How this new railway will reshape Auckland
Вставка
- Опубліковано 17 вер 2024
- In the next few years New Zealand's largest every transport project is set to open: The Auckland City Rail Link. But what does this new railway line mean for Auckland's public transport network?
Support me on Ko-Fi! ko-fi.com/city...
The City Rail Link is set to radically shake up how Auckland's railway network operates - and mostly for the better. In this video I look at the history of railways in Auckland, and why this has led to the City Rail Link being necessary. I also look at how the City Rail Link will operate and what benefits this will bring to Auckland's train network and mass transit system as a whole.
Great video CityMoose. As an Aucklander myself, the City Rail Link is going to be super transformative for us and it will hopefully lead to more demand for public transport.
Your videos have also inspired me to make my own Urban Planning content covering Auckland so I can't thank you enough.
I’m from Wellington and visit Auckland periodically. I’m often dismayed at the negative attitude many Jafa’s give off over this tunnel, saying how they’ll never take it and how the CBD isn’t so popular now because people work from home and blah blah.
This will be an evolutionary change for Auckland. Even if ridership doesn’t take off immediately; over time the CRL will become an essential part of Auckland and its functioning, no less than the harbour bridge. People will base their lives around it. Yeah it’s gone overbudget and will open 2-3 years later than was first promised, but Auckland would be so much more worse off had it never been started.
That’s great to hear!! As a jafa myself Ive been keenly waiting on a fellow aucklander to make an urbanist UA-cam channel!
@@danieleyre8913sadly the construction is part of why 'the city isn't so popular' if that's even true. But that will clear up naturally. I've seen parts of the city really come back to life since COVID while others are still struggling, for various and different reasons.
Albert Street has been struggling badly with the works and the double impact of COVID. When it should really be the second Queen Street. At least the Court house draws people in 😂
@@felaykasu That's part of the reason I've decided to make my own urbanist channel. I've been watching a lot of Urbanist channels over the last year or so and although these channels are great. None of them are from New Zealand so I decided to start a channel myself. I hope my channel will inspire more urbanist content from Auckland or other New Zealand cities.
@@TacspongeThe thing is that once construction works are entirely finished; the thing’s built and will be functioning for centuries to come. Within a decade or two: Ir will have become a shaping influence on how Auckland further develops and grows (or recedes, if that’s to be) in the future. Proximity to the stations will inevitably drive up the foot traffic and thus the commercial demand and value of nearby properties.
I’m convinced that at some stage in the future: More railway tunnels will need to be dug through the volcanic fields beneath Auckland’s CBD. And most likely for metro system lines that won’t directly interface with the mainline CRL. So disruption will return, but this time the CRL will help keep businesses afloat.
It is already impressive enough that Auckland went from no passenger rail in the 90s, to Diesel Multiple and Push Car Sets in the 2000s, to double-lined and electrified infrastructure with sleek modern trains and stations by the 2010s. Literally a decade of dramatic progress.
Yes , but with very limited expansion of the rail network until now. I think it’s going to be great!
Is this sarcasm? Aucklands transport system is known to be terrible and years behind where we should be.
@@calmminds2065When was the last time you lived in Auckland?
I’m from Wellington and visit Auckland every couple of years and it has been satisfying to see the massive progress made and undeniable increase in patronage up there.
No Britomart was finished in 2004😂
It was a tunnel to a dead end.
Useless people in power with no plan until now ..
What a joke
😂 easily impressed @@danieleyre8913
Thanks for advocating for rail to Auckland's airport in your video. Having spent a number of years pushing for this in Auckland, it is nice to get more support for it from your channel!
After recent travel to Sydney, Airport rail is a no brainer!
Auckland will get it before Melbourne does
Double track onehunga and have it run to the airport, that single line is annoying and cant run very frequent services. Would make the CRL OWL route a lot better.
But this current govt only care about their stupid roading projects which just add to congestion problems like east-west link and mill road. Billions wasted on exasperating the problem. Look at the western ring route, specifically the NW, nearly double the lanes and its already back to a congested state 5-6 years later. They also failed to add the NW busway, which had some detailed designs ready to go, when it would have been far cheaper than today, but Gerry or Joyce (forget who) said no.
Why does Auckland airport especially need a railway link yet?
It’s not _that_ big & busy an airport. Airport links in Brisbane & Perth are big financial drains propped up by the airport themselves.
I think there are things of far greater priority for Auckland. Like a busway to the north-west, a busway to Howick, a second harbour crossing (and removal of the nippon clip-ons from the old bridge), plans to upgrade the northern busway to a light metro.
