Light rail in Auckland

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]

Auckland light rail
Overview
Area servedAuckland, New Zealand
Transit typeLight rail
Number of lines2
Technical
System length22 km (13.7 mi) (city centre to Airport route)

History

Background

Auckland was served by a network of traditional tramcar routes with horse-drawn trams (1884–1902) and electric trams (1902–1956).[3][4] The original tram network was 72 kilometres (45 mi) in length at its fullest extent from the mid 1930s until closures began in 1949.[5]

Initial proposal

In 2015, 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.[6] 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.[6] 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. This compares with a bus on a shared path shifting 2,500 people and a bus on a priority path's 6,000 people an hour.[4]

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.[6]

An eastward line from the airport to Botany Downs has also been proposed with a new interchange at Puhinui railway station, planned to be built in two stages, the first of which is said to be an early deliverable component of the Airport to Botany rapid transit line, planned to be operational by end of 2020 /early 2021. This encompasses a new at-grade bus/rail interchange and enhanced station. Buses will still use the existing local road (Bridge Street) to cross the railway line to/from Manukau, along with local traffic.The second phase provides a rapid transit overbridge across the railway line to provide a more direct and bespoke rapid transit connection. The new rapid transit link will integrate with the new interchange station on the overbridge. The first stage is estimated to cost $59 million to construct.[7] The line will also go through Manukau railway station before ending in Botany.[8][9]

Detailed planning and funding

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.[10][11]

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:[12]

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. The consortium was named NZ Infra.[12]

By early 2019, the cost of the two lines had been estimated at $6 billion, with an underground alignment through Queen St under consideration.[13]

Replacement light metro proposal

In August 2019, Mayor Phil Goff announced that work on the light rail network may begin the following year.[14] The same month, two delivery partners for the project were shortlisted; NZ Infra and NZTA, but it was stated that a 2020 start date would be unlikely.[15] By late 2019, two different types of technology were being considered by the New Zealand Ministry of Transport. The original proposal from the New Zealand Transport Agency consisted of surface level light rail; the other from NZ Super Fund explored fully grade-separated, driverless light metro technology, with an underground alignment through Queen St and elevated sections elsewhere, with fewer stations between the city centre and airport.[16][17]

In May 2020, it was reported that the light rail project had been placed on hold due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand.[18] In June, Twyford confirmed that the Ministry of Transport was still committed to the project, but as a fully grade-separated light metro line between the city and airport;[19] stating that "Our policy is that light metro is the form of rapid transit that Auckland needs. We've decided very clearly that we need a rapid transit system that's not competing with pedestrians and other cars in the road corridor. A light metro system just like you see in London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, is actually faster and more efficient. It would allow you to get from Queen St to the Airport in 30 minutes as opposed to the 47 minutes that was projected for the old streetcar model Auckland Transport developed." The Ministry did not release the updated cost of the new light metro proposal, or any time frame for its construction. However industry commentators have estimated the decision to use the metro mode will increase cost of the two lines from $6 billion to more than $20 billion, with a new design and construction period of 8 to 10 years beginning from 2021 at the earliest.[20]

Routes
Proposed light rail network Airport Route
Britomart CRL
Civic
Karangahape Road CRL
Dominion Road Junction
Eden Valley
Milton Road
Balmoral shops
Lambeth Road
Mount Roskill shops
Stoddard Road depot
Hillsborough
Onehunga
Mangere Bridge
Favona
Mangere Town Centre
Ascot
Airport Business District
Auckland Airport
Proposed light rail network Western Route
Britomart CRL
Civic
Karangahape Road CRL
Bond Street
Western Springs Park and Lake
Point Chevalier shops
Te Atatū Peninsula and Te Atatū South Interchange
Lincoln Road
Royal Road
Westgate / Massey Stage one terminus
Kumeu / Huapai Proposed Stage 2 extension
Huapai
gollark: When I attempted to be involved in the democratic process™ by complaining to my local politician about a thing their government had done, I got no useful response out of it. I don't think it's worth the time.
gollark: You seem to be able to actually remain motivated to study interesting maths and such. I get distracted from anything like that *very* easily and can only really do it in very small chunks.
gollark: This is also irrelevant because a micronation doing this could just not tax it.
gollark: There aren't taxes on arbitrary transactions in most places as far as I know.
gollark: Yes, some country really should have caught onto this by now.

See also

References
  1. Barrett, Keith (23 January 2015). "Auckland to launch light rail study". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  2. "Light rail gets thumbs up from opposition". 3 News. 24 January 2015. Archived from the original on 20 April 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  3. Smith, Sandy (27 January 2015). "Beijing to Add Four More Metro Lines". Next City. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  4. Thompson, Wayne (25 January 2015). "From apps to zones: Is this how we get city moving?". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  5. Dearnaley, Mathew (23 January 2015). "Light rail returns to the spotlight". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  6. Slade, Maria (23 January 2015). "Len Brown cool on light rail in Auckland transport plan". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  7. "Airport to Botany Rapid Transit: Puhinui interchange" (PDF).
  8. "Southwest Gateway Airport to Botany Rapid Transit" (PDF).
  9. https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/airport-to-botany-rapid-transit/
  10. "Auckland Transport Alignment Project 2018". Auckland Transport. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  11. "Auckland Transport Alignment Project 2018". New Zealand Ministry of Transport/Te Manatu Waka. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  12. Cooke, Henry (9 May 2018). "NZ Super Fund keen to build and operate Auckland's light rail". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  13. "Trams could run under Queen St as part of Auckland's $6 billion light rail project". NZ Herald. 9 February 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  14. "Auckland Light Rail announcement 'soon'". Stuff.co.nz. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  15. "Two delivery partners shortlisted for Auckland light rail". International Railway Journal. 23 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  16. "What do we know about the two light rail plans, and is the Super Fund's worth waiting for". Stuff.co.nz. 31 October 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  17. "Twyford's dilemma: housing or a fast trip to the airport?". www.newsroom.co.nz. 24 October 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  18. Coughlan, Thomas (13 May 2020). "Government puts light rail 'on hold'". stuff. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  19. "'Light Metro', not 'Light Rail'". www.newsroom.co.nz. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  20. "Light Rail dies but Light Metro may return". Greater Auckland. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
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