This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe.
First up, here's 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.
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[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?
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 been achieved and that is before the benefits of the City Rail Link are accounted for. Average speeds on our network are outliers when compared to other, similar cities but 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 get 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 provides. For example, in the press release they also say
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.
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 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.
Like with the other parts of the rail network, Pukekohe seems slow too. The timetable is scheduled to take 19 minutes, which is better than the bus that has been needed for the last three years, but notably is slower than it was with the old diesels which took 17 minutes. Furthermore, while I haven't seen what they in service, during an opening run on Sunday
Among others, the station was opened by new Transport Minister Chris Bishop and I also noticed this in the 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 for it and the previous government that actually funded it.