This week, KiwiRail and Auckland Transport were celebrating two things: the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut down for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe.
First up, here’s a few parts of the press release about the shutdown works.
Passengers boarding trains in Auckland from today will enjoy improved reliability and a new direct connection to Pukekohe as part of the huge progress made across the network during the extended summer rail closure.
The four-week closure allowed KiwiRail to blitz the network while trains weren’t running, keeping the programme on track for City Rail Link-readiness and the faster, more frequent services it will bring.
“This summer more than 1350 workers descended on the network across 110 plus sites, working 24/7 wherever possible. In many areas they were able to achieve more progress than planned,” explains André Lovatt, Chief Infrastructure Officer at KiwiRail.
“Having a full four weeks with no passenger trains and therefore no energised powerlines meant we were able to deliver a massive amount of work without having to fit around trains. We know it’s a big ask for passengers.”
“We are operating in a complex environment as we upgrade the network, integrating new systems with old, and sometimes this comes with teething issues, despite rigorous testing, but we hope the scale of what we’ve achieved will provide some confidence that it’s worth the inconvenience when so much progress has been made,” says Lovatt.
…..
[Auckland Transport Director Public Transport and Active Modes Stacey van der Putten]
“All of the upgrades happening during closures will maximise the benefits of the City Rail Link when it opens in 2026, with faster journeys, trains up to every 4-5 minutes, better connections across Auckland and improved reliability. But from now rail customers will see some immediate improvements including electric trains from a new Pukekohe Station and safe new pedestrian access to Homai Station to replace level crossings.”
Other highlights of what was achieved include:
- Total of 7.4kms of rail reinstatement and 11.4km of drainage works completed for the Rail Network Rebuild in some of the network’s most difficult to access priority areas.
- Stage 4 of the Rail Network Rebuild (between Papakura to Pukekohe) completed.
- Full track laid with overhead line and signalling system testing completed for the Third Main Line between Puhinui and Otahuhu.
- New safer pedestrian access at Homai Station to replace two level crossings.
- 14.3kms of rail ‘destressed’ to minimise potential speed restrictions caused by temperature changes.
- 13 turnouts replaced in total.
- 3,200 sleepers replaced across the network.
- 19km of tamping – where a machine lifts the rail and compacts the ballast (rocks) underneath the sleepers.
- 17.5kms of rail ‘stabilised’ – where a machine pressures and vibrates the ballast to lock everything into place, so it fits together like puzzle pieces.
- Completion of a new pedestrian overbridge at Middlemore Station.
- 22 Storm recovery sites repaired across the network using 6500 tonnes of rock.
- Overhead line modifications and continued civil and electrification installation activities for new Western power feed at Glen Eden.
This was the first in a series of closures for a final push to get the network ready to unlock the full benefits of City Rail Link. The majority of the final stages of the Rail Network Rebuild will be delivered in extensions to the usual closures when all services are suspended during major holidays. This allows teams to safely work on the tracks and inside tunnels. The next extended closure will be for 16 days around Easter 2025.
The work programme has been designed to condense network disruption into shorter, more intensive closures, leaving it fully operational for longer and at the busier times. For example, the network will be fully operational for more weekends this year, compared to 2024 and there is a focus on keeping trains running for special events.
A lot of work has certainly been done over the last month or so, which is great, though it never seems to stop faults on the first day back.
However I do question why, after all of this work, the timetables are now slower than they were before. Compared to the timetables in use at the end of last year, the Eastern and Western lines are both taking two minutes longer to reach Britomart from Manukau or Swanson. It is even worse for the Southern Line, with a trip from Papakura scheduled to take four minutes longer.
The charts below show how the timetables for our key lines have changed over time, noting:
- I am missing some timetables for the Southern and Eastern Lines
- For the Eastern Line, Manukau didn’t open till 2012 so I’ve used the Manukau to Puhinui travel time to backfill the data prior to then.
Given the regular timetables don’t tend to change that much, is this slowdown to accommodate upcoming KiwiRail works, or a case of AT padding timetables so they can claim better reliability?
And at what point will we start to see some real time savings from all of the work that has happened over the last few decades?
