At last Wednesday’s meeting of Auckland Council transport committee there was an update about progress that Auckland Transport is making on the Panmure busway section of the AMETI project. Back in April this year I looked at this project in quite a bit of detail, noting that things have come a long way in the right direction from the days where we were expecting no more than basic bus lanes out of the $1.3 billion being spent on AMETI.
The busway section of the Panmure part of AMETI will be in phase two – shown in green below:
The details on the busway doesn’t seem to have change too much from where things were in April, which is probably a good thing as it means the route is now pretty set and decided upon:
Where a lot of work seems to have been focused on is the Panmure station interchange, and we see some pretty detailed designs for the station/bus interchange now. This is a very good thing as hopefully it means the thinking is shifting towards running many more buses as feeder services to Panmure – where people can change onto the train to complete their journey. The designs look pretty good too:
Let’s hope the bus stops for the RTN services (which will come from Flat Bush, Botany and Pakuranga) are put as close to the train station as possible. It also looks like there’s some real integration with land-use around the interchange – although I am not entirely sure of the likelihood of much of this development happening anytime soon, as Sylvia Park continues to destroy the viability of Panmure’s town centre.
It also looks like some serious thinking has gone into the design of Panmure station, bringing it up to a standard akin to New Lynn station – befitting its role as a key transfer point:
There is significant funding set aside for AMETI in Auckland Council’s draft Long Term Plan, although many of the most expensive parts of the project are (thankfully as they mostly consist of huge road widenings) not scheduled for construction until after 2020. However, I think that the rate AMETI’s construction proceeds is likely to be very dependent on the funding NZTA has available to assist the council, through its subsidising role. As we all know, NZTA’s funding for local road projects is very much squeezed in the latest Government Policy Statement, while lower than expected fuel fax revenue is likely to place their ability to contribute to the project in even greater question.
And the station design still has no provision for a third freight track…
That’s a damn good point. I’ll try to remember to raise that with Auckland Transport.
My understanding was that space for a third track is under the raised concourse in the foreground of the last image- under those green planters? so the idea is for a dedicated freight line to bypass the station in its own underpass… is that no longer shown on any of the material?
If you look closely at the third image you’ll notice there’s actually a 4-lane road beneath those…
2-lane road initially, actually. But you are right in that the future-proofing there is intended for cars, not trains…
I really wish they would plan for a third and fourth track. Rail lines work far better in pairs. Assuming the two existing tracks would be for suburban services and the third for everything else, only one train at a time could use that track in either direction between the port/CBD and Westfield. That makes the capacity of the third track about two trains per hour if operated both ways. If they ever get serious about port shunts and things like running expresses and the Overlander/Waikato Connection/whatever then they’d probably want more than two per hour.
Yes fingers crossed the buses from Botany, Howick… are well timed with the trains.
The contract to build the 4 lane AMETI in a box, as they call it, next to the railway line has been let so I don’t think there’s any chance of a 3rd line through here any more.
Yes there is. The road will be on the west side of the railway, the proposed third line on the east.
There appears to be a building to the east in the way on the plans above?
and yes that AMETI in a box road will be 2 lanes initally ‘future proofed’ to be expanded to 4 by 2026.
Out of interest, $1.3b is being spent on AMETI which I see as a stop-gap measure to the near point of a waste of time and resources. My question being how much was the Eastern Highway as a 4-lane expressway (80km/h max speed) completed with either T3 or buslanes (The Sub Regional Option in the 2002 EASTDOR Report provided to the former Auckland City and Manukau City Councils) going to cost if it was constructed then?
Just a note, the EASTDOR Project did have provision for Panmure Interchange (and I think Tamaki and G.I) upgrades for upgraded stations, Park and Ride and bus change facilities. (And with a bit of luck future proofed for rail along the highway corridor to Botany and Manukau)
Something tells me, we have been sold short here with AMETI…
The eastern highway was around $3 billion, enormously environmentally damaging and plain stupid. What on earth is the point of providing a bus or car route to duplicate the train line?
1) To undermine your investment in the rail network.
2) To encourage more people to drive into town.
3) To continue to promote bus/rail duplication leading to more subsidies being necessary.
It’s up there with the CBD bus tunnel in terms of stupidity.
Ben, the current AMETI proposals are far from a waste of money, if they stay the course and actually build the busways they are proposing to do.
So when is the busway scheduled to be completed?
The Panmure to Panmure Bridge section (including a new busway bridge) – till around 2016. The section from Pakuranga to Botany? Anybody’s guess, but at least a few years longer are to be expected, and that assumes no more anti-PT funding shenigans at higher levels.
I still have quite a few concerns about this, my main one is that the RTN bus stops are about 100m away from the station which isn’t going to do much to encourage transfers, I know it doesn’t sound like much but that is the kind of thing that will put people off trying it. Further it appears from that drawing that at least part of the way will be open so on a windy day it will be a quick dash to shelter. If AT were serious about it they would put the RTN stops right on the over bridge with stairs down from each side to the platforms below. Another question is how do the RTN buses turn around, will the be doing some awkward loops around the place to do so?
It also looks like the Park & Ride will be closer and probably more sheltered than the RTN bus stops so it will be no surprise to see that full with the buses under utilised.
As for a third main line, it really needs to be put into the designs now so that people can understand where it is going to be. As for constructing it, they should at least do that Panmure section as part of the rest of the works as once those new triangle buildings, nice paving etc. are constructed it is going to be much more expensive and disruptive to have to build it.
A few other things that should be considered, AT is predicting that there will be about 7000 people using the station per day by 2026 which is more than Newmarket has now, I hope that it is designed with fare gates in mind (it doesn’t really seem like it from that design)