Transport in Auckland would certainly be very different if Robbie had of succeeded in his dream of a regional rail system.
Here is the rail plan from 1972 that he championed, it’s from this post.
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Transport in Auckland would certainly be very different if Robbie had of succeeded in his dream of a regional rail system.
Here is the rail plan from 1972 that he championed, it’s from this post.
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That makes me really angry. Auckland would be such a great city if the National govt hadn’t scuppered the idea.
Don’t blame a political party for some random inaction (none of them where going to do it either), blame your inability to become elected and and do the “obvious best thing”
I’m guessing Northshoreguynz wasn’t around at the time when the National govt scuppered the idea, so hardly his/her fault for failing to be elected at the critical moment.
From what I have read, the same Labour party that agreed to fund the proposal also reneged on the deal a bit. Then they lost the election and National sent it to the graveyard for good. Remember, even Cullen was not a fan of spending on PT in Auckland.
yes it’s true, but you have to be economically responsible like Nationals are! If they followed all these kind of socialistic dreams now we would live with a huge debt and people would hardly afford to buy a house in Auckland! Oh wait…
Economically responsible like National… what a load of BS.
There is a pervading myth that National is better at managing the economy. Absolute bullshit. Unless you consider it better to channel the wealth of the nation to your rich mates, to make them even richer.
As for how well they brought the country through the Global Financial Crisis, that too is bullshit. They inherited record low government debt after Labour had run nine straight years of budget surpluses while at the same time creating kiwisaver, the super fund, making a government contribution (which National canned), funding social services reasonably well (which National progressively destroyed). etc etc
Funny how as soon as National gets into office they immediately destroy anything that is good for the welfare of the population as well as good economic sense.
His name was actually Sir Dove-Myer Robinson.
that was later
Does anybody else think he looks oddly like Len Brown?
That’s a pretty horrible thing to say about Sir Dove…
Not at all. A number of differences, e.g. trousers. Or is that a low blow? Ok I will stop with the puns.
Yes it would have been a great result if “he had succeeded” – not “had of”.
But he was up against the citrats on council who were the real saboteurs, as are their successors, Brewer and Quax. PT will never be used by their sort of people.
Looking at the plan he had a few rather grand motorway plans as well.
Although he did save on the cheapest part being SH18 leaving everyone to drive through the CBD.
Interesting to see the heavy rail line going down dominion road however. And not linking the eastern with the southern.
Some of those are express-ways and the roading plans would have come from the same De Leuw Cather plans that this network was designed off. Not linking the eastern and the southern is interesting and not necessarily a bad thing as it allows for higher frequencies on each route (although both would be constrained by the way the system was designed in the CBD).
Do you know if the Dominion Road line was planned to be overground (elavated I guess) or underground?
It was to run alongside the Dominion Motorway, so above ground at grade. Would have looked like the Southern line and motorway between Ellerslie and Remuera I guess
Auckland has always been stymied by stodgy conservatism.
Imagine how much valuable land wouldn’t have been used for car parking and 6 lane aterials in places like Botany and Albany if the rail system has been built as originally planned.
You might want to rethink the grammar of “had of succeeded”. “Had of” represents had’ve which is incorrect usage. “Had succeeded” is the best choice here.
Any budding or current politician should look at this map and think, If you have vision this is how Auckland could have been; and then look at our motorways at 6.30 to 9.30 AM (or anytime of the day if someone gets so much as a flat tyre) and conclude; but if you have no vision, you get the Auckland of today.
Its incredibly frustrating we have a politically divided council and out of touch government from the 1950’s to contend with in the present that will keep Auckland in the mess it’s in.
we have a politically divided council because that’s what people vote for
Side tracking, but I think that statue of Robbie needs to be relocated in the future so it’s the first thing you see when walking out of the future Aoeta Train Station.
I always give Robbie a fistpump these days when I pass and go “We’ll get there yet!” Yes, I’m a nerd.
Where is the statue currently?
Aotea Square breaux..
Queen St end. Easy to overlook in the latest mish mash rework of the square…
A further part of the problem, was that in 1976, National had come into office in the context of the post-1973 oil shock, and money was tight. As Jo Brosnahan once explained it, the cost of the scheme was doubled in the course of an afternoon, with the result that the government looked at the likely bill and lost any enthusiasm then and there. The local government environment of the time, with the local mayors and councils (Auckland had about thirty at this stage), would have worked against it; no-one wanted to see more focus on the central city when they were trying to build up their own areas. And neither Labour central government regime since then (1984-1990, 1999-2008) seem to have been that keen on doing anything either.
The simpler idea would have been to have got the access to the foot of Queen St restored, and worked from there, but this did not happy for nearly thirty years.
Yes I think a large failing of previous schemes is that they simply tried to do too much. In the 1920’s when the central station was in the process of being moved to its current Quay Park location the plan was to do it but it was cancelled as someone said they also needed to electrify the line all the way to Helensville making it hugely expensive. Similar in the 70’s where it wasn’t just the tunnel but electrification and massive changes to other parts of the rail network. We finally started breaking the project down, Britomart, network upgrade, electrification and that has removed costs that would have otherwise have been needed.
Shame on all the Politicos. The Labour Party never had any intention of funding that Regional Rail System or any for of light rail. Successive Labour Governments have had plenty of opportunity to use the Regional Fuel Tax and the Billion sin General Fuel Tax that Auckland generates to fix this. Same for National. Our mate Norm, Bill Rowling and his crony John (don’t call me Waddock) Hunt made sure it would not happen. We moved to Auckland in 1974 and Labour was in. Then Muldoon and 9 years later back to Labour. So in 42 years all of them have done sod all about it. Mainly because Labour hates cars, except when they use them, and National was scared of loosing the rural vote. Labour had the most to loose by doing it, National had the most to gain by not. Meanwhile, Goff has been in Parliament for 35years and NOW, just as he is looking to get his snout in a new gravy boat, he has suddenly discovered the Light, as in Light rail. What an Arse.