I also think that a long term project to grade separate all lines and increase all network platforms to take 9 cars should be undertaken. And then extend the Onehunga line to Mangere, and possibly loop back to connect to Manukau.
@@ceasefirenow-eq9dy I would be happier if the Onehunga branch was double tracked, grade separated, extended across a bridge to Mangere…
…but then DIDN’T go to the airport. But rather parallel to the motorway, and linked up with the Manukau branch.
Adelaide south australia desperately needs this. The same issue auckland had where all the train terminate in the city with no room for throughput. But south australians don't vote for public transport because they live in an echo chamber of misinformation
I agree, Adelaide desperately needs a city rail loop but unfortunately that can't be built until all the lines are electrified (and preferably converted to standard gauge) as diesel trains can't run through underground tunnels.
@Gauger1212 if they did it just for gawler and seaford the two electrified ones it could work. Belair runs as normal not thru the tunnel and the outer harbor line group (grange, port dock) would all benefit from light rail but electrification is an alternative
@@tangiers365 true, but it's way better to do all the tunnels at once (including outer harbour and Belair) and even before that the network as a whole has so many smaller problems that need to be fixed before committing to a underground tunnel such as: lack of electrification, conversion to standard gauge, better stations, too many stations, better frequencies off-peak, level crossing removals, better feeder bus services, more transport oriented development and the Belair line as a whole (so indirect and slow).
No one needs it in Adelaide. Existing tree structure can double its capacity just by adding more cars in trains. Trains with 3 cars are not trains at all, its buses on very expensive rails.
It would have sense to make something to east, covering all these eastern fat hamster nests and reducing everyday traffic jams on eastern city approach, but as it requires tunnels it is not viable financially.
@@Gauger1212double power? Diesel everywhere, network electrical in city tunnels? Especially for diesel-electric 3000? No, never heard...
the problem is not with electrification but with skyhigh price tag for this hypothetical tunnel. In 1.2M poor city.
Good to see it will help the traffic problems on the North Shore (I jest). As a rate payer on the North Shore and there a lot of us (at least a 1/4 of the city) the lack of planning for rail or a second harbour crossing on the shore is a sham. Where is the Northern line. I was told it was on the 30 year plan which is good to know.
@@tonywood6163 I’m from Wellington and I strongly think that the second harbour crossing, two tunnels with three road lanes and one railway corridor each, and then take the nippon clip-on’s off of the old harbour bridge (and properly repair that truck collision damage), needs to be Auckland’s next big infrastructure project. And that they should be already beginning the early stages of it now, have it done and dusted by 2035. And have the Northern busway converted to a light metro.
Great vid, one thing to note about Auckland/NZs rail history is that the reason the 1930s station was moved out of the city was because all the services were regional in nature, there wasn't space in the CBD station to expand services and so the station was moved out of the CBD to increase platform capacity, people weren't commuting daily on the rail network from suburbs to the CBD in the way they are now. The 1930s station wasn't poor in concept at the time, Auckalnd was still small, and that job of commuter transport was fulfilled by the trams that covered most of Auckland 1930s uban area and also connected the 1930s station to the CBD (RIP Auckland tram network).
That didn't really change until the 1990s when efforts to recover the network began and proper DMU commuter rail trains were introduced from Perth. This was done because at this point pretty much all the regional rail services had been killed off apart from the sections within Auckland now swelled urban area. Aucklands growth had now encompassed large parts of surrounding area, the only remaining regional services were acting as commuter services at this point, so they finally made the effort to properly service that need, which included bring trains back to the CBD.
The old Auckland railway station was ideal for intercity services with its close proximity to Grafton gully, Tamaki drive, and the waterfront. It was just pretty poor for an urban rail system terminus with its inconvenient distance to Queen st and most of the CBD, especially once the trams were gone. When it was begun at the end of the 1920s: The long term plan was to build the morningside deviation for urban rail and have that as the intercity terminus.
If NZ ever gets its act together again for intercity rail within my lifetime: I frankly would not be in the least bit surprised if that grand old lady gets refurbished and reused for the intercity terminus, albeit it with connections to the urban rail network.
Bang on. The old station is indeed still ripe for resurrection as an Intercity terminus and bus interchange, but for one fly in the ointment - the Newmarket Branch link to the Britomart tunnel, which cuts off access between the old station and the NIMT. A light at the end of the tunnel, however - grade separation of Quay Park Junction would allow for reinstatement of terminal lines to the old station. The grim caveat - it MUST be planned for in full before some lunatic in power signs off building a stadium or port access tunnels or a hotel there. Place your bets now...
