Auckland Transport Blog » Trains

Electric train shortlist lengthened

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:40:08 +0000

A rather odd article in yesterday’s NZ Herald caught my attention when reading through the Herald website. It would seem as though the “shortlist” for the suppliers of Auckland’s electric trains has been lengthened quite significantly, with a number of new companies vying for the $500 million contract.

Here’s parts of the article:

The Government-owned rail operator is calling for bids from no fewer than 10 parties for 38 three-car trains within a budget of $500 million, compared with a short-list of four announced in July, saying it wants to ensure a superior “whole of life” supply and maintenance deal.

Three Chinese contenders have been added to the list, as well as a Japanese consortium and two Australian firms.

One industry source described the expansion of the list as a “mind-boggling” development at this stage of the contracting process, which is aimed at having the trains delivered between mid-2013 and the following year.

The source feared it could undermine the credibility of the process among those who thought they had the inside running, possibly to the point of driving them away from New Zealand.

I guess on the one hand getting as many bids as possible for the contract is a good thing, as it increases the likelihood we’ll get the best possible trains for the lowest price. However, on the other hand it could lead to delays and just seems, well – odd.

The critical issue is picked up by ARC Chairman Mike Lee:

Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee said the move was a surprise to him, and he hoped it would not lead to any more “slippage” in the project timetable, which was delayed by almost a year after the Government decided to buy the trains rather than expect Aucklander motorists to pay for them through a regional fuel tax.

Another paragraph suggest some slippage in the project’s timeline is inevitable:

KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn acknowledged that widening the pool would increase the tender evaluation task, although he still expected the first electric multiple unit trains to arrive in Auckland in June 2013. But asked whether they would all be in service by the target of 2014 on an electrified track network costing the Government a further $500 million, he said that would depend on final negotiations with the successful bidder.

There’s quite a long delay between the first delivery of trains and when they’re up and running. Initially we were promised full completion of electrification by 2013. If we’re still waiting in 2015 to get the last of the units into action it will be very disappointing.

Hello from NYC

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:13:14 +0000

Well after a rather crazy marathon flight via Sydney and Los Angeles, we finally made it to New York at around 11pm Friday night. Getting from the Airport to where we are staying turned out to be quite a challenge, involving the very flash air-train, the E-Line subway (which took forever, but nice to use the subway) and then eventually the 1-Line subway. Well, we should have taken the 1 but there was chaos, we had to switch to a bus, then walk for ages… but eventually got there at about 2am.

After having a very long sleep on Friday night (it felt like we hadn’t slept for two days so certainly needed the long sleep) we got around to exploring the place. Since then it’s been two pretty busy days, with a lot of subway catching and a lot of walking. It’s the weekend here so Manhatten has been somewhat surprisingly quiet (well, quiet by NYC standards). Here are a few thoughts that I’ve had:

The fact that many of the subway lines are four-tracked is absolute genius. People switch between the express and local trains in way to suit them and make the trip fastest (who would have thought, transfering to save a few minutes!)
The pedestrianisation of Broadway through Times Square is fantastic and makes the place really really welcoming to pedestrians. I can’t imagine how claustrophobic it must have been beforehand.
Grand Central Station is…. spectacular.
In general, the subway system is an interesting mix: highly efficient and effective yet somewhat sadly neglected in parts. It’s interesting that the subway trains are air-conditioned but the stations feel like a sauna.

A couple of photos:

July 2010: another good month for PT

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:00:20 +0000

ARTA’s monthly business report for July 2010 has been uploaded to their website, and once again it makes good reading for public transport – in terms of patronage growth, improving service reliability and significant progress being made on capital works projects. Here’s a summary of what’s been going on:

Starting with patronage, the “Rapid Transit Network” (rail and the Northern Busway) once again shows fantastic growth, with the 20% growth on the Northern Express services being pretty amazing. I wonder when that’s going to hit a ceiling in terms of peak time capacity. It’s also positive seeing ferry patronage go up again, as it has been a bit all over the place in recent times. While bus patronage is increasing, the rate of increase is much slower than rail or the Northern Express. With many of the large rail projects now nearing completion (aside from electrification which is just kicking off) I think we have a real opportunity and need over the next few years to focus most strongly on ways to improve the bus system and get more people off the roads and onto our buses – after all that’s where 80% of our public transport patronage is.

