Along with the AMETI works, the Panmure station is also getting a substantial upgrade worth $17.5 million so that it interacts better with the future South Eastern busway and also provides much better amenity to users. In many ways it is very similar to what exists at New Lynn as the platforms will be in a trench with the station building above it . I really like how these key stations have started to be developed across the region and in many ways it is needed, if for nothing else to show that we are taking PT seriously now.
Here are the latest images that AT have released showing how the station and its surrounds will eventually look. You will notice that there are at least three different entrances to each station which will really help with moving large crowds of people. Another thing you might notice is the continuation of a trend we see at New Lynn with the bus platforms numbered in line with the rail ones (1 & 2 are on the rail ones with 3, 4, 5 & 6 the bus ones), this just helps to make things easier for customers.
I can’t wait to see this station finished and with the South Eastern busway this place will really be busy. Slightly separately, another thing mentioned is that AT are working with the council and other CCOs about the land take for the busway. They are having to buy a lot of properties for the busway and are looking at what to do with the land they don’t need after they are finished. It is likely to involve redeveloping it with more intensive housing which will also help to provide more users for the busway and this station.
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Some better renders would be nice. These ones are so cheap & nasty it’s hard to really see what’s proposed.
What’s the time-line for opening Matt?
Well the station is open now …….. but as for the buildings shown above, not sure, the current phase of the project goes for another couple of years so I imagine either late next year or some time in 2014
The bus to rail interchange looks top notch, and that makes me very happy.
But I must ask, why are they building three concourses, two of which look very rudimentary. Wouldn’t it be better to have a second good concourse instead of two bung ones?
It looks to me like there was a bigger building that got ‘value managed’ as we now say. That stranded island plaza looks like someone stole its hat.
I sure hope the building won’t be as tacky as the visuals.
Hi Patrick When are they going to start putting in the Electrical wires through panmure station?
Thanks for the quick reply to my question Matt really appreciate it
Which reply was that (or are you just being rude). If it is the question above about the wires then I don’t know the answer, but it would be some time this year.
thankyou for your responce about the wires I do appreciate it Alan
Yes, would be nice for AT/AC to be a bit more aspirational with its PT designs – station designs, train colors, etc.
Still, maybe its the renders…….
By and large, AKL station design is not too bad, all things considered. The only thing needed on stations (other than the proposed Panmure rebuild, Kingsland, New Lynn, Manukau and Newmarket) is more platform length shelter. Can see complaints rising to quite audible levels for greater areas of all-weather shelter on platforms once the EMU fleet is in full service.
Great to see the new renders. However, I cant recall whether the station had been future proofed for an additional 1 or 2 tracks. I really hope that has been incorporated, otherwise it’s pretty short sighted.
Apparently there is space for a third bypass track on the east side of the station, which would be great for freight…. amazing really with all those levels of highway!
Thanks for the info Patrick. Yes im surprised there’s room. Given that its designed to be a major interchange, a third track would be useful for express passenger services, as well as freight. However, the new cut and cover road way looks wide enough for eventually replacing the road lanes with a few tracks…dreams are free anyway!
Bit dubious about the room for the third track- thats in a trench with platforms each side, so the only way for the 3rd line to work is to put it outside one of the platforms.
That green wall to the west in the renders is the walkk between the station and the road tunnel.
So the only place is east of the platform. But that whole area is going to capped with a giant lid and built on, so unless they purposefully build the third track into the trench now, there is no way they will be able to add it easily and cheaply later on.
Also at the open day last week there was no sign of the third track or any trackway being allowed for – another case of short term thinking here?
We have repeatedly been told that there is room on the eastern side for it but whether that will entail digging things out all over again is uncertain but my gut feeling is that it will have to be. My guess is that the cost of trenching and capping it now would be to much for something that won’t be used for possibly decades. If you look at the image below you can see the width of the southbound platform behind the hoardings however further down the image you can see that the piling for the busway bridge is quite a bit further out. The space between the platform and the piling is where the third track would go.
EP highway and bridge is also being rebuilt with demolition happening over Christmas so when the new bridge is built that piling would obviously carry on through
But not decades Matt. With the frequencies we know will be needed for the RTN network plus the aim of the port to considerably increase the amount of freight moved by rail there will be a lot of conflicts very soon. The delay is not because no projected need but a government obsessed with spending everything on imaginary needs for country highways.
Lets just get a third track all the way from Papakura to Westfield first. That is proving hard enough
What is the route for the South Eastern Busway
Botany to Panmure via Ti Rakau drive, Pakuranga Road and Lagoon Drive.