@@ashcustomworks it’s kind of crazy they set the tracks up like that, they had the whole land of east of beach road to redevelop and they didn’t make the alignment from Newmarket follow the curve of beach road into britomart, instead doing that crazy s curve that trains have to go so slowly around.
I’d also love that old station to be redeveloped into an intercity hub, something to match the grandeur of wellington station at the other end.
@@finnmckenzie3024 I think they probably did that because there still needed to be functional rail and bus services for the duration of construction and a lot of buildings along that side that had to be retained or preserved. The original plans included things like light rail platforms for future use and they may not have been possible with a Beach Rd alignment. As it happens, they were never utilised, but that's not what was expected back then.
@@ashcustomworks keeping the lines operational makes sense but it hilarious that that’s the case but now they shut down Britomart every other week for maintenance, they shut down the eastern line for 8 months 😂
Auckland certainly needs a train link to its airport.
We really need an airport rail link here in Melbourne Australia as well. In the long run, Auckland may even end up getting an airport rail link before us. I hope it all goes well for them.
@@robertthomson1587 But why?
It’s not a very big nor busy airport.
@@RGC198 Very unlikely. Melbourne at least has plans/negotiations for an airport rail link. An Auckland one was mooted ages back but nothing further has come of it.
@@danieleyre8913 My most recent use of Auckland airport was in May. I spent an hour and a half each way stuck in motorway traffic. Very inefficient.
@@robertthomson1587 Did you try the shuttle bus to Puhinui station!?
i feel like elevating the Onehunga Line and having be double tracked viaducts then run elevate along the motorway to the airport. Have it run every 15 minutes, still regional rail, and extend to downtown.
Downtown will have regional services! platform 2 & 3 will host im pretty sure
The easier route to the airport is a spur from the southern line near Manukau, running alongside 20B and into the domestic terminal, and then onto the international one.
The long term plan is to dig the Onehunga branch into a trench, grade separating it, replacing the current station with a 9-platform station, probably eliminate Te Papapa station, and then extend it to Mangere via a corridor built into the underside of the bridge.
Personally: I would rather this extension didn’t goto the airport, and instead just continued to link with the Manukau branch. How many people in Mangere could commute to Manukau daily?
For an airport connection: I would rather they just branched from the mainline near Wiri/Puhinui and ran an express shuttle to the surplus platform at Britomart.
@@philippefm I agree, and I've long wondered why this has never had the advocacy it deserves. $2B max, and connects the airport direct to all of rail-radius Auckland.
A spur off the southern line is now a dead duck. When it was still a contender there wasn't much in the way along that route, but the capacity limitations on the NIMT meant it was realistically a choice between a Manukau branch or an Airport branch. Obviously Manukau won out and rightly so, because there were other options for the airport - namely the Onehunga-Mangere route and the Roskill-Mangere route. These days there has been hundreds of millions, maybe billions in industrial and residential property development between Wiri and the airport. It's not simply going to be demolished for a rail line built on a shoestring budget with immense critical oversight by political, media and public forces. This should be a technical decision, but the aforementioned forces have made it possible for every opinionated idiot to play a part in sabotaging transport progress that doesn't personally suit them.
Your pronunciations were quite good! Plenty of my fellow Kiwi do far worse. The exception is Onehunga - you need to stop seeing the word 'one' in there, it's not helping you at all. Think of the word 'on', then pronounce the e separately
As an Ozzie we'll allow you OH-KNEE-HUNGER.
The CRL isnt just transformational for linking rails between Waitematā/Britomart station with Maungawhau, but it was the catalyst for making improvements everywhere else in the network. Its THE reason for upgraded signalling and back end operations, KiwiRail adopting a new maintenance schedule, the 3rd main line for freight from Ōtāhuhu thru to Puhinui where the eastern and southern lines share tracks, and a even more upgrade projects down the pipeline.
With Aucklands history of building roads and motorways at the expense of rail/public transit after WW2, its a bloody miracle it managed to get underway, even if its been 100 years overdue since the 1st city rail loop plan was ever proposed back in the 1920s
It was ready to go in the seventies, my friends father worked on the plans. He was an engineer who helped design the light rail for Auckland.
Incredibly informative video citymoose. Thanks a lot for covering a NZ project.
Lets hope the national coalition govt wont cut too much of the funding to spend on abother fucking lane thinking that would solve anything
Hard agree there. More roads =/= less traffic. I've actually just made a video detailing this problem in Auckland.
@@Jakey4000 The Nat’s are well aware that investing in roads alone is a fool’s errand.
But they are more interested in serving the lobbyists for the road transport lobby than doing the right thing for their nation. And the last labour government faffed about instead of making the slimy national’s accountable for this corruption. Stephen Joyce, Gerry Brownlee, Simon Bridges should all be in court defending charges of taking bribes.
