Auckland Transport’s shock announcement today that they will be closing large portions of the passenger rail network throughout 2023 and beyond is yet another example of the poor planning and terrible communication holding our city back.
Auckland needs to urgently shift more people onto public transport to address congestion, climate emissions and road safety. Patronage took a hit from COVID-19, but has been showing encouraging signs of recovery. However this latest announcement will hurt the reputation of public transport.
In addition to the existing weekend, overnight and Summer shut downs:
Onehunga Line will be closed from January to March.
Southern Line will be closed between Ōtāhuhu and Britomart from January to March. Remains closed between Papakura and Pukekohe until late 2024.
Eastern Line is to be closed from March until December.
Western Line will be closed sometime in 2024 and 2025.
The Eastern and Southern Lines each carry around 300k passengers a month, all who will be forced to use alternatives. Apparently Auckland Transport have known about this for 7 months before announcing it today with vague promises that “Some rail replacement buses will run”. In truth they’re expecting most people to use existing bus services. But will there be any buses running - Auckland Transport is still cancelling around 1,800 trips a day due to significant driver shortages.
As many have pointed out, there have been plenty of other opportunities to get maintenance done with regular closures and shut downs. Most of the tracks and sleepers were replaced over the last 2 years, yet only now are we addressing the foundations. In October, the Eastern Line is closed 17 times, including the entire Labour Weekend for “track repair and upgrade projects”. On top of all of this they need 9 months for 23km of track (roughly 80m a day).
Auckland Transport have said that rail needs maintenance “Like roads, they suffer wear and tear over time.” But no one would anyone accept the closure of a main road for 9 months for maintenance. In East Auckland, they’re demolishing 140+ homes along Ti Rakau Drive to reduce disruption for road users during the construction of the Eastern Busway.
I don’t have an issue with the work being done - I’ve long campaigned for greater maintenance to improve the reliability and speed of rail services. But there’s little detail in the announcement about what this will actually deliver - what are the reliability or speed improvements?
I use public transport as my primary mode of transport, preferring it to sitting in traffic, so this will impact me directly. I use the Eastern Line to get to work and if elected to Council I planned to use it to get into the city centre.
Auckland Transport must urgently provide clarity on what the closures will provide, including the existing weekend, overnight and Summer shut downs. They must also provide the plan for the alternative services to give certainty - vague promises about some rail replacement buses isn’t sufficient. I would expect on some major routes that dedicated express buses would be available, using priority bus lanes where necessary to maintain reasonable timetables.
In addition, Auckland Transport needs to get it’s long term plan for transport infrastructure sorted - we cannot keep having massive disruptions to our network while we’re trying to encourage people to use it.