Here’s the patronage trends over the past few years – you can really see from around March 2008 there has been a steady but unrelenting climb in the “12 month rolling average” patronage – to over 5 million trips a month (hence breaking 60 million trips a year): Some service refinements have been made for buses, or are due to be made in the next short while (for which consultation has recently concluded). Of particular interest to me is this extract on upcoming bus route changes:

City Circuit, The Link & Western Bays Services

Work is progressing on proposed service changes to the City Circuit, Link and Western Bays services, all operated by NZ Bus. This includes proposals to change the route of almost all services listed and improve the running times on services around the CBD. Further consultation is to take place in the near future before proposals can be finalised.

This would include my regular bus routes, so it’ll be interesting to see what ARTA comes up with. I’ve previously blogged about my thoughts on how Western Bays routes could be simplified. I’m not sure what changes would benefit the Link Bus though – perhaps sending it along Fanshawe Street rather than Victoria Street to provide better access to Wynyard Quarter?

In terms of other points of interest in the monthly report, it’s useful to see that progress is being made on the implementation of real-time information signs at various railway stations across the network. Hopefully in the not too distant future we will all know exactly when our train is due to arrive:Looking through the report, it seems as though a lot will be happening on September 19th. Not only does the Onehunga Line open and the new rail timetables take effect, but other changes to various bus services (those consulted recently) will also happen on that day. It’s shaping up to be an important step forwards in improving Auckland’s public transport system.

Public Transport & the CBD

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:01:09 +0000

Auckland City Council has produced a very interesting policy document on improving transport in the CBD. The whole document is here, with a council agenda item that provides a summary able to be read here. The document as a whole is well worth a read, and outlines a pretty exciting and refreshing approach to transport in Auckland’s CBD.

One of the most useful things highlighted in the report are current transport trends – in particular the growing number of people catching public transport into the CBD and the reducing numbers of people driving to the CBD each day to work: So officially now of those working in the CBD more catch public transport than drive to work every day. This is a useful statistic to mention next time someone tries to disparage public transport: imagine twice the number of traffic lanes into the CBD, imagine twice as much of the city dedicated to carparking – that’s what would happen without public transport. We pretty much wouldn’t have a CBD for all the roads and parking buildings.

Looking at future trends, it becomes pretty obvious that there’s going to be huge pressure on trying to get more people into the CBD via public transport – as remember we have little, if any, way to increase roading capacity into the CBD: With around 33,000 public transport trips into the CBD at peak times at the moment, and almost all additional trips by 2031 and 2051 into the CBD also being by public transport, that suggests we’re going to need to at least double the PT capacity over the next 20 years. The argument for the CBD rail tunnel becomes pretty clear.

The study is certainly worth reading through. I’m pretty impressed by the vision – we just need to make sure it happens.

Free trains this weekend

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:05:53 +0000

It sounds like NZTA, ARTA and other parties have finally woken up to the fact that simply saying “don’t travel this weekend” is not a particularly acceptable response to the closure of the Newmarket Viaduct’s southbound lanes for 36 hours on Saturday and Sunday – and have instead finally put some thought into encouraging people to travel via other means. After an excellent suggestion from ARC Chairman Mike Lee (perhaps inspired by this blog post) to make trains free during the time the viaduct is closed – that is what will happen this weekend.

Here’s ARTA’s media release:

ARTA offers free train services to assist Newmarket Viaduct closure

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) said today it had reviewed options, with the help of its operator Veolia Transport, to assist Aucklanders travelling around the region during the Newmarket Viaduct closure on 4/5 September. In addition to more services and longer trains, free train travel would also be made available during the 36 hour shut down period.