As I’ve written before, our trains are meant to be capable of much faster journeys. For example, Swanson to Britomart should be around 43 minutes, more than 10 minutes faster than is currently being achieved – and that is before the benefits of the City Rail Link are accounted for. As the graph below shows, average speeds on the Auckland network are outliers when compared to other, similar cities – but they wouldn’t be if trains operated at the speed they were meant to be designed to.
My concern is that Auckland Transport and KiwiRail are relying solely on the City Rail Link to gain any kind of travel time improvement when there is so much more they could be doing.
And yes, I do appreciate those speeds might not be possible in the middle of all the current works – but there has been no commitment to achieving faster journeys other than what the CRL will provide. For example, ithe press release also says:
Journey times will be shorter. For example, from Henderson to Te Waihorotiu Station in the central city will take 35 minutes, saving 24 minutes on the current journey. And there will be better connections to more places across Auckland by train.
But if they achieved the times that both KiwiRail and CAF said were possible, that journey time from Henderson to Te Waihorotiu would be about 28 minutes.
One of the recent highlights has been the reopening of Pukekohe train station following electrification works.
Passenger trains are returning to an upgraded Pukekohe Station for the first time in more than two years, now connecting directly with other parts of Auckland to the central city in 75 minutes.
Services will be operating from tomorrow every 20 minutes between Pukekohe Station and Waitematā Station (Britomart) along the Southern Line.
Pukekohe Station closed in August 2022 for KiwiRail to electrify the rail line ahead of the three new train stations being developed on this section of track. The Southern Line was previously only electrified as far as Papakura, where Pukekohe passengers needed to transfer between an electric train and a diesel train.
Auckland Council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee Chairman, and Franklin Ward Councillor Andy Baker rode the first electric train from Pukekohe today.
“It’s been well worth the wait,” he says.
“Getting to the city centre from Pukekohe is now one easy train ride that’s 25 minutes quicker than bussing to Papakura and catching the train from there. It’s a cleaner, quieter way to travel than the old diesel trains and means we no longer need to transfer at Papakura.
As with the other parts of the rail network, Pukekohe also seems slow. The timetable is scheduled to take 19 minutes, which is better than the bus that’s been needed for the last three years, but is still notably slower than it was with the old diesels, which took 17 minutes. Furthermore, while I haven’t seen what they’re like in service, this was during an opening run on Sunday:
The station was formally opened by, among others, the new Transport Minister Chris Bishop – and I also noticed this, in his press release about it:
“The further extension of electrification on the southern line to Pukekohe was first announced by then-Prime Minister Sir Bill English and Transport Minister Simon Bridges in 2017. Work began in 2022 and is now complete, along with a redeveloped station at Pukekohe.
That conveniently leaves out that it was Auckland who led the push in the first place, and the previous government that actually funded it.
Processing...
Not just the trains. Buses seem to amble along, drivers who pump the accelerator/brakes randomly reminiscent of prius uber drivers?, very little bus priority, cars blocking lanes, buses letting in single vehicles from side roads/driveways (seriously what is up with that just get moving you’ve got 40 people on board).
All makes for a terrible customer experience.
Agreed, was on the 866 bus the other day with no traffic, perfect weather, no wind, and the bus was going 55kmh on the harbour bridge and 65kmh on the busway. Wtf?
Yes there is something weird going on with some drivers – not sure if they are new or just poor but certain of the Onewa rd buses are absolutely terrible. Like you say 50kmh on motorway, constantly pumping accelerator – driver looks distracted. Have actually sent feedback to Ritchies on this and they said some drivers have bad habits and they will remind them – suggest they get on these buses to see how the journey is. Really nauseating ride.
But there are great drivers out there.
Brand new electric bus on the 866 route, the strange driving started leaving Albany. But on Ponsonby Road K Rd seemed unable to brake smoothly. Was so bad I got off before getting a wrenched neck. A half million dollar bus with an incompetent driver.
Who’d be a bus driver they have to put up with getting assulated physically, abused and now people are moaning they go to slow or they brake too hard or they wait at bus stops too long for all anyone knows there may be a reason for driving slower if it’s a brand new bus ,maybe they’ve been told to drive slower ,maybe they are new and getting over cautious to start with. God if they all quit for better paying jobs then people would moan again. Most of the people complaining here probably wouldn’t have a fraction of the stress in their jobs these bus drivers have. Better still you should all take a training course in driving these buses if you all know so much about it.
