Subscribe to RSSTime For Airport Rail Campaign
As I predicted, the media virtually ignored rail’s big day on Saturday with scant coverage of the opening of Onehunga attended by hundreds of excited people of all ages. (And as I predicted here, yesterday - They want to paint a picture of it being a waste of public money and a line only a few use.They did just that today! - see UPDATE at end of post)
TV, which struggles to find enough news for a credible hour at the weekend didn’t find it important enough.
The Herald sent a photographer but despite the colourful event which included people dressed in historic costumes and a steam train, the paper published no collection of photos today, choosing instead for their back page photo spread, the same tired old celebrities who attended a TV award event at the weekend. One has to say, who cares!
Such a fun stylish Auckland event that went unreported
ARTA ran two ads in today’s newspaper advertising that Onehunga trains are now running and that there are new train timetables. Those ads cost ratepayers money and shouldn’t be necessary if the media were informing their local community about real news, instead of the depressing negative stuff that fills their product.
Several people at the official opening talked about Auckland experiencing a rail renaissance.
It is. In the past 12 months, Aucklanders took more than 8.4million journeys on trains, a 10.8% increase on last year.
It’s not just rail enthusiasts imaging it. There is a rail renaissance happening all over the world from China to Europe where fast track rail is expanding fast as politicians realise that with traffic congestion issues and oil running out, fast speed rail is as way to move people and goods around the country, just as fast broadband is good for the economy. It’s also a magnet for tourists and environmentalists.
The term rail renaissance has a romantic edge to it, as if of a bygone time and that was apt to mention at the ceremony with photographs of historic Onehunga lining the fences around the new station , people in old time costumes sitting in the audience and the thrill of a steam train with its magical sounds. I have written previously about the debate about why steam trains are so romantic.
But there are many sceptics who think even today’s trains belong to a past era. In skimming through a Herald at a cafe today looking for coverage of the opening (or in vein for a mention of the New Lynn transport hub opening yesterday) , I noticed an article saying fast broadband was needed to promote working from home and a choice between spending on rail and broadband was clear as rail belonged to the past and broadband to the future.
That argument is itself a nonsense. We need both. And despite such cynics questioning expenditure on rail, what’s happening in Auckland is a definite mind shift to public transport, thanks largely to the dramatic improvements in service and availability.
Four years ago when I caught an old unreliable and infrequent suburban train to Britomart and told people, almost everyone looked at me in amazement. Did they run in trains in Auckland? Where would you get one? Why would you bother?
When I was late for appointments because of a breakdown or delay, people just didn’t believe my bizarre excuse and tale of rail travel woe.
It was such tales and the unreliability of the system that prompted this blog in the first place. Friends and relatives got tired of the stories which sounded too ridiculous to believe and ordered me to shut myself in a corner and get it out of my system by writing about it. The first tagline of the blog was about an Aucklander’s battle to get to work by train each day.
How things have changed.
Sadly we should brace ourselves for coverage soon in the media about Onehunga.
Bad news coverage.
The only major story so far about Onehunga has played up the issue of the length of the platform and that’s now locked in many people’s minds as meaning Onehunga’s not properly ready and (as people who read that front page heading keep telling me) you may not be able to find room on board.
No doubt, a reporter will be dispatched to report on how many people are catching a train at Onehunga this week and weigh that up against the cost to the government and ratepayer of re-establishing the line.
He will note there were “only” 20-odd people catching the train, so it will deemed a failure and proof we don’t need any more new rail services. He will get some civic official to defend it.
ARTA will say its estimated start up patronage on the line for the two hours at morning peak, from 7am to 9am, is for about 100 people boarding at Onehunga. This compares with 3,600 people alighting at Britomart during the morning peak period.
The trains departing from Onehunga will be able to take 530 people seated with capacity of 1,000 including standing. This ensures capacity is future-proofed for growth.
ARTA says by 2016 patronage is estimated to increase to almost 300 people boarding and, following electrification in 2013/14 the number of trains departing Onehunga will provide 940 seats with a total capacity of 1,840.
As noted at the opening ARC chair Mike Lee, whom we have to thank more than anyone for the Onehunga service let alone many other public transport improvements, there is a growing public demand for airport rail.
Onehunga is 14km from the CBD and the airport is 23 km from CBD.