ARTA’s General Manager, Customer Services, Mark Lambert said, “Aucklanders are concerned about getting around the city during this time. Offering free train travel is a small way we can assist.

“We do need to stress that capacity on trains will be limited and that commuters need to consider carefully whether their travel is essential.

“While bus services have the potential to be caught up in road congestion meaning we are unable to guarantee service levels, trains run on an uncongested network.

“In order to help keep Auckland moving for this major piece of transport infrastructure to be completed, ARTA will offer free train services between 5pm on Saturday 4 September and all day Sunday 5 September”.

Auckland Regional Council Chairman, Mike Lee who suggested the free-train idea to ARTA said, “NZTA have warned Aucklanders to stay off the roads as the Viaduct shutdown will have a widespread impact across the whole road network – including bus services. But it won’t affect the rail network. Therefore we are encouraging Aucklanders to consider the alternative of using free trains to get around during the shutdown.”

NZTA’s State Highway’s Manager for Auckland, Tommy Parker has welcomed ARTA’s initiative and says, “This is really great collaboration to help keep a city like Auckland on the move during a very difficult weekend.

“We know there will be severe congestion on the roads and ARTA’s offer of free train travel will help encourage people to leave their cars at home and use alternative transport options to get around”, he said.

Mr Lambert said, “ARTA is aware that train services do not extend to all areas of the region, but this offer may go a small way to providing some help to enable Aucklanders to get around the city.

“On Sunday afternoon, fans will also be travelling to and from the Rugby ITM Cup at Eden Park.

“Commuters should check the MAXX website for details of the free train services which will be made available”.

Mr Lambert said, “The cost of providing the service during this time will come from within existing budgets”.

I just hope we put on enough trains to cope with the demand. I also hope that NZTA are the ones predominantly paying for this, as they’ve created the need.

Auckland demands rail improvements

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:55:35 +0000

A fascinating article in the NZ Herald today, based on a survey that asked people what are the most important issues that will determine how you vote in the upcoming “Super City” elections. Here’s an extract:

Auckland is waiting. On the gridlocked roads, on the railway platforms, at the bus stops, the residents of the new Supercity are waiting.

Aucklanders say transport is their single biggest election issue – and most are waiting to see what solutions the candidates can offer before they decide how to cast their vote.

This is no real surprise. It’s widespread knowledge that transport is considered to be Auckland’s biggest problem. But what’s particularly interesting are some further details about what people think needs to be done to improve the transport situation:

Manukau mayor Len Brown and Auckland mayor John Banks both promise to focus on a rail link to the airport, a CBD rail loop and another harbour crossing to take rail to Albany.

They also promise to improve ferry connections and wharves.

Transport is the single most important issue for 27 per cent of survey respondents. And 44 per cent of voters say improving the train services should be the top priority for the new council.

Crowded motorways, inadequate bus routes and not enough ferry services were big areas of complaint.

One respondent said: “The traffic system … needs to be integrated. I think a Supercity will ensure this happens.”

Another said: “The traffic ruins my day, I would like to be able to take public transport but it would take me three buses.”

Transport problems are even more important to voters than keeping rates down, the deciding issue for 26 per cent of respondents.

I’ve highlighted in bold what I think is the most amazing result of the survey. That is, almost half of respondents felt that improving train services should be the number one priority for the new council. Even though the actual number of people using the train system in Auckland to get to and from work is relatively low (around 35,000 a weekday I think), there’s a general recognition that everyone benefits from a better rail system. People driving benefit as the roads are less clogged and the city as a whole benefits through the wider economic benefits to areas like the CBD that rail brings.

