I have managed to get my hands on a copy of KiwiRail’s Auckland Metro EMU Procurement: EMU Industry Engagement Document, which is what all the hooplah around progressing electrification over the past few days has been based on.
The document does have some very helpful information on what we can expect from our new electric trains, as well as outlining a timeline over the next few years for when we can expect various milestones of the project to happen. A description of the project is detailed below:
Some good and bad news here. In terms of the good news, it seems as though the electric locomotives that are required to haul our SA trains in the future will be included as part of this purchase – rather than having to be cannibalised from the North Island Main Trunk line. The bad news is that, while some trains will be delivered in 2013, we won’t be getting all of them until 2014. That seems like a long time away.
Now for some technical requirements:
I am liking the frequent mentioning of the CBD rail tunnel. I’m not quite sure why a max speed of 110 kph has been specified on this occasion, whereas ARTA’s previous tender specified a maximum speed of 130 kph.
And now for the timeline of where to next:
I’m not exactly how far along this timeline ARTA had got before the government stuffed things up last year, but I am pretty sure that we’d at least got to the point of them issuing the EOI. Which means that we’re running at least a year behind where we could have been.
On the bright side though, this outcome is a million times better than the outcome that seemed likely back in August last year.
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There were a few questions today in Parliamentary question time regarding electrification,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Xy52AA2C4
I’m capped at the moment and can’t quite remember what was said 6 or so hours ago, so cant provide any input on that
I note that Joyce said in that video that this is the “final piece” in the rail upgrade of Auckland. That’s a slightly worrying statement.
I think we always knew Joyce thought this was it for rail in Auckland i’m quite sure he currently thinks the government will never have to spend another cent on Auckland’s rail after this is done. However hopefully enough pressure will go on him over the next couple of years to convince him otherwise, it has to, we are stuck with him for at least the next five years.
Hopefully he meant final piece of DART… I’m sure he doesn’t really differenciate between the various components, anyway putting pressure on for the CBD tunnel is up to us…
I’m really excited by the tender document, 38 EMUs and 13 electric locos to world class standards..! Hot damn, congrats are in order to Cullen (eventually), Mike Lee, ARTA and Joyce (very eventually)…
By the by, question time was hilarious today, 8 questions on mining (I’ve never seen more than 3 on a single topic) and Mallard got leave approved for an open ended debate on Joyce’s University Degree…
Here’s the debate about Joyce’s university degree: http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/1706
Josh – I wouldn’t take those comments to seriously as I think he is just saying that the trains are the final piece in the current upgrade plans.
As for the doc itself I was also wondering about the speed but after thinking about it a bit it might not be as bad as you think. Only specifying trains to 110kph is probably a lot cheaper than 130kph due to the engineering involved, also with our station spacing what is the chance they will actually get to that speed? (especially on the western line). Speaking of the Western line if we could even get an average speed along there of 50kph it would make a journey from Britomart to Swanson only about 30 mins compared to the 50+ at the moment so would be a huge improvement. It would be even less with the tunnel so probably not huge deal.
I keep wondering why we must put an upper limit on the number of EMU’s we will get, surely it should be a lower limit.
Specifying the SA loco’s as part of this will be good. The winning company could make them look like the rest of the set which would only help them. I still like the idea of taking two SD cars and putting the engines under them then putting one on each end of four SA cars, effectively giving us a 6 car EMU that looks decent.
Lastly the 38 EMU’s will all likely need to be in 6 car configuration by the time they arrive. This gives us 19 new trains and 13 SA sets for a total of 42 trains. Assuming 5% are always out for maintenance and a couple are kept spare incase something goes wrong that should leave us with about 38 trains. Just enough for 10 mins on each main line and a couple for Onehunga.
Yeah I doubt that Joyce will be able to escape the pressure to build the CBD tunnel forever. The big task of this year and next year will be making that project happen.
19 + 13 actually is 32, not 42. So I don’t think we’ll be able to run all the trains as 6-car sets. How many SA trains are there at the moment? 23?
240 seats per car 6 car sets = 1440 seats, on 10 minute frequencies = 14,440 per hour x 3 lines = 43,320 seated peak hour commuters… Wowsers…
Oops my math was a bit off there haha. I believe there are currently 21 in operation with 2 more in storage waiting for June, 9 ADK’s, 10 ADL’s in 2 car config
Jeremy that’s 240 seats per 3 car EMU so a 6 car set would have 480 seats and I imagine enough space for a couple of hundred standees
Jeremy, 10 minute frequencies is 6 trains per hour, not 10 š
Actually it is less than that. If a line takes 1 hour to travel over now then it is 6 trains in each direction, if through using electrics the speed increases and it only takes 50 mins to travel the line then it is only 5 trains needed in each direction so you have just saved 2 trains
Jeremy, that’s 240 seats per *three car EMU*, or 480 in a six car unit.
480 seats x six trains an hour = 2,880 seats each way with ten minute frequencies. Roughly double that if you count standees.