@@danieleyre8913Also Labour could've gone big with Auck Hamilton Tauranga Passenger rail, chose AKL HAM on a trial that national might cut
@@navinthehouse4710 They probably couldn’t have. Such a project would have required lengthy and costly works that wouldn’t be half finished by now.
@@navinthehouse4710 - lots of freight traffic is moved in the corridor between Auckland and Tauranga, so adding commuter trains would have required a minimum of a third line in lots a places. Not to say it can't be done, just that's a massive cost for an unknown return.
One of the only videos I’ve seen where the names of the locations are correctly pronounced. Caught me off guard with “Waitemata” Respect ✊
"One-e-hunga" was the only wonky one.
I thought it was pronounced Why-Ta-Matter.
@@gustavkierson7444 That is how everyone says it. In practise all these names will be abbreviated or referred to by all and sundry as "City" or whatever.
The 'new' Britomart/Waitemata station was built on the original Auckland central station site (1885 to 1930) and has 4 platforms. Platforms 1 and 4 will be used for City Rail Link (CRL) services from 2026 when the CRL officially becomes operational, leaving platforms 2 and 3 for additional peak metro services and inter-regional passenger rail services from Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua and Tokoroa. Electrification on the Southern Line has been extended to Pukekohe (starting from 25 January 2025) being the 'boarder' station for the Auckland and Waikato regions, allowing for additional passenger connections for Te Huia passenger train services between Hamilton and Auckland (The Strand) and Waikato regional buses to cater for rapid urban population growth in the northern areas of the Waikato region.
How did you get the exact opening date for pukekohe electrification?? I knew it would open in Jan but not the exact date
@@CB2C - It was in the NZ Herald when Pukekohe Station was officially opened by the Minister of Transport. Te Huia will be stopping at Pukekoke to set down/pick up passengers once Auckland Transport, Auckland One Rail and Kiwirail confirmed time slots which should be some time in October 2024, as Te Huia will be providing limited train services for Auckland Metro passengers living in the Pukekohe area until full Auckland Metro train services start in Jan 25.
There's no concrete talk from the govt on Passenger rail to Rotorua/Tauranga unfortunately
@@navinthehouse4710 The previous government did a study on it and the study proved that it would be economically viable
@@navinthehouse4710The Kaimai tunnel is a massive bottleneck on the network as it is.
It’s only single track, and yet it’s used non-stop through most days. The build up of diesel fumes inside the tunnel is horrendous. And it’s going to need a refurbishment some time in the next decade.
They really need a big project to duplicate that tunnel (and get it properly ventilated, and set it up for electrification in the future) before thinking about bringing back passenger services between Tauranga and Auckland.
New Zealand is about 30 years behind where they need to be. They stopped building things in the 90s and never started again, whether it was Labour or the Nationals. This might inspire them to actually do something
Doesn't help that we keep cycling between Nat and Lab all the time. Maybe if people voted either consistently or to a more radical party it would get done. But its just nat-lab-nat-lab-nat-lab for the last several decades.
Consitent labour we would have finally got somewhere at this point but now a lot of what they are doing has been pulled. Greens they would have just done it.
Nat just want to go back to the past with more useless roads.
NZ stopped building things in the mid-1980s. Because the country was bankrupt after 9 years of Muldoon and his mismanagement.
Large scale construction didn’t begin again until the new millennium, when the Labour government under Clarke and with Cullen as finance minister got the economy back on track and there was again enough capital about to finance it.
@@ceasefirenow-eq9dyI don’t like the Nat’s one bit.
But their record isn’t much worse than Labour’s. Labour was who build all of those motorways in the early years of the century. They didn’t do much the last time they were in.
@@danieleyre8913 yeah I don't disagree. But there was quite a bit locked in that was going to get delivered this year and so forth, but got canned by the nats. A lot of CERF projects for example.
They did also have covid, so it was probably a bit risky to spend around that period.
As for the past... I think both parties were quite in on roads because that wasn't very contended back then. But I don't think there is much excuse now with all the evidence out there these days.
@@ceasefirenow-eq9dy Yeah maybe Labour has woken up more to the potential for railways.
But that last Labour government was full of ministers who were incompetent lightweights. I think they were people whom Jacinda owed favours to for getting her into power. Next time Labour gets in (hopefully next election once this Mickey-mouse coalition implodes); they need to have higher calibre people in cabinet. No more clowns like that Phil Twyford or that Kiri Allan woman.