This is a quite staggering result actually. I have obviously always hoped that a significant number of fellow Aucklanders agree that improving public transport in Auckland is one of the most essential things needed to improve the city. This survey confirms my hopes and reinforces what I think is a growing understanding that Auckland’s days of motorway building are drawing to a close and our transport future lies in developing a world-class public transport system.

Hopefully central government might also start to understand that Aucklanders really do want an improved rail system.

CBD Rail Tunnel: crunch time

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:55:05 +0000

Preliminary findings of the business case for the CBD Rail Tunnel should be released within the next month. Of course we all have our fingers crossed that the number-crunching confirms most people’s strong belief that the project is cost-effective and well worth the rather significant $1.5 billion pricetag. I think another critical thing to keep an eye on is how the business case for the CBD Rail Tunnel stacks up against the extremely poor business case for the Puhoi-Wellsford road. After all, both are transport projects that are likely to cost around $1.5 billion – so it would make sense to measure them up against one another to see which offers the best “return” on that investment of $1.5 billion.

It is interesting to note in recent weeks the Transport Minister has been a bit more positive in his soundings on the CBD Rail Tunnel – noting that out of all rail projects it was certainly likely to be the next off the block and may well be cost-effective (unlike others such as a North Shore Line – I agree with him on that point). Perhaps he has been informed a bit earlier than the rest of us that the project does stack up well?

Putting wishful thinking aside for the moment, what happens between the time the business case is released and the end of this year is critical in keeping the ball rolling on advancing the project. We must remember that there are a lot more steps in the process towards actually making the project happen – including the extremely important step of actually securing and protecting the route. Ensuring that all the work currently going into the project doesn’t end up as a giant door-stop, but instead advances onto the next phase of route protection is exceedingly important – as not only does it ensure the tunnel can’t be stuffed up by other projects, but it also continues to build momentum for the project.

Wellington’s bureaucrats are well aware of the process too, as a paper prepared by Treasury on the project shows. In response to a request by Steven Joyce to tell him more about “where it’s up to and where it’s going” (he didn’t already know?) the paper provides a very useful insight into the kind of advice that Joyce is getting on this project. Of particular note was how the paper (which was written in March this year) points towards “six months time” being a crunch point for determining the future of the project. It’s disappointing, but hardly surprising, that the paper is somewhat negative on the required timing of the project (I wonder what Treasury would say about Puhoi-Wellsford?) However, that’s not really the key point here. The key point is that there’s a huge decision to be made in the next few months – whether to lodge the notice of requirement to protect the tunnel’s route. That’s the second big hurdle for the project to get over (the first being getting the current study underway). As the paper notes, once there’s a commitment to lodging the notice of requirement to protect the route then serious money starts needing to be spent on the project – making a commitment that it’s only a matter of when, not if, the project gets constructed.

Of course the absolutely massive unresolved issue is “who will pay for the project?” One and a half billion dollars is a lot of money (assuming that’s roughly what it’s likely to cost) and unlike state highways, rail projects don’t have a dedicated funding source. It’s on this matter that I think the Treasury paper provides particularly interesting advice: This highlights what I think the biggest barrier to constructing the CBD Rail Tunnel is – and that is the fact that NZTA money cannot be spent on the project. Whatever the rationale behind Cabinet Minute (09) 8/11-14 was, the decision made to effectively ban NZTA funds from being spent on this project is devastating for the likelihood of it happening any time soon. This is for one basic reason: NZTA have money, nobody else really does. It’s very interesting indeed to see that Treasury is basically recommending that this decision be reversed, so that NZTA can use its money to pay for at least part of the project.

And it makes good sense too for NZTA to help fund the project, because road-users (who fund NZTA) will be amongst the biggest beneficiaries of the CBD Rail Tunnel – as it will enable the rail system to take huge numbers of people off the roads at peak times in particular. And, as the table below shows, each extra rail trip generates a huge amount of benefit for road-users: For all those championing the CBD rail tunnel, what we really need to focus on is changing Cabinet Minute (09) 8/11-14 and allowing rail capital projects to once again tap into the NZTA funding pool. That will enable the money freed up by a more cost-effective Puhoi-Wellsford project to be used on this project.