Ha ha, whoops..! Shouldn’t do maths straight after long runs…
2880 x 3 = 8640, that does look a lot more realistic… Up to 17,000 with standees per peak hour… That was the DAILY ridership not too long ago…
“Alternative solutions that offer…”
Jarbury mentioned that he didn’t like this, but I think it is good, as there may just be some innovation here or there which could be useful, but would otherwise not be possible. Of course I agree with Jarbury that we would rest easier on this if we weren’t all so darn suspicious of Mr Joyce at this stage.
“involving significant underground running”
Why is this worth mentioning? I would have thought that for an electrified train, the difference is pretty close to nil, or running underground would be even easier (no weather effects)? Is this related to car climatisation and such? There is some added info later on, but that seems to solely refer to fire safety.
“We won’t be getting all of them until 2014. Actually, with the timeframes bandied about for all the big infrastructure changing things in Auckland, I think 2014 is not too far. Or maybe I have just become accustomed to dragged-out processes.
“Wheelchair bound passengers can board without assistance”
How would they do that, seeiing that we got different platforms? Automatic ramps?
“why a max speed of 110 kph has been specified”
I don’t get it either. Surely we should be designing for a MINIMUM normal service speed.
Ah well, the ACCELERATION is actually more important anyway… I hope they specify that. Some of our stations are pretty close together, so a slow-accelerating train would cost a lot of time.
“Yeah I doubt that Joyce will be able to escape the pressure to build the CBD tunnel forever.”
He can always hand the job to somebody else, as long as it isn’t Maurice Williamson. What is the stuff about Joyce’s degree anyway?
Max, watch the video. Basically, as a joke, Trevor Mallard moved that the house congratulate Steven Joyce for finally completing his degree after 21 years. Nobody objected to that course of events, so parliament was able to debate the matter. Basically around 40 minutes of government business time was lost because nobody there said “I object”. Quite amusing to watch actually.
Hopefully we find out more information fairly soon. From memory there was more information in ARTA’s EOI.
“Max, watch the video.” “Basically around 40 minutes of government business time was lost”
I watched about two minutes before *I* decided I didn’t need to waste that time, so I didn’t get to that…
So why would it be funny? I kinda respect him for tidying up loose ends like that and finishing his degree, though I’m not exactly a big fan of him otherwise. Now if someone can get him to take on a transport postgrad degree…
I wonder if KiwiRail will get the job of building the trains. I am divided on the matter really.
Obviously the priority is getting the best possible trains for the money available, but at the same time it would be good to build them here in NZ.
Perhaps the best outcome would be to do the assembly and fitout at Hillside or wherever, with the heavy engineering done in Europe or Asia. Probably tax advantages to importing components rather than the finished product?
The first preferance should be to get good quality trains and I’m not sure if Kiwirail would have the internal expertise to design brand new trains from scratch. They might be able to partner up with an overseas company to do this but it is unlikely they would.
Another option would be for Kiwirail to do the loco part of the contract, that way we still get good quality EMUs from a company experienced with designing and building them and Hillside can cut their teeth on a smaller part of the project. I would like to see them converting the SD cabs to give them electric traction and then we could stick one at each end of other carriages giving us a decent looking EMU. It would also look far better than having a freight loco (diesel or electric) at one end of the train.
“Another option would be for Kiwirail to do the loco part of the contract”
That would work only if the contract could be split.
@Nick R, wearing my old Customs hat, the tariffs depend on the country of export, if Bombardier build them in Aussie there would be no taxes or any least developed countries or countries we have FTAs with…
Jarbury/Admin,
On the top speed question, iirc the ARTA EOI specified a 110km/h top speed but asked for comment on how much extra it would cost to increase this to 130km/h.
Max,
Addressing a couple of the points you raise:
“involving significant underground runningā Why is this worth mentioning?
– Fire safety standards (as the IED says).
āWheelchair bound passengers can board without assistanceā How would they do that, seeiing that we got different platforms?
– Platforms will be standardised (at 750mm above, I believe). Each unit will (probably) have a low floor section in one carriage at platform height.
“Platforms will be standardised”
Uhm, wasn’t there this kerfuffle recently that platforms would NOT be standardised (i.e. we would not all have the same platforms as Britomart, because Britomart is the only station that can intrude into the freight gauge present on all other lines?) – that implies the need for modular / adaptable unit doors to me.
Max,
The Britomart platforms are non-standard (800-850mm above rail iirc). I was under the impression that they would be changed to the Auckland standard 750mm above rail by raising the track slightly.
Closing Britomart to do that would be a pretty big deal one would think, could it be done overnight..? Doubt it and any Britomart closure would entail large bus replacements one would think…
Jeremy – Surely it could happen over a Christmas shutdown and it doesn’t need to happen for a few years yet.
They could probably manage by closing only one platform at a time.
Yes they are both good answers to the problem…
Britomart’s platforms are higher than elsewhere right? So if anything they would need to be lowered, which sounds difficult and expensive.
Would raising the tracks reduce their height..?
Indeed it would. Surely its just a case of sticking some more ballast under them.