The station is due for completion by mid 2013
I think it looks very good and will be a huge change from the current situation, and is a pretty huge project by Auckland standards. Still, you can’t please some people (as the comments above indicate). They couldn’t spend hundreds of millions of dollars and build the biggest and grandest station in the world and some people still wouldn’t be happy.
Still don’t understand the transport concept out east – it seems poorly thought through.
Are people who are travelling to the city centre expected to get on the Busway somewhere out East (having already either walked, cycled, driven, got dropped off, or caught a local bus to the Busway) then take the Busway to Panmure, get off, then transfer to the train into the city? Even with our pro-PT hats on, this seems a bit much to expect of people.
North Shore Busway works so well because when you are on it, you go right into the heart of the city without any further need to change mode.
But if the Busway heads all the way into the city centre, it will be duplicating the RTN (the train) from Panmure to the city?
It would be akin to the northern busway running from Albany to Akoranga, then asking everybody to get off and transfer to a train. That would not work.
Sting,
I recall the plan is that the busway makes a stop at Panmure, making it in effect a mini-Britomart there.
For folks heading south e.g. to Manukau (or west) going via train (EMUs) is a better option so changing modes is probably not such a problem for them.
But I also understood from the earlier plans (maybe changed with PTOM) that buses would still travel further in to the CBD using the Ellerslie-Panmure Highway (as they do now).
Of course, if you are going to the CBD, you will find that changing modes from bus to the EMUs at Panmure will generally end up far quicker all round than staying put on the bus – once of course the EMUs are in and going at the planned frequency.
So while mode changing may not be required, it could become the norm, like it does elsewhere in the world. Especially if there is no fare penalty for doing so.
I dont think that connections are a problem with the network as long as you have frequency.
That at least has always been my experience commuting by PT overseas in proper cities. If you have to cross a platform or walk up some stairs/escalators, wait 2-5mins and then jump on the train, that won’t worry people. Especially when you have an integrated system where your ticket is a smart card (well lets wait and see how smart it really is!)
What will worry people is waiting 5-10mins for that train. Wait time is without a doubt the most frustrating aspect, just as it is in a car in a traffic jam (though apparently the traffic wait time is more valuable, at least according to NZTA).
From my conversations with people who live out East, I think most of them would think this sounds space age. This is a massive step up for them as now the options are really zero as the buses are just constrained by the traffic and so not a great alternative to the almight automobile.
Once we have a government that is living in the 21st century, there may be a push to replace the busway with a train line that can get on to the Eastern line at Panmure and go all the way.
Baby steps, baby steps. Frustrating but necessary.
Yes transferring is a foreign concept currently in AK as nothing supports it. But we are moving to a transfer or connection based model. With a high frequency speedy core RTN as the spine of it, and of course no cost penalty. It will take some doing I agree, the services will have to be there and constant and reliable and a massive coms programme will have to take place.
Most journeys will be only require one change though, two is pushing it, until it is second nature. This is a revolution. Going to be big.
And changing at Akoranga is indeed a good plan, but only when there is a real advantage- like when there is a fast train to catch that will take you into and through the city without messing with the traffic.
I can’t see a bus-train transfer model working well with a train frequency of only one service every 15 minutes. It’s simply too hard to design a bus schedule so the buses on the morning peak arrive with a short wait time. If traffic conditions are variable, there needs to be “padding” in the bus timetable to ensure buses make their connection. Perth’s bus-train transfers work well because the inner portion of their main north-south rail line has a service every 7.5 minutes. If a bus is late, it’s a short wait until the next train service.
To offer this frequency there would need to be a turnback facility at either Panmure or Sylvia Park. The Perth turnback facilities are simply a short siding between the up and down tracks after a station. South of Sylvia Park frequency on the Eastern Line is constrained by a flat junction and sharing track with the Southern Line, so unless there is a turnback facility it is unlikely frequencies from Panmure could be much better than once every 15 minutes. Such a facility needs to be designed into the location of power poles for electrification, so it could be done at a reasonable cost in the future.
Malcolm there are already higher frequencies than that on the eastern line, between 7am and 9am there are 12 services that pass through Panmure on the way to Britomart. They are not all 10 minutes apart but hopefully we will see the spacing of them improved with the next timetable.