Ultimately, I think that’s the only likely way the project will happen any time soon. We build the $160 million “Operation Lifesaver” upgrade to Puhoi-Wellsford and therefore save around $1.4 billion compared to the cost of a full motorway upgrade, and we put that money into the CBD tunnel – supplementing it with a decent contribution from the Auckland Council. The outcome is that we save around 50 lives on state highway 1 between Puhoi and Wellsford and we direct our money more cost-effectively. I wonder whether that will happen though.

New train timetables

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:14:44 +0000

A series of new train timetables have been released, and will take effect from Sunday September 19th – the day the Onehunga Line starts running. The timetables are here:

Southern Line

Eastern Line

Western Line

Onehunga Line (yay – it actually exists!)

Here’s the Onehunga Line timetable – I just have to post it to remind myself that it’s actually happening. We’re finally getting another railway line in Auckland: As you can see, it will be half-hourly frequencies during the peak times and hourly frequencies at other times. I still think it’s a missed opportunity to not run half-hourly frequencies during the day time at weekends, as I think there could be a lot of people using the train to go shopping at Onehunga – particularly at the Dressmart which is notoriously short of parking. Hopefully over time the demand for weekend services means that half-hourly trains becomes a formality.

In terms of the other changes, there are some interesting amendments. Most of the express services have disappeared – I think because frequencies are getting to such a point where it become difficult to mix stopping patterns as some trains start catching other trains. There are a couple of remaining southern line limited stop trains in the morning peak, but that’s it. I wonder whether that will annoy passengers, or whether the higher frequencies will placate them. Other changes include the introduction of six-car trains on many of the services, which will be a welcome increase in capacity: particularly during peak times. The fact that Baldwin Ave on the western line is yet to be lengthened means things will be a bit messy there – with only some trains stopping. Western Line trains also run at 15 minute frequencies for a significant chunk of the day now.

Another good change is that the very popular Eastern Line has had its frequency boosted. Looking at morning peak time arrivals at Britomart for trains on the Eastern Line there are services arriving at 7.18, 7.26, 7.34, 7.44, 7.55, 8.02, 8.12, 8.25, 8.32, 8.47 and 8.53. That’s 11 trains in just over an hour and a half, or around one train every 8-9 minutes.

One last positive change is that the colouring of the Onehunga Line on the rail map has changed from brown (shown on many of the insides of the trains) to blue. I like this change because the brown was very similar to the colour of the Southern Line and the blue shows that the line runs from water to water, harbour to harbour. Our rail map is also starting to look half respectable. So all up it’s good to see all these extra trains running, and to see the Onehunga Line just about ready to go. I guess the interesting pay-off will be to see how those who currently catch express or limited stops services respond to their trips taking longer than before. Will the increased frequencies and longer trains make up for the slower ride? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Electrification works begin

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:04:15 +0000

After a few months of managing to generally avoid works to the rail network that require weekend closures, it seems that from this coming weekend things will swing back into action. Veolia’s website outlines the train disruptions over the next few months, with perhaps the most interesting thing being the reason behind these disruptions: it seems like electrification works will finally be beginning in earnest:

In order to continue the upgrade of Auckland’s rail network, there are times when train services need to be cancelled to allow work on the network that can only be done when the trains are not running.

Given the scale of works to be carried out, these closures will be a regular occurrence on Auckland’s rail network for the foreseeable future. These are generally held at weekends, public holidays, and evenings as there are usually less people traveling, and it means less disruption to peak-hour commuter services.

Although work on the duplication of the Western Line is now complete, significant work on electrification is now also commencing and this will continue over the next couple of years.

During these planned closures, replacement Rail Bus services will be provided and special Rail Bus timetables will be in place. We aim to have these timetables available at least 4 weeks prior to planned closures.

