Subscribe to RSSMatangi Rollout Still Slow
The implementation of Wellington’s new Matangi trains is still slow - a sign of what Auckland may expect when the city’s new electric trains eventually appear.
At the moment, Matangi trains are operating in peak services on the Hutt line. Wellington’s regional council says 8 units are currently in Wellington, of which four are available for service with a further unit available for training.
The remaining 3 units are expected to be approved for service in May.
A further 4 units are expected off the ship late May, at which time 25% of the new fleet will be in Wellington. Manufacturing of the remaining units
continues in South Korea with the majority of vehicles having commenced the outfitting process.
Matangi was due to be introduced on the Johnsonville line this month but still no date has been announced and on the Kapiti line sometime in July.
The overcrowding on the lines in Wellington has resulted in a number of changes including using buses instead of trains and placing ticket collectors on the platforms to prevent train guards not being able to collect fares in crowded carriages.
The call centre is getting about 400 complaints a month from commuters.
This is the breakdown of the complaints in March .The number of complaints increased from February due to congestion on the Kapiti and Hutt Valley lines. Complaints in the Left Late category rose significantly from 10 to 48 in March.
It would be fascinating to see the complaints Auckland’s Maxx centre or Veolia gets. Wellington’s authorities are far more helpful in releasing such info..
8 Comments
[...] Report from AKT The introduction of Wellington’s new Matangi trains is continuing to go slowly. [...]
Hopefully KR are learning from this and AK will benefit from this with a better and quicker commissioning phase…. bit wishful?
@ Patrick R Just a bit!
The present roll out is pretty much in line with international practice and in some cases way better. The official who gave the December 2010 date was hopelessly optimistic and had clearly forgotten that staff need to be trained and that there are often teething problems with new equipment.
Well, as long as NZ doesn’t get faulty equipment, or have to pay for teething fixes, I guess it is better this way than to have trouble crop up two years down the line.
I don’t really know what the problem is, people need to get a reality check really. The trains are complex multi million dollar pieces of equipment. They need careful and in-depth testing and this involves just a wee bit more than taking them out for a few runs. It is the same as you expect for planes.
You need to get real, these are not consumer goods that you can just go down the road and buy. On each new train there are probably a bunch of systems that are found to be misbehaving or need adjusting.
They need to have all their systems tested under stress and local operating conditions and they need verfiy components are wearing correctly. It does not supprise me it takes several months to take each new shippment of trains through the process.
Mike - yes very true. I just don’t understand that after publicising an unrealistic timeline for introduction of these trains they have been silent in telling customers what is going on, the reason there is such bewilderment in wellington is because we have been told these trains should be here, and not told why they are not here.
Don’t forget they have implemented a new timetable that was based on the rolling stock being in place, this timetable has been seriously wobbling (with buses being used and every possible bit of rolling stock being used - which incidently is not the way to run a timetable) - the timings in this timetable is shocking but that is another matter - you simply cannot change a timetable based on rolling stock that is not there. it has been a shambles since 20 february..
KR need to take a leaf out of the Motorway builders’ book; under promise and over deliver. Easy PR wins. Those motorway openings are getting ridiculously accelerated, clearly the original dates have heaps of contingency in them.