“I can’t see any good reason why we shouldn’t push on - and extend rail across the new rail-capable Manukau Harbour crossing,” says Mike Lee.
“The next stop for this line is the Auckland International Airport which is a mere 9km away. Watch this space,” he says.
Demand for the idea is indeed growing fast, as noted by surveys and an astonishing number of emails I have had to my inbox from people who do not usually use trains.
The idea of rail instead of driving to the airport is a hot button but politicians seem absolutely oblivious to the noise as shown by both the transport minister and present Auckland mayor’s insistence it can’t and won’t happen in many Aucklanders’ lifetime.
It’s hot because
- Many of us have been caught short while trying to drive to the airport to catch a domestic flight especially because of a traffic holdup or mis-judging the travelling time
- The outrageous taxi fares and disgusting hassling that goes on among dodgy taxi cab drivers trying to get your business when you exit the airport
- Some worry about their car being broken into or stolen as it’s obvious if you park at the airport, you won’t be back to the car in a hurry giving thieves enough time to steal
- Many of us have travelled overseas and catching a train to and from a city’s airport is what you can do in most modern cities -even in neighbouring Sydney and Brisbane.
- Tourists love airport rail rather than taxis especially young people watching their budget.
- The cost of parking at the airport especially for more than a day, despite recent competition in that space.
Auckland Airport authorities used to be deaf to such calls for airport rail because of their monopoly on car parking. At least competitive car parking spaces are now available but last December a wonderful thing happened.
Auckland Airport called for an airport rail link to be hurried up.
The company did so in the company’s submission to the ARC on its draft regional transport strategy, in which it calls for better public transport services to the airport.
And Auckland Airport called public transport connections to the Airport currently “weak by international comparisons and as a consequence patronage is low.” The company’s submission says it’s concerned that the ARC’s strategy offers “very little improvement to Airport users in terms of public transport until rail is delivered sometime after 2030”.
The ARC’s draft RLTS had proposed an airport rail connection in the 2031-40 time frame but Auckland Airport said plans for a Rapid Transit Network link to the Airport, whether rail or some intermediate step, should be accelerated and ideally put in place prior to 2020.
With the power of Auckland Airport in the eyes of the business and tourist -orientated government, you would think they might turn some lights on.
Auckland Airport carpark
But no.
The transport minister insists roading improvements will solve the demand for better faster travel to the airport but the Auckland airport submission noted: “The proposed upgrades of SH20A & SH20B are very necessary and welcome. They will however increase non-airport related traffic travelling through the Airport, including heavy goods traffic, and there should be provision to deal with that traffic. It is already clear that there has been a significant increase in traffic through the Airport on a road network that has not been designed to accommodate it.”
In Auckland, 2020 or 2030 is far too long to wait for something that needs to start construction now.
An airport link needs not just to be tied in with Onehunga but with the Manukau line opening next July and with a CBD loop.
It also ties in with the dream of rail to North Shore - as without Bob Harvey’s Whenuapai domestic airport plan happening , North Shore residents often have a nail-biting time trying to make Auckland airport for a peak hour morning flight.
Several North Shore residents are among those who have emailled me saying airport rail would be heaven.
It’s time we got a big vision but one that can be realised fast.
ARTA and the ARC already have visionary transport plans.
We need the new Auckland Council /Transport CCO and national politicians with a signed off rail plan timeline - a vision for the future which incorporates all those parts of the missing rail puzzle and airport rail needs to be re-visited and added as a priority.
It’s a pipe dream right now unless we got Mike Lee as prime minister. At least he is pushing it today.
And some other politicians need to watch their backs.
People who don’t use rail and don’t comprehend the CBD rail loop because they haven’t experienced the capacity issues at Britomart - and those who don’t normally travel by rail do see huge personal value in an airport link. Hence, its popular appeal.
That noise is going to get louder - and those who like the idea are reacting negatively to politicians who are arrogantly telling them they’ll never see it and don’t need it.
Those of us urging better public transport should tap into that groundswell and get going a vigorous airport rail campaign.
The Greens’ fasttrack CBD loop campaign was admirable but this has widespread appeal because it doesn’t need a comprehensive understanding of Auckland rail’s engineering challenges and doesn’t involve people who want to travel around the CBD.