Probably was ahead of timetable. Nothing worse than an early bus when you’re trying to catch it.
Yes, although the second worst thing is a bus going slowly or waiting at a timing stop.
Agreed.
If you are ahead of schedule, the simple thing to do is to pause at the next stop.
“This was the first in a series of closures for a final push to get the network ready to unlock the full benefits of City Rail Link.”
Yet they included the full benefits of CRL in there business case but none of these costs.
I was talking to a couple of Blind kids heading to Huntly before Christmas and they preferred the lower crossing at Homai as it was safer to get to their School without having to go near the busy main road , as the side street had a less traffic flow .
And Middlemore has only 2 of the 3 lifts working for the overbridge , but they do have a ramp across the 3rd main to help he disable .
Took the 7.30am ex Pukekohe on Monday and Tuesday.
Monday departed on time (as Te Huia pulled into Pukekohe Station) trip took 14 mins and we hung about Papakura station for 5 mins prior to departing.
Tuesday departed 4 mins late due to a south bound freighter passing though Pukekohe. (Te Huia pulled in on time again). Got to Papakura on scheduled time and left on time.
Maybe it’s a white space to let the schedule run on time because there appears to be a massive amount of non commuter traffic on the lines.
For what it’s worth I got from Pukekohe to the Airport in 55 mins both days which is a marked improvement on pre-electrification and the Pukekohe Shuttle.
One day we might get bus priority for all of St Mary’s Bay section of the motorway heading north. Seems like an easy win but nope, took 20 mins to get over to the shoulder section by Onewa Rd yesterday afternoon.
A peak time bus lane would seem obvious but nope, must give priority to those single occupant utes.
A few years ago someone (maybe this site?) calculated that the Northern “Busway” only had priority for 41% of its route, mainly north of the bridge.
Yes, it’s a bit more now since the busway was extended to Albany.
Reinforcing the fact that the priority is really only north of the bridge, where they could build lanes that did not impede cars.
The fact the dwell times are still laughably long after 10 years of having the electric trains is just public transport in Auckland in a nutshell – spend money on something shiny and then operate it in a half-arsed manner
Pathetic dwell times. Last time I measured they were more than twice the Sydney double decker trains.
And here was Pukekohe last Friday ;-
Yeah this slowing down is annoying. My Papakura to Pukekohe southbound trip around 5 pm on opening day was around 15-16 mins as well. Seemed to hoot along on some sections.
Further to that we were waiting extra time at a couple of the stations going south to Papakura as well Complete with a staff change stop at Wiri obviously ahead of timetable.
It’s because the timetable is set up to include the new stations between Papakura and Pukekohe despite their opening being years away. So now they sit at Papakura for five minutes. Fix this and the dwell times and you could easily save 10 minutes on a Pukekohe Newmarket trip.
Is it really? Wouldn’t be surprised if they slow it again once the stations open.
Auckland Transport seems to be obvious to the fact that passengers like shelter not only from rain but also the sun. Surely the addition of shelters the length on the station would be a couple of percent of the build budget if that. They simply don’t care about the customer experience and this is made worse when trains are not running to schedule
I feel there is a form of conditioning occurring where architectural renditions are used that almost never depict anything other than a fine windless summer’s day. Totally divorced from reality where Auckland has wetter weather than most, if not all, of NZ’s main cities.
Another 16 days at Easter? Sigh. Easter is a long weekend.
I know the work needs doing, but another 2-week shutdown right in the middle of the year when most people are working is hard to take.
Ask Councilor Maurice Williamson what he did to upgrade the Auckland rail network during all the years he was Transport Minister. That’s the reason for these extended shutdowns now, because decades were wasted doing nothing and actually damaging the network.
Easter Monday and Anzac Day are in the same week. There is a 16 day period where there will be 7 working days and a lot of people taking leave.
If they have to do another long shutdown, this is the most logical time.
I am visiting a friend in my old hometown of Pukekohe and looking at the timetable was unpleasantly surprised to see it will take an hour and a quarter.
Probably slower than the old ‘ limited’ we used to catch occasionally to come in to town
The Western Line in the morning and evening peak appears to have had a 25% reduction in capacity.