I’ve highlighted the important part of the above excerpt – it seems that the process of electrification really is finally actually happening. Pretty exciting!

Between now an the end of November, parts of the rail network will be closed on a number of weekends:

SATURDAY 28 and SUNDAY 29 AUGUST
WESTERN LINE: Britomart to Waitakere / Henderson
SOUTHERN LINE: Britomart to Otahuhu (via Newmarket)
This will allow the completion of signal commissioning work on the new Onehunga Line, further improvement works at Newmarket and platform extension works on the Western Line.

SATURDAY 25 and SUNDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
WESTERN LINE: Britomart to Waitakere / Henderson
Required for track renewal and maintenance works, electrification preparation works and platform extension works.

SATURDAY 2 and SUNDAY 3 OCTOBER
WESTERN LINE: Britomart to Waitakere / Henderson
Required for track renewal and maintenance works, electrification preparation works and platform extension works.

SATURDAY 9 and SUNDAY 10 OCTOBER
EASTERN LINE: Britomart to Otahuhu (via Glen Innes and Sylvia Park)
Required for signalling works at Britomart and electrification preparation works.

SATURDAY 16 and SUNDAY 17 OCTOBER
EASTERN LINE: Britomart to Otahuhu (via Glen Innes and Sylvia Park)
Required for track renewal works at Sylvia Park, signaling works at Britomart and electrification preparation works.

SATURDAY 23 to MONDAY 25 OCTOBER (LABOUR WEEKEND)
WESTERN LINE: Britomart to Newmarket
SOUTHERN LINE: Britomart to Newmarket, and Otahuhu to Papakura
ONEHUNGA LINE: Britomart to Newmarket
EASTERN LINE: Britomart to Papakura (via Glen Innes and Sylvia Park)
Required for track renewal and signaling works at Britomart, and electrification preparation works between Otahuhu and Papakura.

SATURDAY 13 and SUNDAY 14 NOVEMBER
WESTERN LINE: Britomart to Waitakere / Henderson
Required for track renewal and maintenance works, electrification preparation works and platform extension works.

SATURDAY 20 and SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER
WESTERN LINE: Britomart to Waitakere / Henderson (Note: Friday evening train services will be replaced by RailBus replacement services from approx. 8pm)
SOUTHERN LINE: Britomart to Otahuhu (via Newmarket)
ONEHUNGA LINE: Britomart to Onehunga
Required for track renewal and signaling works at Britomart, electrification preparation works, platform extension works and signaling commissioning works at Kingsland.

As you can see it won’t just be electrification preparation works that are being undertaken during these closures. Platforms are being extended, tracks renewed, signalling upgraded, final works for linking up the Onehunga Line will be required and so forth. I must say I’m always amazed and impressed by how much work gets done during the relatively short closure times.

Perhaps even more interesting are the planned network closures past the end of November, which have yet to be completely confirmed:

SATURDAY 4 and SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER (until 12.00pm)
WESTERN LINE: Britomart to Waitakere / Henderson
SOUTHERN LINE: Britomart to Newmarket
Required for electrification preparation works and platform extension works.

SATURDAY 18 and SUNDAY 19 DECEMBER
WESTERN LINE: Britomart to Waitakere / Henderson
Required for electrification preparation works and platform extension works.

SATURDAY 25 2010 to SUNDAY 9 JANUARY 2011
FULL NETWORK CLOSURE
There will be no passenger rail services operating in the Auckland region between these dates.

MONDAY 10 to to SUNDAY 16 JANUARY 2011
EASTERN LINE: Britomart to Papakura (via Glen Innes and Sylvia Park)
SOUTHERN LINE: Otahuhu to Papakura

These closures are required to enable KiwiRail to carry out major works associated with the ongoing upgrade and electrification of Auckland’s rail network.

