Seeing as momentum is building in the media on the electrification of Auckland's rail newtork, I thought I'd include a link to Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee's speech to the attendees of the function held that evening in celebration of the anniversary.
He spoke of the important impact rail has had in New Zealand over the past 100 years including the contibution to both world wars and the growth of trade and the ecomony. Further to that he honoured the men who laid the tracks between Wellington and Auckland through 700kms of some of New Zealand's most rugged terrain, and likened that achievement to the difficulties Auckland is about to face in electrifying the rail, completing the Western loop tunnel from Britomart to Mt Eden and extending rail out to the airport.
Last month we restored passenger services to Helensville after an interregnum of nearly 30 years, next year with our friends in Ontrack we will recommission the Onehunga Branch line and resume passenger services.
We are closer than anyone has been ever before to electrifying Auckland’s rail network.
Today I wrote to the Minister of Transport formally applying for fuel tax support the purchase of a brand new fleet of electric multiple units and a raft of other capital improvements to public transport. And in my letter I formally advised the Minister of our determination to get on with building the CBD tunnel loop linking Britomart to the western line at Mt Eden and also our determination to push ahead with extending rail to Auckland international airport as quickly as possible.How auspicious it is then ladies and gentlemen – that in this most important centennial year – we are witnessing the renaissance of New Zealand rail. Surely that is the best way to remember those heroic New Zealanders who built the Main Trunk Line 100 years ago.
We look to the past with pride and to the future with great optimism.
If Mike Lee has any say in the matter, I believe we'll start hearing more and more about the progress these projects are making rather than just hearing about them as things we are planning to achieve.
As someone riding the Western Line everyday, I can't wait for a tunnel to Mt Eden to get underway.
Two weeks ago my father in-law made a last minute decision to fly over from the Gold Coast to see the Bledisloe Cup match at Eden Park. Seeing as he was going to stay with us, we had to work out a plan to get him to our place in the Waitakeres from the Airport. His flight came in at about noon and both my wife and I work so dropping everything with one days notice to go collect him was not going to be an option.
Being a resourceful Kiwi (he was born here) he caught a shuttle to downtown, then jumped on a train from Britomart out to Henderson, were he stepped out of the station, across the road and into the RSA, where he spent a couple of hours chatting with locals.
I got a call when I got home (about 6pm) asking if I would pop down and pick him up. The reason I mentioned all this was even if that was a relatively straight forward trip, how much easier and cheaper would it have been if he could have boarded a train from the Airport that transported him all the way to Henderson (even if, via the city)?The sooner these expansion projects happen the better. Auckland's adoption of the rail has grown at an exponential rate, passenger numbers that were projected to be achieved by 2012 have already been overtaken, so if the infrastructure does not continue to expand to meet the demand, momentum could slow, people could lose interest and seek alternatives, the government's investment in the rail could be devalued and we'll just have another thing to grumble about.
Let's go, we are already behind!
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