Around 100 people attended a public meeting in Hamilton last night to discuss the proposal to get a passenger train service for commuters between Hamilton and Auckland.
The meeting was hosted by the Campaign for Better Transport and the business case for the train service is well-established.
Unfortunately, Nanaia Mahuta and I are the only local MPs supporting the train service – the two National MPs told the meeting all the reasons it shouldn’t go ahead.
The National Party rhetoric goes something like this:
*Hamilton is too small to sustain the service;
*Hamilton should be grateful that it is getting funding for an expressway;
*Waikato Mayors just want the expressway completed in 10 years time instead;
* There is a private bus company that commuters could use.
Their arguments don’t stack up. Masterton and Palmerston North have passenger train services to Wellington and they are a lot smaller than Hamilton.
The expressway, when completed at a cost of $2b in 10 years time, will save 10 minutes on the journey to Auckland – that is until Waikato cars get to the Southern Motorways and sit in traffic jams for ages!
The Waikato Mayors have always argued for a balanced transport system for the region and they didn’t anticipate the Government was going to cut city public transport funding for Hamilton to fund the expressway as they have.
Oh duh… the buses to Auckland get caught in the traffic jams too.
I reckon the real reason David Bennett and Tim MacIndoe are talking the proposal down is they agree with the Don Brash Taskforce comissioned by John Key when it recommended the sale of state assets.
KiwiRail will be the first up for sale and they won’t want a whole lot of Hamilton commuters up in arms when they sell it off.
Absolutely not!. You cant run a long distance express service with local stopping all stations trains on a double track. You need a minimum 3 tracks. Let them transfer to the the local train from Papakura.
The scheduling can only cause inconvenience for regular Auckland travellers. And if the Hamilton train is 5 min late even more delays.
NO NO NO
passenger trains also cause delays with freight trains.
Go Sue we need more trains!
Where’s jarbury?
Hamilton previously had a Train service to Auckland it ate cash at enormous rate, Toll pulled the plug. Why do you think it will work now?
I guess we’ve just heard more rhetoric about why it won’t work….
We have never invested enough in our infrastructure and services to make rail travel in New Zealand attractive or sustainable. It’s chicken and the egg – people won’t use services if they’re not timely and reliable, but investment previously has been stymied because of low usage.
We can keep building roads and shoving cars onto them but, in Auckland especially, this plan is doomed. We need visionary thinking here – not tired rhetoric. We need to be bold, brave and adventurous. National is none of these things.
By the way, I’ll tie myself to the tracks before I let them sell Kiwirail. Promise.
YES!!! More Trains are definatly needed…. Espcially in auckland… actually we need more tracks going to more places… instead of making stupid roads why doesn’t someone try and make trains accessable… I have to catch 2 buses to get to a railway station and chances are that the train won’t even go where I want to go….
The one year trial proposed was costed at approximately $500,000 for the year and Waikato ratepayers were polled and asked if they were prepared to pay $12 extra a year for the service, over 80% responded that they would…
@Doug. The previous train between Hamilton and Auckland was set up to fail from the start. It got commuters to Auckland on time but the return journey left from the old railway station in Beach Road at 5pm, so nobody working normal business hours could get to it on time. There is a lot of expansion in the Franklin area and people are driving from there to Papakura to catch the train, it would be much better if they could get on the train at Pukekohe or Pokeno.
What’s changed since 2000 when the service was last trialled? The cost of fuel for one and the population of Hamilton exploding also, along with the points Janice makes.
The business case was established in 2006 (before petrol went up) and even then the benefit/cost ratio stacked up. Even though the report strangely didn’t factor in a benefit to safety by establishing the service.
There was a call at the meeting to have expressway completion pushed out a bit beyond the ten years so this service could be funded. Now that sounds familiar. Oh yeah, that was Labour’s plan.
I think ideally a rail service from Hamilton to Auckland would need three stations, one around the Claudelands Showground, one around Frankton Junction, the third sited near the shopping centre built on the old Airforce base. This is because Hamilton is spread out to the point that one railway station wouldn’t be convenient to all the potential passengers.
The north suburbs of Hamilton already have people who commute to South Auckland to work daily. If a rail link between Palmerston North and Wellington can work, a rail link between the Auckland and Hamilton should be able to work, if the rail system at the Auckland end is efficient enough.
No jarbury???
The Palmy to Wellington train is a 2 hr journey and the ticket cost is $24 one way and $194 for a 10 trip ( weeekly) concession.
Any takers Hamilton ?
The complaints about the leaving time are an indication of the difficulty of scheduling an express service amoung the normal trains. The above service leaves at 5:17Pm.
Miss it and you are stranded.
Maybe jarbury went off the rails
Help! 
Hi all. I just found this site and read this article.
Firstly, I think before anyone critises the proposal I suggest you read one of the business case studies undertaken by Environment Waikato. All of which are in favour!
Secondly, having been on the Hamilton streets talking with over 700 people myself, it is clear the region wants Hamilton – Auckland commuter rail. Those 100 people who turned out at the meeting was the biggest meeting so far. So underlying support is growing and the residents and ratepayers are showing their support.
Thirdly, the Campaign For Better Transport has had 100% success in all our campaigns. Rome was not built in a day. But we do win as we always generate a huge amount of public support and expectation. If a few local councillors and MPs want to oppose the rail trial then that’s their call. However, come the local body elections next year and general election the year after they may be needing to catch the train to Auckland to seek new employment!
Don’t forget the roading and trucking lobbies are behind the Expressway. If you back commuter rail, feel free to join the Campaign For Better Transport. The non-politically aligned transport group. http://www.BetterTransport.org.nz
Very good website, thanks Jon R.
Fully agreed with alot of the contributors to this post. Bette public transportation is something that our Governemnt should be focused on, not their disasterous Emmissions Trading Scheme and all that bullrubbish.
On saying that, I have huge faith in Phil Goff and Darren Hughes (opposition spokesperson for Transport) and believe that better Public Transportation will be high up on the agenda for the next Labour Government.
I’m not so sure James, the only question I’ve heard Darren Hughes ask Joyce in Parliament is “why hasn’t Transmission Gully been built fast enough”, “why has National cut funding for local roads”…
jarbury must be dead. R.I.P jarbury. Everytime I see a train I’ll think of you.
I was talking to Jarbury on another blog tonight… I’ll summarise his position for you:
Jarbury: “I’m in favour of this excellent idea”…
Have no fear – jarbury is here.
Yes I think the time has come for an Auckland-Hamilton rail service. There are a quite a number of reasons for this:
1) A surprising number of people commute between the two cities – or live in places like Huntly, Te Kauwata etc. but work in Auckland. For them, being able to snooze or check emails etc. on the train would improve their day a lot compared to having to stay alert while driving.
2) If it can work for Palmy to Wellington then surely it can work for Auckland-Hamilton. Two much larger cities (Hamilton compared to Palmy, Auckland compared to Wellington).
3) Taking cars off the Waikato Expressway and the Southern Motorway has to be a good thing. It’ll free up room on those roads for trucks you know!
4) A two hour travel time is actually really competitive with what it would take to drive at peak hour.
5) It would pretty much eliminate the need for Auckland-Hamilton flights, which is probably a good thing for all concerned. (For that to happen the trains would have to run at reasonable (say two-hourly) frequencies throughout the day.
I’m sure there are more reasons. David Bennett just doesn’t like public transport and that is why this isn’t happening. As simple as that.
Here’s what David Bennett says about public transport in the debates on the PTMA:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/e/b/c/48HansD_20080912_00000001-Public-Transport-Management-Bill-In-Committee.htm