Waterfront Trams Nears Destination

 

The waterfront tram construction has reached the corner of Madden St and Halsey St.
Here are the latest pictures as workers lay the tracks for the heritage tram service which, around the time of the RWC 2011, will simply travel clockwise on a 1.5km circuit of Wynyard Quarter between Jellicoe, Halsey, Gaunt and Daldy Sts.
Auckland’s Mayor and the Chairmen of both CCOs, Auckland Transport and the Auckland Waterfront Development Agency now have before them a proposal from Auckland Council transport committee Chair Mike Lee to extend the waterfront tramline as far as Britomart “as soon as possible.”

Background on the tram project here.

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9 Comments

 
  1. Geoff says:

    They are actually constructing the junction for the line to Britomart, at present. Just a bit further north of where your photos are taken.

  2. Sam says:

    @ Geoffs comment. Thats great! makes (in my opinion) the crucial link to Britomart just a bit more real. I believe the current loop has almost no commuter value, given that one end is about 6 minutes walk from the other. Once you’ve waited a few minutes for a tram, then sat on the tram for a minute or two and taken into account that stops may not be in ideal locations for your journey, it may even add to more than 6 minutes.

  3. richard says:

    It’s a pity our trains aren’t standard gauge as well

  4. Paul in Sydney says:

    @Richard

    Why is it a pity

    I guess you could run a tram train. (A tram that runs onto the rail network from its tram tracks) In the case for Auckland, soon there will be little capacity to add something like that around the CBD (a pointless thought)

  5. Luke says:

    tram-trains often sound like a great idea at first but they are seldom so. Building tram-trains that ran on Auckland’s metro netowrk would create many issues. Metro is designed for fast services, I wouldn’t want to go on a tram-train all the way to Papakura.
    Very difficult (hence expensive) to build something can run on the Kiwirail main-line, as would have to meet KR crash standards. Therefore would be unique vehicle, totally different to anything else in the world.
    Therefore not worth the hassle for little benefit.

  6. dsadasgdf654645 says:

    Also tram trains are a complete waste of track capacity. If for example you built the CBD loop and decided to run the tram trains instead then you’d end up with less passenger capacity overall than now, only you’d be out of pocket a couple of billion dollars.

  7. DanC says:

    I look forward to the tram being up and running, then going to Britomart. To catch this to Mission Bay would be even more amazing but a long way off. I would have it run along the current footpath around the bays and a new foot path / cycle path built on the other side of the sea wall by way of cantilever.

  8. max says:

    “constructing the junction for the line to Britomart”

    Yep, sadly the junction is all they are doing. As long as the Te Wero Bridge doesn’t exist, this is just a minor tweak. Better than not doing it, of course.

    “Metro is designed for fast services, I wouldn’t want to go on a tram-train all the way to Papakura.”

    Why? Because faster acceleration than and similar speeds compared Auckland-type heavy commuter rail do…what? Make your journey shorter, so you can’t enjoy it as long as you want to?

    The comment about tram trains having less capacity makes a bit more sense, but one could couple together several trams, into one train.

    Anyway, as I understand, that’s not going to happen here anyway, is it? Incompatible gauge widths?

    I still hope they manage to source a Light Rail demonstrator in time for the RWC. Tsunami screwed the delivery of the Japanese one, and I am not sure if they are having any luck with a replacement from another company.

    The (historic) Bendigo trams are due in a couple weeks.

  9. Mike says:

    “Very difficult (hence expensive) to build something can run on the Kiwirail main-line, as would have to meet KR crash standards.” Actually, no. Tram-trains in operation in France and Germany do not have to meet their respective main-line crash standards, because the installation of automatic train protection (ATP) reduces the risk of such a crash to an acceptable level. And KiwiRail is currently installing ATP in Auckland - so in that respect neither difficult nor expensive.

 

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