ATs First Official CRL Map
by Matt Lowrie
The City Rail Link is going to be one of the most transformative projects Auckland has ever seen and it is now, most likely, less than a year away. Auckland Transport are more visibly starting to get ready for it and yesterday they officially unveiled their rapid transit map for once it opens, including what they're calling each of the lines. As much as I love the project and want it to succeed, I can't help but feel AT have fumbled the ball a bit here, both with the network and the map.
More direct access to the city centre and a cross-city service are the key features of the just released ‘Trains and Rapid Buses’ map, that highlights the scale of public transport improvements which will come into effect when the City Rail Link opens in 2026.
CRL allows for big changes in the way customers can travel across Auckland. The network has been re-shaped with Auckland Transport adding new train lines and bus connections to provide more choice and faster journeys.
“It’s exciting to be able to give people a clearer idea of how their train journeys will change, as many people don’t realise that City Rail link benefits all of Auckland and the whole public transport network,” says Auckland Transport Chief Executive Dean Kimpton.
The re-configured network makes it easier for Aucklanders to connect to the places they love to spend time in, and more convenient access to the places where they work and learn.
“This is more than a map, it shows how people can more easily connect with friends and loved ones, attend events, shorten their commute or just explore a new part of the city by rail.”
Three new central city stations - Maungawhau, Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu – alongside a better-connected Waitematā Station (Britomart), are the cornerstone of the route improvements.
The new underground twin tunnels from Waitematā Station mean trains can travel straight through the middle of the city – unlocking capacity for more frequent trains and reducing travel times.
90% of all train services will pass through the underground tunnels and city centre stations on new routes replacing today’s Southern, Eastern, Western and Onehunga Lines.
The Design
First up, this would be the perfect opportunity to brand the rapid transit network as a whole. Give it a name instead of just calling it Trains and Rapid Buses. The simplest would be something like Auckland Rapid Transit (ART) and there are heaps of ways clever marketing people could play off that.
Bringing the network properly together should also entail having a common naming convention for the lines that make up the network. Instead we continue to have a bit of a hodgepodge of names.
With the changes to the rail network we get three new names for lines Ewww, Ow and Sick. There are plenty of different naming conventions out there but even something as simple as a single letter might have been better e.g. the A, B, C lines etc.
Having a common naming convention would also help in breaking down the modal silos that seem to persist at AT and which also feature prominently on the map itself with the design of the lines. I wish they'd just use the same line style for all rapid transit services.
The map is at least an improvement on the previous version.
Network Design
We've seen some versions of the network design before and I remain unimpressed.
EW to Newmarket
AT's plans are that services will increase to 8 trains per hour in the peak direction on each of the main lines - up from 6 currently. However, with all of the level crossings on the Western Line, AT don't want to run any additional services overall so there will only be 4 trains an hour in the counter-peak direction - a reduction on what we have today.
The EW line having some services run to Newmarket will be the additional services from the Eastern Line that won't be able to head out west due to the level crossing restriction needing somewhere to terminate, and Newmarket happens to have a spare platform once it's no longer needed to turn around Western Line trains.
OW to Henderson Off-Peak
I get the desire to retain some semblance of West to Newmarket service but having it occur off-peak like this is just daft. AT would be better to use the resource to boost regular western line service from the currently planned 4 trains per hour to 6 trains per hour.
Transfer between services will be very easy at Karang-a-Hape and the higher the frequency, the more chance that it will actually end up a faster overall journey than a train that only runs every half an hour.
SC Line double back
The doubling back of the S-C line adds confusion. The train plans we've seen from various documents in the past suggest services will come in from the South, run through the CRL and head back to terminate at Otahuhu. Why hide that?
Having two red lines side by side through the inner southern line would make it clearer compared to merging the lines like AT have done and helps to highlight the additional service.
AT does note
Auckland Transport is currently finalising these service patterns and timetables. The train operating timetable is subject to approvals. More detailed information on specific route variations and services for each line will be released soon.
Putting that aside, an even better network option might have been something like this - as shown by Nicolas Reid in this post.
A more useful way to run the trains? Image credit: Jug Cerovic
What do you think of the official map?