Such a campaign would shake up stubborn out of touch politicians -and the conservative out of touch media- that think anyone advocating for rail is just some romantic old fool living in the past.
Airport Rail Campaign…. hmm.. that’s ARC!
Meanwhile don your hardhats and fight back if those politicians or media start knocking what we have just achieved at Onehunga.
UPDATE:
I rest my case. Exactly, as I had predicted above, The anti-rail morning newspaper sent a reporter yesterday with the obvious instructions to count passenger numbers against the cost!
The 3km branch line between Onehunga and Penrose has cost KiwiRail $10 million and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority $3.6 million to resurrect with three stations. Auckland Regional Council also spent about $8 million to buy the site for the Onehunga station near the bottom of Onehunga Mall.
Although Saturday saw the formal re-opening of the line, the new service settled into a workaday routine yesterday. The Herald counted 19 passengers boarding the 7.45am Britomart-bound train at Onehunga, including three high-school students looking forward to halving the 45 minutes or so it used to take them to catch a bus to Newmarket.
A smaller group of 10 passengers caught the next train from Onehunga, at 8.15am, although they were joined by 10 others at Te Papapa station.
Events manager Marion Stables was disappointed more commuters had yet to change their travel habits to take advantage of the service, but was confident it would do wonders for Onehunga as its popularity grew.
The article is not completely negative but the purpose of what story was wanted by the paper is clear and as predicted.
ONEHUNGA OPENING: FULL COVERAGE CONTINUES
ARTA chair says rail is booming-Video
Videos of steam train
First official train into Onehunga
Photos of the festive day
Onehunga celebrates in style
Mike Lee speech
Te Papapa, Penrose 3 pictures
Steven Joyce speech
Steven Joyce on police chases
Onehunga being constructed- Photos
35 take first trip into Britomart on Sunday- photos
More hordes try out the new trains - Photos
Historic photos along the fenceline a nice touch
ALSO
New $36m New Lynn transport hub opens
35 Comments
I’m in!
But really? Nothing on any of the news channels?
I remember seeing something a while ago about the level crossings on the Onehunga line and how dangerous they will make things but that still put things in a negative light. Why would you not cover such an achievement? I think my head will explode.
Sounds excellent. I’m a little worried about the OBL corridor though. It’s exteremly narrow in some places, with a few buildings that will need be knocked down. Also one thing that caught me off guard was the station positioning. I thought it would be in alignment with the Neilson St rail underpass. Any knowledge as to why this is the case? Also does this affect the future of extending the line to the airport?
The new station is a semi-temporary terminal just for the Onehunga branch. It would be rebuild with multiple platforms and repositioned to suit the airport line and or a line on the Avondale to Onehunga reserve.
@Jon
Why cant you run our city?
Great post Jon. Totally agree, certain politicians can only bury their heads in the sand for so long before it begins to hurt them, public support for a more extensive rail system in Auckland is growing as is patronage. Rail is becoming more “normalised” to Aucklanders and they are beginning to realise buidling only motorways will not do anything to help congestion or make our city more livable and that trains are actually a pretty pleasant way to get around. Intersting how you mentioned people asked “do they run trains in Auckland” growing up on the north shore in the 90s i had no idea Auckland had a rail system and many others were the same. Since Britomart opened that’s changed and i think the momentum now is such that pro roading politicians wont be able to hold it back for long.
San Luca - The station is where it is for two reasons.
1. It can’t be on a curve, the only viable bit of existing straight track was on Princess St which was a bit further away from the town centre.
2. The ARC brought the site the station is on and wanted it to be used. One advantage of this site is the ability to have a park and ride (although I don’t think that was the reason why they brought it)
As Nick said, it will eventually have to be rebuilt to accommodate an Airport line.
Jon - I completely agree with you and there is a saying, “strike while the iron is hot” and thanks to the normally pretty anti PT herald that iron has been in the fire a bit recently with a few of their surveys showing the desire for it.
@Travis You know I just might. Although someone mentioned there might be a job going as head of the ACT party.
Anyone who believes the airport company wants a rail connection is absolutely kidding themselves. They’re just taking the heat off themselves by claiming to want a rail link because they know there’s no political appetite to build one anytime soon.
