual line running.
City Rail Link Ltd, Link Alliance, Auckland Transport, and KiwiRail are excited to announce that on Monday 10th July the Western Line will return to dual line running.…
The inter-regional rail inquiry report
Last year Parliament’s Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee held an enquiry into the future of inter-regional passenger rail in NZ. You can read our post about it here, and our submission here.
Yesterday they released their findings on it. In total the inquiry received 1,752 written submissions and of that, 97 percent expressed support for new inter-regional passenger rail services. …
June-23 AT Board Meeting
Yesterday was the latest Auckland Transport board meeting and we’ve already covered Gt North Rd and AT’s budget. But as I said in yesterday’s post, there was a lot on the agenda so here’s what else was interesting. Gt North Rd
Jolisa covered the potential Gt North Rd outcomes on Monday and the great news is that the board have signed the project off in its full form, promising to find the funding shortfall to deliver the entire thing.…
Light Rail back to the Surface?
Yesterday was a dramatic day for light-rail watchers, with a number of developments. The Mayor prefers light rail on the surface
Mayor Wayne Brown shared his thoughts on light rail with Oliver Lewis at Business Desk, and he seems to nail almost every issue with the project so far, and the trade-offs involved.…
Pedestrian Level Crossing Closure Proposals
In order to run more frequent services across the rail network once the City Rail Link opens, Auckland Transport have been required (as I understand it by Waka Kotahi who are the rail safety regulator) to remove all level crossings from the rail network.…
Perth’s Rail Journey – from (near) zero to hero
This is a guest post by Darren Davis. It originally appeared here. Perth, population 2.1 million, sits on the Indian Ocean and is the capital city of the mineral-rich state of Western Australia which is literally bigger than Texas. Three times bigger in fact.…
Processing...