Subscribe to RSSWhere’s Avondale ParknRide?
Avondale’s temporary train platforms are being removed this weekend now the new station is up and running - and looking good.
But that reminds me: whatever happened to the council idea of a park and ride for train users, situated in the empty space next to the new train station?
Or is the land going to be sold off for something gross like apartments, as KiwiRail was talking about for part of the Mainline Steam site in Parnell?
Locals have been told in an email from a community board member:
“I am trying to get it all cleaned up and converted to a free Park and Ride for train users, as was promised to us from City Hall, because of the Super City nearly upon us, getting council to sort it out is nearly impossible. Very frustrating at the moment. I have not heard of any other plans etc for the area.”
Well, at least that’s good that there are no plans to build something else on the land but it’s a bit of an eyesore right now and detracts from the shiny new station.
So let’s hope someone can put the pressure on to get something built, which will be excellent for locals wanting to park and catch a train. It’s a decent size space.
10 Comments
I don’t think somewhere like Avondale is appropriate for a park and ride to be honest. That would just encorage people to drive in from outlying areas and park there to save on the ticket price. The area is well served by both bus and train and people should be encouraged to either walk or catch a bus to the station or the CBD.
A better use would be to simply turn it to a park with trees rather than cars.
I do agree with RTC that it would encourage people to just drive further to catch the train. Perhaps a good amount of space for some cycle lockers next to the station would be good with the rest of the site turned in park or developed.
If done right apartments can quite nice but unfortunately in Auckland we tend to have had some pretty bad examples that have turned people off them. The site is a decent size and has some amazing views of west Auckland and the upper harbour so could be quite popular providing they aren’t shoe boxes.
It’ll likely be needed as a construction camp for electrification.
It would be handy as a temporary park and ride facility while Baldwin Ave is half-closed the rest of this year.
Whoa! Steady on, cowboy. Recall the Southdown-Avondale rail line is supposed to be built sometime in the next century, to give a rapid South-West connection, and open up new suburbs to rail. They will need some kind of space for the junction and extra platforms.
Though, as this view shows, a more rational route is Onehunga-New Lynn, as New Lynn is the low point on the West line (just a bit above sea level, like Onehunga). That would provide a faster South-West connection, and lower gradient. Useful freight bypass for North Auckland trains too - especially useful if Marsden Point ever comes onto rail fully.
Bob - The junction for that is further east by the pack n save, if you look at google maps you can sort of see the junction on the plans, basically where the firewood company is now. The current designation follows what is now SH20 and from Onehunga there is no way to get to New Lynn without having to go up a grade.
Not sure I disagree with a park & ride - it would still remove a lot of car traffic from Avondale to the CBD…
But yeah, high-quality apartments would be best.
What is ‘gross’ about apartments adjacent to a rail station and town centre?! It’s a bloody good idea!
Much better to have two hundred people living near the station and the village than space for two hundred cars to sit in empty all day.
Oh and Bob, whether the line through Mt Roskill goes via Avondale or the perhaps more likely route toward the CBD via Mt Albert, there would not by any need for additional platforms at any station. Unless the western line was quadruple tracked then any extra platforms would be useless, each route could easily share the existing platforms.
As Matt L says, you can clearly see the reserve for the junction on Google Maps currently occupied by the Pak N Save car park. Here presumably freight trains would head westward and suburban trains toward the city. (the might have something of a ‘western ring route’ train line from Manukau to Henderson, but I doubt it).
I totally agree with Nick R’s first comment. Having many people living right next to a train station should increase patronage on the trains! The idea is to have people using the trains anyway. Density is the key to public transport’s success, so a big empty park is not a smart choice in this case.