Oscil8 you are right.the Airport Company wont support it as they make so much money from ridiculous car parking rates.Millions and miliions last year.Now they building a “posh” hotel in the middle of a carpark…..and a cheaper version up by the “retail centre” up the road. They need to get a decent bus service to Onehunga,like the one they have to Manukau up and running.
I had lunch with a friend today. She has just moved out to Onehunga. She took the train in today to work (she works in Queen St). She loved it! I asked how long it was on the train - 30 mins. How long was it on the bus I asked. 50 mins. No brainer for her so she’ll be a regular. Please don’t tell more people about the service, she’s loving the rows of empty seats…
@Chris Lovely story. Good point- I will delete all the Onehunga stories.
Once that park and ride is finished this station and line will take off. Of course when that happens it helps to further the cause for more investment.
There was an article in the herald about the Onehunga re-opening - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/public-transport/news/article.cfm?c_id=536&objectid=10674505 on the website and herald on sunday
@Bevan Buried way inside today’s paper supplied by the NZPA news agency largely from an ARTA press release hence no pictures.
@Chris I saw a citybound bus pull up across the road from the new station on Sunday. The passengers were obviously eyeballing the train for future use.
@Jon - there was a shocking story online in the Herald yesterday which seems to have been withdrawn.
I’ve put my own photos of the weekend on my Flickr Site - I’ve more to release and a Youtube compilation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46769458@N08/sets/72157624869608985/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XfQDXerlOw
A little dreaming, perhaps one day such a train comes to Auckland…
*CAT Vienna City Airport Train - currently my home
I was being tounge-in-cheek with the space for my friend to stretch out, but I do worry - she’s definately switched to using the rail to get into town to work - what’s not to stop hundreds of others doing the same and swamping the train?
I rest my case. The anti-rail morning newspaper sent a reporter yesterday with the obvious instructions to count passenger numbers against the cost!
The 3km branch line between Onehunga and Penrose has cost KiwiRail $10 million and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority $3.6 million to resurrect with three stations. Auckland Regional Council also spent about $8 million to buy the site for the Onehunga station near the bottom of Onehunga Mall.
Although Saturday saw the formal re-opening of the line, the new service settled into a workaday routine yesterday. The Herald counted 19 passengers boarding the 7.45am Britomart-bound train at Onehunga, including three high-school students looking forward to halving the 45 minutes or so it used to take them to catch a bus to Newmarket.
A smaller group of 10 passengers caught the next train from Onehunga, at 8.15am, although they were joined by 10 others at Te Papapa station.
Events manager Marion Stables was disappointed more commuters had yet to change their travel habits to take advantage of the service, but was confident it would do wonders for Onehunga as its popularity grew.
The article is not completely negative but the purpose is clear.
@ Jon C - As you say, people need to change their travel habits, if something is a habit you do not just change it.
The NZH should rather send their reporter every Monday, at the same time, to Onehunga for the next three months to count how the number of passengers grows. Not sure what they have against PT. The NZH should see this as an opportunity for people to purchase the NZH at the station, since the passengers now have the time to read it on the train, rather than sit in their cars.
@GJA Thankfully the morning newspaper has become irrelevant in shaping Aucklanders’ views. It is openly anti rail so if people still bothered with it we would not have seen the growth in public transport we have. Good marketing idea but I have only ever once seen someone read a newspaper on the train in all the years I have been using it although they may check in on their phone or iPad.
@GJA Thankfully the morning newspaper has become irrelevant in shaping Aucklanders’ views. It is openly anti rail so if people still bothered with it we would not have seen the growth in public transport we have. Good marketing idea but I have only ever once seen someone read a newspaper on the train in all the years I have been using it although they may check in on their phone or iPad.
@Jon C, sorry I’ve got to take you to task about the Herald story, everyone knows it’s early days. I take the view that the new train is portrayed in this story as a “great service and there’s not many using it yet, so (readers) take the opportunity”. Really the passenger count was mentioned well into the story. Not many people get that far in a story unless they’re interested. For those that haven’t seen it, I’ve posted a link.
(I’ve found Mathew to be very good with his rail stories over the years and Pro-rail, better informed than your average journo).
