Subscribe to RSSRail Decision “Major Setback”
Auckland Council transport committee chair Mike Lee today labelled the Government rejection of the CBD rail link proposal “a major set back for Auckland.”
He told AKT: “This is especially unfair as Auckland was forced by the government to undergo the major costs and dislocation of creating the Super City - ostensibly so that ‘Auckland can speak with one voice’.
“Well, Auckland has spoken with ‘one voice’.
And the man who coined the term Holiday Highway for the the transport minister’s favourite proposal, said that “unlike the Holiday Highway, the City Rail Link has a sound business case compiled by reputable NZ and international experts.
Mike Lee's efforts have taken us beyond steam trains in Auckland
Mike Lee said the important thing it that the CBD link has a powerful mandate reflected by the overwhelming majority of Aucklanders who voted for Len Brown who campaigned strongly on this issue.
“In contrast the politician who has done most to block the project, Transport Minister Steven Joyce as a first term list MP who unlike the Mayor of Auckland has no personal political mandate from voters whatsoever.
“He has never been elected by the public to anything. This is history repeating itself and the third time a National government has done this to Auckland sine 1954.”
Full coverage:
Ministry of Transport and Treasury report
Full commissioned Auckland Council Auckland Transport report
Minister, Len Brown and Greens react
Ministry of Transport explain their decision
Auckland must fight back: And more reaction
Correspondence between the Minister and Review team
15 Comments
here here…………we need to get more vocal about this….. I vote National….but I am sick of Joyce….the more noise made about the issue the better…..
don’t vote National then. Or this is what you get…
We Aucklanders are pissed off. We had the Auckland Council forced upon us by this government and when we voted for change in Auckland to fix our clogged roads the same National government arrogantly ignored it.
Substantial improvements to the rail network were highly likely under the ability the ARC had to levy petrol but that ability was was taken away by Joyce and Key.
And yet all the out pouring I have ever read here over the past 2 years that quite rightly has highlighted the blindness of Nationals transport policy has achieved nothing.
Poll after poll loves them and so as long as that questionable support continues we will have to postpone indefinitely any further upgrades to the rail network and continue with the hopelessness of Auckland’s traffic gridlock.
Hi all..
How hard would it be to have an Auckland Party .
I think it would get above the 5% threshold.
I have voted National in the past 3 elections. I was counting on getting better trains in Auckland as I am in management in the CBD.
Now that National has made this decision I am most definitely not voting for them this year out of protest. This year I will vote for Labour and Greens(list). I hope more ex-National voters do the same as a protest to their lack of understanding about what we Aucklanders want. I will be encouraging my staff not to vote National either.
Im definitely voting Greens this year, I wouldn;t be surprised if they have an unusal amount of followers this yer…
@Kurt
http://www.facebook.com/Independent-Auckland-Now/154932754566861
@ Geoff
Link is not working.
Someone needs to organise some proper protests. This should be bigger than Wellywood.
I’ve party-voted Green in the past, and nothing’s changing this year. Their “alternative budget” (PDF) is the sanest piece of suggested economic management this country has seen since at least 2008 - and probably earlier, if one considers the effect of Cullen’s tax cuts as starting the downfall of our economy by reducing government income during the GFC.
Transport professionals and transport nerds OVERALL seem to generally think the government’s focus on road transport is bonkers (as much as one can say this, in these days were we self-select ourselves into quite partisan groups - i.e. the opinion on a greenfields developer-focused blog - if these exist in a similar fashion - would probably be different).
However, I think the public in general doesn’t (yet?) care much about transport policies.
If it is truely a good project we need to do it anyway.
I think the issue is the general public might like the sound of the CBDRL but don’t understand what the benefits really are.
Needs to be more postering, leafleting, petitions etc.
Wish I was around to help.
Someone mentioned signs at the future stations sites.
Please don’t take this as speaking against CBT, they are up against lots of organisations with deep pockets.
Wellington’s decision is backward, most modern cities around the world have a fast, efficient rail network
Wellington’s decision is backward, most modern cities around the world have a fast, efficient rail network. When visiting a brother in Toronto Canada some years back getting around was a breeze.
* Subway rail link around the central city every 5 minutes in both directions.
* Links to bus stations and the central railway station
connecting with Go Transit train services to outer suburbs.
* Transfer ticket dispensers for onward trips (on the bus for example at no extra cost) placed in every subway station, bus and tram. All for the cost of a token ($2.00 bought 6)
Although not subsidised like here still great for tourists and regular commuters plus fully intergrated. (The Hop card is a great start) Likewise Brisbane’s ferry and rail network including the link to the airport make getting around easy.
A few years back I spent about 2 hours on a Friday afternoon getting home from the airport, longer then the flight from Chch and that was just getting into the CBD, I still had a ferry to Devonport to catch.
We need an upgraded rail network including to the airport now.