Signed, Sealed & Delivered (2013)

 

Signed dealed… and delivered  from 2013.

Negotiations for Auckland’s electric trains contract have been completed and will be announced this afternoon by Auckland’s Mayor, Auckland Transport and Transport Minister Steven Joyce.

Spain's CAF make these called the Civia

 

Spain’s CAF (Construcciones Y Auxiliar De Ferrocarriles) is the successful tenderer for the 57 Auckland EMUs.

The company has focused on the railway industry for the last 90 years, expanding its activities from Spain towards international markets. CAF designs, manufactures, delivers, commissions and maintains a range of vehicles for passenger railway services including tramways, light rail vehicles, metro cars, locomotives and passenger coaches.

They were on the shortlist to build the Matangi trains.

The new trains will arrive from 2013.

A maintenance contract is part of the deal.

 

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16 Comments

 
  1. Commuter says:

    Don’t see that Joyce has any right to be at the announcement unless he’s there to apologise for delaying the letting of the tender by about three years.

  2. Travis says:

    What a grumpy dude commuter. Just accept this for what it really is… An exciting day for Auckland, even though it is 30 years late…..

  3. Jon C says:

    Of course the Minister has every right to be there, He has played a part in all this including announcing a good deal for Auck Transport over ownership etc
    It is a great day for Auckland. Let’s not pull it down into the usual point scoring politics.

  4. Ben says:

    Agreed.
    I know we are raising our coffee cups at work about the EMUs being signed, sealed and now awaiting delivery. Can not wait for these units to come in :D

    Question though, how long before some gets “fried” when the new wires go up and live?

  5. Ejtma2003 says:

    I can’t believe less than 15 minutes after what is one best announcements that Auckland has seen, comments have resorted to the usual points scoring.

    There have been various reasons for the delay, both from this government, and the prior one, however, the bottom line is that the delay has been positive for Auckland. We have almost 50% more trains than originally planned, we probably will end up with one of the best train fleets in this part of the world. For those who want to research the reasons for the delay I suggest you start with the budget speech of 2007 and work from there.

    Let’s celebrate the announcement and absolutely Stephen Joyce should be there.

  6. Ben says:

    And it seems by the activity in Britomart there will be a Press Conference and a wee Tea party at around 3pm-ish.

    Looks like they are getting ready to make a formal public announcement :-D

  7. greenwelly says:

    I guess the next big question is any local content in the contract ……, I guess someone will ask at the Press conference…

  8. Commuter says:

    I think it’s wonderful that a contract is being signed for the delivery of EMUs for Auckland. This conforms with a Labour decision in April 2007 to electrify the Auckland network in accordance with ARTA’s 2006 Rail Development Plan. In early 2008 Labour agreed to a regional fuel tax to enable ARTA to enter into a contract that would have been signed in November 2009 with the first EMUs being delivered in May 2011. Joyce cancelled the fuel tax; passed responsibility for negotiating a new tender to KiwiRail; he later expanded the shortlist to include a couple of Chinese firms. Now we’re back with AT (ARTA’s successor body), owning the trains as was originally intended and the contract is being signed nearly two years after it could have been. I’m not point scoring but, yes, I am grumpy and, no, I still don’t think Steven Joyce should grace the celebration of an event he’s done his best to stuff up. But hey, it’s an election in a couple of months and National and its C&R mates have a long history of claiming credit for the actions of other administrations.

  9. Matt L says:

    So in about an hour and a half we should finally know what our new trains will look like :D

    I wonder if they have a name for them or if AT will hold a naming competition like Wellington did for the Matangi’s

  10. greenwelly says:

    @commuter,
    No,

    At the risk of sounding like an apologist, Let the whole “if the evil National government had not been elected, we would have new trains now” thing go,

    Unfortunately there was never any government buy in for electric EMUs for the Rugby World Cup, the timetable was just too damn tight- ARTA may have wanted it, but that was not supported by the Government.

    - – Michael Cullen in Budget 2007.
    “The aim is to have electrification completed by 2013. The government has investigated the possibility of having electric trains up and running for the Rugby World Cup in 2011, but this would be too risky and costly in terms of sourcing material for electrifying the system and buying rolling stock. http://www.beehive.govt.nz/node/29347

    With power feeds only at Penrose and Southdown, it is a real issue to string and power a section only from Britomart to Kingsland,

    Additionally the timetable talks about the delivery of the First EMU, and that is what it would have been the first EMU set, not dozens.

    In 2009 the MOT noted to the Minister
    http://transportblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/timeline-electrification1.pdf

    16 “There is has been speculation of an earlier date, most notably in relation to the Rugby World
    Cup and the ARTA EMU EOI. We are not aware of any agreement from the Crown to an
    introduction date earlier than 2013. “

  11. Ben says:

    Decisions Decisions, do I hang around the Tea Party at 3pm after work or go home on my normal service after 3pm -hmmmm such a tough decision

  12. Ingolfson says:

    National is guilty of delaying the trains by about a year (from early 2013 to late 2013-early 2014) by mucking around with the financing, but it is true that getting them for RWC was not in the cards.

  13. Joseph Wong says:

    Great news for Auckland! I was in Madrid a few months ago for World Youth Day (Youth festival with Pope Benedict with over 1 million in attendance) and saw and experienced the CAF Civia EMU on the Madrid Renfe Cercanias Network (Suburban network). Renfe managed the huge crowds very well. In fact the picture above is a Civia for the Renfe (Spanish National Railways) Cercanias (note the “C” logo, C for Cercanias). Fantastic train from one of the world’s première rail vehicle manufacturers. As an aside, just at the end of September, Renfe opened their long awaited Madrid Barajas Airport extension and is operated by the Civia EMU. Journey time from the airport is 26min to Madrid Atocha Railway Station with high speed connections (Renfe Alta Velocidad Espanola or AVE services) from Atocha to the rest of Spain. It doesn’t cost an arm and a leg either. Only 2.50 Euros! MAXX should extend the Manukau link to Auckland airport. That’ll bring in significantly more ridership and business. On another note, train service ran really smoothly for yesterday’s All Blacks vs Argentina QF. Keep up the good work!

  14. AKT says:

    @Joseph That’s great to hear. Thanks for sharing it.

  15. Joseph Wong says:

    @AKT. Thanks! In case you or anyone is interested, here’s a link to the story of the opening of the new Cercanias extension to Barajas Airport.

    http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/madrid-barajas-airport-rail-link-opens.html

  16. John Gilbert says:

    Regarding someone being “fried,” well I suppose if someone wants to climb on to the roofs of the new trains that could happen. But let’s not get into a twist about it; if someone sees those wires up there and, knowing that they are charged with very high voltage electricity, climbs up, then he gets what he deserves - end of story. No one forced him to climb!
    On another point, with wires in Auckland and at Hamilton, now is the time to electrify from Papakura to Mount Maungunui and provide the north island with a real electric network, ( in a country which has always been proud of its green credentials- yes??) But will Mr Joyce be amenable. Aha, there’s the rub as the Bard would say. Someone with real foresight and drive is needed for that. Which Mr J. may have of course! Hands up those who think so!

 

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