“Rail link puts fun back into getting to school”
By Mathew Dearnaley
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rail/news/article.cfm?c_id=296&objectid=10674952
The guy at work how is now a convert to this line said there were probably twice as many people getting on today as yesterday. Once people hear how good it is the stories will quickly turn to how hard it is to get a seat and that longer trains are needed
@Rationale Sorry but I stand by my comments 100%. There is no question the reporter is know to be a great guy and pro public transport but the Herald has made no secret of its anti-rail editorial stand and this was predictably shown by no coverage before the opening, scant coverage after the opening mainly provided by a news agency and then an editorial decision to send the reporter out to prove ratepayers money is wasted.
We are just fortunate the reporter salvaged the article from being exactly of that tone.
I have quoted before recent comments by the paper’s second in charge who is dismissive of the rail renaissance.
The opening of Onehunga was a great celebration and deserved better from the city’s only newspaper.
Since the new editor has taken over the Herald the other month it’s seriously gone down hill.
I am considering cancelling my subscription as it is actually boring. It’s like Woman’s Weekly everyday.
On a positive note, the Waikato Times has become a much better newspaper since their last editor left to take over the Herald!
@JBR Weird isn’t it. The Wai Times now occasionally writes a pro rail story!
It has always struck me as quite strange that unlike other places around the world it’s almost impossible to buy a paper before boarding a train in Auckland (Britomart and, if you walk 50m, Newmarket are the only ones that come to mind). That’s how I used to buy a paper when I lived in more civilized parts and it strikes me that is where real readership growth lies (at least for hard copy papers). Instead the (very provincial) Herald takes its editorial line as a marketing rationale and its 3 or so news vendors stand in the middle of Queen Street attempting to flog papers to people who will rarely buy them. Perhaps the Herald’s declining numbers might improve if they realised what a captive market they’d be exploiting if they could sell papers from the concourses of the most popular train stations? Might even prompt a shift in the Herald’s troglodyte editorial line on rail.
@Jon C - thanks for this clarification. I wouldn’t say it’s been all bad. I know the Herald screamed blue murder when there’s been glitches and delays over the past couple of years. (Where have those all gone?).
On the (+) side, I have a recollection of an editorial earlier this year calling for a new Waitemata Crossing to include rail.
On the (-) side was an assumptive story on Sunday which seems to have been withdrawn (better late than never), from a writer I’ve never heard of, saying that the delay in the “1st train” was a bad omen for the line.
Great post. I think airport rail campaign would be awesome. Perhaps first goal could be to get funding for a really comprehensive study of how much it would cost, the exact route, BCR etc?
I caught what I assume was the Onehunga service at Ellerslie on Monday morning, the assumption based on there being only two cars and plenty of empty seats even at 7:55 on a Britomart-bound service. More people will start using it once they figure out how to work it into their schedules.
I’m loving the new timetable, too. Six trains in the space of 15 minutes through Ellerslie right at the time I need to board in order to get to work on time. It’s excellent.
Jon, the two dressed-up ladies in the photo up top are actually part of Dolphin Theatre’s contingent who performed “Murder on the Onehunga Express” on the train as it ran from Parnell to Onehunga. We were very well received by all the dignitaries on board. My girlfriend would like it if you could remove the photo where she has her tongue out and her eyes closed, though. “The only photo, and I look like a spaz”, she said. The one above is much more flattering, even if it doesn’t have me in it
John Banks said at the Herald debate that rail to the airport would bankrupt the city. Anyone with an interest in getting our city moving should vote Len Brown. Banks has lost all credibility.
The same John Banks that wanted to spend four billion dollars on a highway to Glen Innes?! Who’s bankrupting what now?
@Matt With the amazing Photoshop skills I learnt at New Lynn recently, your girlfriend is now smiling
http://www.aktnz.co.nz/2010/09/18/pics-onehungas-train-station-opens/
I wonder if the Herald are slowly starting to get it, here is a piece from Fran O’Sullivan today where she says the CBD Tunnel is a no brainer given the congestion at Britomart. Still if they were to run a campaign to get airport rail like they did with bus lanes then the government and local politicians would get moving on it pretty quickly.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10674794
They even used a recent picture (although there was no trains in it)
@Matt L She is one of the sharpest and best networked columnists in the country. She doesn’t work for them these days but is an independent contributor.