While it remains as previously with a train every 10 minutes, it used to be the morning and evening peak trains were 6 carriage trains.
i.e. 12 carriages every 20 minutes
But I’ve noticed that now every 2nd train is a 3 carriage train.
i.e. 9 carriages every 20 minutes
Which means the 3 carriage trains are packed to standing room only, and university hasn’t even started yet.
Saving money while the pax just fits it I guess.
There is only one more train set. With the extension to Pukekohe (40 minutes there and back not counting time between trips) means more 3-car sets in the rest of the network.
The extra trains were needed for the extension to Pukekohe, not CRL. So going slow rather than as fast makes less sense as it means more 3-car sets in the network.
The reason for more 3-car train sets is because going to Pukekohe requires more train sets, which haven’t arrived
We will forever be hearing excuses, because we have been forever awaiting our modern public transit network.
I am just glad that trains are back, the city was horrendous to move around in January.
But I do agree, to convince people to give up their silly little expensive fart mobiles, public transport needs to be FAST.
I am still hopeful that the CRL will deliver this, at least to a third of our population, who will then be very fortunate indeed. Why we are not embarking upon an intense apartment build concurrently owes to this awful house obsession that we have. Apartments are superior places to live, and hopefully our little town of a city will wake up to it, before the smell of noxious gas in the morning puts us back to sleep before we exit the garage.
bah humbug
So, diesel trains on the old line were faster than electric trains on the modernised line?
Longer journey times must be very annoying for those reliant on public transport. They are also a fantastic way to stop anyone wanting to use it.
I like the idea of using public transport to get places, but when the journey takes twice as long as it would by car, even in heavy traffic, and the trains are shut every long weekend anyway, it’s hard to justify using it. Basically, it’s just a novelty activity, like going in the cable car when visiting Wellington.
The trains are faster, the timetable is holding them up. And this year Kiwirail are planning very few weekend closures.
Stick emergency lights and sirens on buses and give them the same priority as first responders. You don’t even have to paint and enforce a bus lane.
It would be so much healthier for all of us if politicians had the humility to acknowledge collective/successive efforts. Our attitudes have a key part to play if we want better outcomes for the long term.
so many moaners in NZ these days .Thank your lucky stars that you have public transport .If you want it better use it more and that will enable the required funding to make those improvements .I used rail in Brisbane for 5 years ,it was fantastic because it was used by a lot of people and had a wide reach .
Ah yes there it is, the old be grateful you peasants can get on an ancient, decrepit PT that is possibly late/cancelled while gold plated roads are built to speed us further around. You say it was fantastic because it was used by a lot of people. Wonder why they were all using it!?
Exactly. All you have to do is dig up large tracts of your country without regard to its history or environment and send it to China. Then you can have a great public transport system.
I was on a train from Pukekohe 6.35 am if I recall. It left 8 mins late and the train manager announced that they were going to run express from Papakura to Otahuhu so I got off at Papakura on platform three looked at the board which showed the next train was leaving also from platform three in 5 mins. Then a staff member comes running over to say we had 4 mins to get to platform one. Offwe went the train manager blowing her whistle to hurrh us up. That’s on Monday and I know it happens all over the world. Still it would be trying if you wanted to get off at Puhinui to catch the airport bus with your luggage. These stations seem so big there is four platforms at Pukekohe it’s a major route march from the bus stops. Ditto Papakura and Puhinui. The new ramp up to Brown’s road is good but again it becomes quite a journey just to transfer from the bus and park n ride. So when you compare speeds you have to consider the station access time as well. Anyway it’s all exercise I suppose you could say trains are an active mode. One last thing there was about 100 passengers on a six car train so not bad for day one. Let’s hope the reliability can be improved.
Today we travelled from Pukekohe to the City. Excellent trip. Train on time both ways.
It could be help to have the departure screens on the walkway to the platforms to direct you to the right platform to save confusions.
It is also unhelpful having one of the departure screens on platform four at Britomart showing and incorrect time, one hour behind and showing different train departing causing some passenger confusions.
The timetable from Papakura to Pukekohe is because the timings to stop at the 3 new stations is also accounted for in these timing. Saves them having to redo the whole train and connecting bus timetable when they open.