A major focus will be to achieve clearances necessary for the overhead masts and wires on the Southern and Eastern lines needed for electrification. During this time, work will be carried out to rebuild six road bridges; and to lower the track beneath two more on the Southern line, and inside Purewa Tunnel on the Eastern line. Significant track maintenance work and signaling improvements will also be carried out during this time elsewhere on the rail network.

Over the Christmas and New Year’s break in particular it seems like we will really start to see electrification take shape on the rail network. I wonder when we’ll start seeing the poles for the electric wires go up?

Obviously the closures will be annoying and disruptive, but at least they have an incredibly exciting purpose in rail electrification.

Has Banks given up on public transport?

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:45:34 +0000

In recent times I have been very pleased to see that all the main mayoral candidates for the Auckland Super City appear to support significant investment in upgrading public transport in Auckland, most particularly in the widespread enthusiasm for big ticket projects like the CBD Rail Tunnel and rail to the Airport (although I have noted that a North Shore Line might be a step too far at the moment). An article in the NZ Herald today, which reports on a mayoral debate at Auckland University last night, suggests that perhaps John Banks is going to break away from his previous commitments to rail projects.

There are a few relevant extracts, starting with this:

John Banks has cast doubt about his commitment to rail and other major projects in Auckland after accusing his Super City mayoral opponent Len Brown of “ticking off $40 billion of spending”.

“I’m going to hold your rates affordable, I’m not going to promise you six lanes under the harbour, airport links … building this and putting money into that.

“We simply cannot go on in meetings like this and recklessly buy votes and treat you like an ATM machine,” Mr Banks told several hundred people at Auckland University last night.

In the first real testy exchange of the campaign, Mr Brown said he was surprised to hear Mr Banks no longer supported rail to the airport, an inner-city rail tunnel and rail to the North Shore after “parroting” his own support for the three projects until now.

While I certainly agree that we need to ensure the rail projects being proposed are realistic and cost-effective, there is potentially plenty of money available for projects such as the CBD rail tunnel: we just need to have it redirected away from projects that are a waste of money.

The Herald makes a link between Banks’s “change of heart” on large-scale public transport projects and comments made last week by Transport Minister Steven Joyce:

Mr Banks’ comments about major projects follows a suggestion by Transport Minister Steven Joyce last week that the rail expansion hopes of mayoral contenders were linked to the “lunar cycle”.

Mr Joyce told an infrastructure conference that a $1.5 billion central city rail tunnel was “the only serious major project worth considering in the foreseeable future for Auckland commuter rail – and even that’s a big commitment”.

Last night, Mr Brown dismissed the minister’s message, saying Auckland had the opportunity with the Super City to work with the Government to complete the tunnel, rail to the airport and the North Shore over the next 10 to 15 years.

It would be really sad if there is a link between Joyce’s comments and Banks’s “about-turn”. In my opinion one of the biggest advantages of the Super City will be giving Auckland a stronger voice when it comes to negotiations with the government. It’s fairly common knowledge that Auckland has chipped a lot more into general government coffers than it has got in return over the years, and while some of that is justified, with much of New Zealand’s future population growth occurring in Auckland, I think we have a pretty good argument to get a pretty massive chunk of new infrastructure spending. Having a mayor who’s going to argue Auckland’s case, not one that buckles to the wishes of central government, is essential in my opinion.

Now I’m not saying that this is the reason why Banks seems to have gone cold on public transport all of a sudden, but it does seem like an interesting coincidence.

The article goes on:

To another question about the environment, Mr Banks drew boos when he said “we have to complete Auckland’s motorway network”.

“We have to get people out of cars and into integrated public transport but we also have to fix Auckland’s motorway network otherwise we will continue polluting Auckland,” he said.

Oh dear, not the old fallacy that building motorways reduces pollution. Building roads encourages more people to drive, which encourages more pollution. Congested traffic might emit more per car per kilometre, but generally if you have free flowing traffic you end up with more cars and more kilometres.

If Banks really does no longer support advancing these big public transport projects it would be really disappointing.