And the station is already re-vitalising the area:
“However, development of the new Panmure railway station a block away, and a possible park-&-ride, meant the area at the start of Jellicoe Rd would be revived and a convenience store was appropriate”.
http://www.propbd.co.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=8338&idBobDeyProperty_Articles=18374&SID=129908380
So who were the architects ? looks like a shonky C if presented at a university level design course. For a good example of some vision see link to project in Helsinki, Europe design capital 2012 and coincidently one of the worlds most livable cities perhaps because they understand the value of design ………meanwhile for some reason Aucklanders forced into accepting mediocrity as good design.
http://bullhorn.cembrit.com/Shortlisted_entries-29511.aspx
http://www.architizer.com/en_us/blog/dyn/33234/cembrit-design-competition/
If my students submitted that I’d fail them.
ill give you the benefit of doubt you cant have looked at the short list entries link
http://bullhorn.cembrit.com/Shortlisted_entries-29511.aspx
then look at the Panmure shonk and tell me which project would fail.
Tony, just to clarify I was referring to the Panmure Station renders, not your links… the comment stream seems to have got jumbled.
I would like to vent my anger and frustration on the terrible experience I had with the Auckland Transport System. On the 6th Oct 2012, I waited at Ellerslie Train Station at 0800 hrs to catch the Train to travel to Homai Train Station. The timetable said the train would arrive at 0825 hrs, and at about 0830 an announcement said that the Train Service was completely cancelled for that day and that their would be rail buses replacing the Trains. It also announced that the normal public buses would accept any rail ticket for travel. So a whole bunch of us walked to Kalmia Street where their where bus signs being displayed for the replacement buses. For a whole hour not a single bus went past and a lot of us where unsure of what was going on and not to mention feeling a bit stranded. So we all walked over the overpass to the Ellerslie Shopping Centre to see if we could get some more information from the normal public buses. One bus driver said he didn’t know anything and we should contact MAXX directly. So I rang the the help line and advised them that their are no buses departing from Kalmia St, and the operator said ” Oh no! you have to catch a normal bus from Great South Road” so I asked, why are their signs out on Kalmia Street saying that the replacement buses will be departing from their and the reply was, ” I don’t know”. The operator also said that all the public buses for that day would accept all railway train tickets if we where to use them. So we all walked to Great South Road and waited for a bus. The bus came 30 mins later and to make things worse the bus driver didn’t know anything and refused to take our railway tickets……this was just ridiculous!!!! So we finally got on the bus and went to Otahuhu shopping centre where I got off and asked them if their where any buses going to the Otahuhu Train Station because the train replacement buses where running from their, and the bus drivers just said, ” our buses don’t go their’ So I ended up walking all the way to the Otahuhu Train Station for an hour. Over all it took me 3 hrs to get home on a Saturday morning from Ellerslie to Homai……this is totally unacceptable and I am apauled and disgusted on the lack of communication, and organisation the public transport had on this day. To make things worse, the information given was incorrect, and the public servants working on the buses just didn’t give a rats ass regarding the issues with the railway being shut down and people being stranded. The trip from Ellerslie to Homai only takes 20 minutes, how can you explain that it took me 3 hours to get home because your pathetic organisation with no prior notice or contingency plan was implemented for the shut down of the railway. The notice clearly said that their would be replacement buses, yet their where none. Then it was displayed that the rail buses would depart from Kalmia St, yet no buses came on the day. Then the bus drivers where confused and didn’t know anything about what was going on. I have lost any faith I had in our public transport system. The organisation may not care on how one person feels about the public transport system….so let me remind your organisation that it is our F*******G tax payers dollars that is building these train networks and it is our tax payers dollars that is paying for your F*****G public servants wages!!!! Get a Grip!!! Get a contingency plan in place for unforeseen setbacks…….and most importantly of all…….COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR STAFF AND PUBLIC SERVANTS….THE LEFT HAND DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THE RIGHT HAND IS DOING…..If this is how the public transport is being run by the people in charge….then GOD help US ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!…..
That sounds like a pretty horrific experience and definitely the kind of thing we want to see an end to. It is worth pointing out though that we are not Auckland Transport, just merely people commenting on transport issues.
Angry next time either get a bus to Penrose then wait there for next rail bus going south
or go to middlemore Hosp across road from Middlemore station and get rail bus there
you would have saved time walking to Otahuhu Station from Otahuhu Bus Station
anyways glad you got to Homai safe and sound i realise you were comming from Ellerslie station
just some idears for next time
I was directed by MAXX to blog my experience on this website….and my horrific experience was due to transport issues – hence the reason why it took me 3 hours to get home!!!!
he Angury thought you were going to Homai Station not Otahuhu station
just a thought
Anyone know whats happening with the old BP on Mount Wellington Highway
Matt do you know what is going in next to Mc Donalds on Mt Wellington Highway opposite Masport where the Old B P station was?