Light rail in Auckland

Proposed light rail network Airport Route
Auckland Dockline Tram Jellicoe Street Daldy Street Hobson Street Britomart CRL Civic Karangahape Road CRL Dominion Road Junction Tawari Street Eden Valley Milton Road Balmoral shops Lambeth Road Mount Roskill shops Stoddard Road depot Mount Roskill Junction Hillsborough Onehunga Mangere Bridge Favona Mangere Town Centre Ascot Airport Business District Auckland Airport

Proposed light rail network Western Route
Auckland Dockline Tram Jellicoe Street Daldy Street Hobson Street Britomart CRL Civic Karangahape Road CRL Great North Road Grey Lynn shops MOTAT Tram Stop and Western Springs Stadium Western Springs Park and Lake Motions Road corner MOTAT tram stop, Auckland Zoo Pasadena shops Point Chevalier shops Patiki Road interchange Te Atatu Peninsula and Te Atatu South Interchange Lincoln Road Royal Road Westgate / Massey Stage one terminus Kumeu / Huapai Proposed Stage 2 extension Huapai

Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, is considering introducing light rail lines to replace some of its most heavily used bus routes.^[1] Many of these new light rail lines, if built, would run on routes used by Auckland's former tram system.^[2]

Proposal

On 26 April 2018, Mayor Phil Goff and Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced the Auckland Transport Alignment Project 2018 with $NZ28 billion of investment in Auckland transport infrastructure over ten years, including the fast-tracking of light rail to Auckland International Airport.^[3][4]

On 9 May 2018, in a pre-Budget announcement, Twyford and Finance Minister Grant Robertson made the surprise announcement that work on two routes would commence immediately, with an open-tender process for funding, construction, and operation of the lines. A line from Wynyard Quarter along Queen Street with one route to Auckland Airport via Dominion Road. The second line would also travel along Queen Street, then via Karangahape Road and Great North Road to Westgate via a Northwestern Motorway dedicated light-rail corridor, with extensions indicated to Kumeu and Huapai, running past the currently disused Kumeu and Huapai railway stations on the North Auckland Line. Passenger services on the Western Line do not currently operate north of Swanson and do not serve these stations.^[5]

In May 2018, it was announced that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund had expressed an interest in financing, designing, building and operating Auckland's light rail network, in a consortium with CDPQ Infra, a Canadian infrastructure company.^[5]

History

Auckland was served by a network of traditional tramcar routes with horse-drawn trams (1884–1902) and electric trams (1902–1956).^[6][7] The original tram network was 72 kilometres (45 mi) in length at its fullest extent from the mid 1930s until closures began in 1949.^[8]

Pros and cons of proposal

Steve Hawkins, Auckland Transport's Chief Engineer, said that the bus routes on Symonds Street and Fanshawe Street require as many as 150 buses each.^[9] The light rail study is considering replacing the bus routes on Dominion Road, Manukau Road, Mt Eden Road, Symonds Street and Queen St with light rail routes. All of those bus routes replaced routes on Auckland's former tram network.

Stuff.co.nz quoted Auckland Transport officials who described how the study was considering the option of building light rail routes with dedicated right of way versus routes where rail vehicles shared the road with other vehicles, as with a traditional streetcar system.^[9] Officials projected that the maximum passenger capacity of a true light rail line would be 18,000 passengers per hour, while the maximum capacity of a system where vehicles shared the road with other vehicles would be limited to 12,000 passengers per hour. They said 2,500 passengers per hour was the practical maximum for a bus route.

In 2015, then Auckland Mayor Len Brown pointed out that the city's ten-year plan did not include funding for building new light rail routes.^[9]

References

External links

• Boswell, Ross (12 April 2018). "Auckland has a better option for Airport rapid transit". New Zealand Herald.
• Davison, Isaac (10 May 2018). "Auckland's new rail lines could be ready within six years, but only if Labour is still in power". New Zealand Herald.
• "French tram bid plan - An Alstom executive in Reims tells of his plans for Auckland trams". New Zealand Herald. 31 March 2018.
• Gibson, Anne (31 March 2018). "Auckland tram project to start in two years: Twyford". New Zealand Herald.
• Gibson, Anne (9 May 2018). "How big tram projects can be derailed: Aussie example shows the risks". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
• Jacobson, Adam (26 April 2018). "Auckland Council, Government commit $28b towards Auckland transportation infrastructure". Stuff.co.nz.
• Lee, Mike (1 May 2018). "Trams to the airport is deluded folly". New Zealand Herald.
• Lowrie, Matt (24 April 2018). "Light rail not really about airport". New Zealand Herald.
• Orsman, Bernard (13 April 2018). "Experts say trams won't be running in Auckland until 2025". New Zealand Herald.
• "What you need to know about the $28b Auckland Transport Alignment Project". Stuff.co.nz. 26 April 2018.
• Wilson, Simon (27 April 2018). "In praise of joined-up transport thinking". New Zealand Herald.
• Wilson, Simon (9 May 2018). "NZ Super Fund wants to own and operate two of Auckland's light rail projects". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
• Wilson, Simon (10 May 2018). "Business should be salivating over new light rail lines". New Zealand Herald.