Well I did manage to get myself out of bed at a rather ungodly hour this morning and make my way to the opening of the New Lynn rail trench. My car also managed to survive a whole day parked in Henderson, which is an added bonus! After turning up at Henderson station at around 5.20am, we waited for the first passenger train to arrive. I had the opportunity to have a few good chats with various people: including ARC Councillor Christine Rose and Labour MP Phil Twyford.
The train turned up, and the various dignitaries (as well as other randoms like myself) jumped aboard. It must have been rather bizarre for regular commuters on the 5.44am train to be absolutely swamped by us. The whole train was pretty packed, and once again I had the chance for a few decent chats on the way to New Lynn. We waited a while just west of the single-track area – which I actually think was good as it showed all the dignitaries what regular commuters encounter on a daily basis.
When we arrived at New Lynn I was quite impressed by the station as it has a sense of an overseas underground station, right here in Auckland. There was a brief ceremony to formally open the rail trench and then we all zipped off to the local RSA for breakfast and more speeches.
Here’s a video of the formal opening (courtesy of Geoff Blackmore):
And a photo that I took:
I then caught a train into town for work for the day. Of course this meant I had to catch a train all the way out to Henderson this evening. That turned out to be pretty cool actually, as I managed to catch the express train for the first time and certainly enjoyed not having to stop at any stations between Newmarket and New Lynn.
Overall it was a pretty cool morning, and I am very impressed with the New Lynn rail trench. It’ll be great when the station as a whole is finished in a few months time.
I thought it looked really good when I went through this morning (didn’t catch the train tonight), like you I think it will be excellent when its all finished. For your trip home I’m surprised you didn’t get held up at Avondale, there is usually a 5-10 min wait there.
On one of Geoff’s other video’s I noticed a number of other dignities caught the train back to town which was good to see, anything interesting in the speeches at the RSA?
Yeah we did get held up at Avondale for about 5 minutes I think.
Nothing particularly interesting in the speeches. Bob Harvey went on for far too long, Joyce talked about the need to invest in “all forms of transport” and once again that he’s over the whole “roads v rail debate” (snore, he’s reignited that debate). Mike Williams, ARTA board member and former Labour Party president was OK, although for some unknown reason he likes the Puhoi-Wellsford road.
Oddly enough Jim Bolger was probably the pick of the bunch. He knows how to make a good speech (probably done enough in his life now).
Nice to see they have future proofed the tunnel? Looks like there would be enough room for 4 tracks, is that right?
Scott – There is definitely only space for 2 tracks along the tunnel
It doesn’t look as if they’ve spent a lot of money on decoration. The ceiling looks like bare concrete and the LHS wall looks like a mess. Or does the decoration come later, once they’ve replaced the wooden barrier on the RHS of your photo with another track?
I think a lot of finishing touches are yet to come.
Obi – I think the decoration on the left hand side is pretty much done and will be replicated on the right hand side.
On the walls there are contoured panels which look like contour lines on a map (the gap where the fire hydrant is looks ugly though). On top of those panels there is a metal mesh similar to the roof at Britomart that curves out a bit before going up to the top of the trench. The concrete you see isn’t a roof but just one of the cross beam to hold the trench walls apart at the top and other than the beams the trench is open which is why there is a platform shelter near the back of the picture. At the very back of the picture (about where the red lights are) the platform is blocked off and construction is still going on, at that point the trench is covered as the station building will be above it.
For $160m this is a shotload of money, and no decoration? Thats aweful. It better not leak, for all that money they spent. Trench is for 2 tracks only.
What has been done actually looks quite good, the pictures don’t really do it justice so don’t knock it to much until you see it. As for leaking like I said most of it isn’t covered so if it rains and you aren’t under a shelter you will get wet. $160 mil doesn’t seem that bad when you consider it is 1.1km long, has 4 bridges, a feature station and bus interchange as well as other improvements to the area.
Did Twyford say anything interesting..?
Banks
Joyce
Bolger
The Hypocrite Express…
He said some interesting stuff about progress of the Super City select committee. In particular he said that politically the Nats want to give the local boards more power, but the officials keep saying it won’t work with a unitary authority.
Congrats on the opening. Is the track on top of the concrete now being removed? Or will they use the twin tracks?
It’s a virtuous circle BTW – NL will be one more station that convinces people that public transport can keep up with the modern world.
While I love they’ve kept the old Papatoetoe on display – it doesn’t send that message of modernity that is definitely needed.
The above ground track has pretty much already gone. There will be 2 tracks in the trench. I agree this station will be another important step in the right direction for rail in Auckland. Next step Grafton Station.
“Next step Grafton Station.”
Second stairway is getting built now… they are even doing landscaping already.
I think Grafton station opens some time in April.
ARTA’s monthly business report states Grafton will be open in March although that seems like it is pushing it. There are already planned track closures this Sunday and on 21 March which I imagine are to sort out the tracks around here.
Looks to me like Grafton could easily be open this month if they were happy with a single track at first.