People tend to value trains for passenger convenience, and that is still hugely important, but ultimately the greatest value in all public transit is their contribution to climate change. Rail is more significant than EV mandates and other measures that address individual transportation. We need more buses, better bus networks, and a lot more rail. Mile for mile, and per passenger, nothing beats rail for efficient, and low CO2 emissions people-moving.
Go for it Auckland! I went to Auckland in the 1990's, so I am very aware of how bad public transport used to be in that city. Fantastic to see a modern passenger rail network getting built and extended. Visitors, as well as locals, will appreciate it.
Thank you. Traffic is awful here in Auckland
Current govt just want to add to it with more useless roading projects. Shift congestion further down the road whilst worsening it at the same time.
Doesn't help when half the people on the road can't drive
AT has done everything it can to slow car journeys with the hope that it will force drivers into public transport (or bikes!). Unfortunately public transport is not a viable option for many Aucklanders, plus it's completely unreliable and too expensive. There is not a big enough population to finance or maintain these pie-in-the-sky projects. Auckland is not- and will never be - London, Paris or even Melbourne.
@@Knitter-e7f what absolute rubbish. Many drive because it's the only thing that's decently catered for. AT roles out the red carpet for driving and not much else. Piecemeal cycling, PT better than it used to be but still problematic. People will generally use what is decently catered for. Roads have nearly 10 thousand KM, and parking along most of it. Surprise surprise that gets a big chunk of the mode share.
Lovely work mate. Can’t wait for this new rail way line, it will truly transform the way the public transport system works and operates.
Can't believe how they tool 10 years to build just 3km of tunnels
Exactly- Sydmey has 53km built recently
I know right? And for the entire time the CBD has been a disaster zone. Combined with endless lockdowns over Covid, it's utterly killed the city centre.
It's going to take at least 30 years to extend the lines to airport or north shore and beyond, Auckland city is a transport disaster.
I look forward to seeing how this performs and whether that will then in turn allow the NZ government to do the light rail and extensions on the heavy rail network.
you genuinely deserve so many more subscribers, your production value and consistency is so good!
The problem is Mangere Bridge to the airport.
They need to build a dedicated rail line from Mangere Bridge directly to the airport or rail line from Manukau directly to the airport. Then you can link Manukau. Britomart to Manukau. Manukau to Airport.
So if you're in Northshore, you just have to go to Britomart to get to the airport.
I find it funny how Auckland and Melbourne have completely opposite views on each other's airport connection projects.
Melburnians look at Auckland and wonder why we don't just extend the Southern heavy rail line a few kilometres to the airport, instead of building a brand new tram line.
As an Aucklander, I often wonder why Melbourne doesn't just extend its 59 tram line just a few kilometers to the airport, instead of building a brand new heavy rail line.
Melbourne wants a proper rail link because trams are too slow, have too many stops and will only serve the northwestern suburbs.
Auckland, funnily enough, wants exactly that, a slow tram service that serves the suburbs along the way. A heavy rail connection from the east will just pass through unusable empty swamp land. The Onehunga line extension proposal is better, but still doesn't serve the inner suburbs like light rail would.
Living in Melbourne, I completely agree with you. We have a light rail tram line going from the CBD to Airport West. It would be quite easy to extend that line on to the airport, at least within walking distance. I have no idea why this has not been considered, even as an extra alternative to the proposed rail extension.
Onehunga Branch extension is about the only viable option left now that the Public Transport Underminers Association have got their way. It remains a mystery that having helped kill off one of the most effective public transport proposals in Auckland's history, they're not exactly breaking their backs to push for reinstatement of the abandoned heavy rail plan. It's almost as if improving public transport is not their interest at all...
Published CRL running patterns show that there is a need for a better full capacity terminus than Onehunga to match up to one of the other main lines. The things that made the Onehunga option "too expensive" before (grade separation, double tracking etc) are going to become essential anyway, if the Onehunga branch is going to remain open. I think it's doomed otherwise.
@@nickplosiveli4927 I doubt many people in Melbourne ever think of Auckland…
@@danieleyre8913 Isn't CityMoose from Melbourne and has made two videos on Auckland?
@@nickplosiveli4927 And he’s typical of Melburnians is he?
Technically he’s from South Africa anyway…
The CEO of the project recently resigned prior to the CRL's opening. The Dublin metro project poached him. Can you do a video on the Dublin project? Curious to see what they're up to!
The Mt Eden station is progressing well. I am sure once the project is open, people will transition to using it quickly and in growing numbers. Much like what hsppened when they opened Britomart station. Pity the north shore hadnt been catered for at all. A massive population still relying on cars going over one old old bridge daily.
As a resident of the north shore we would love to have a rail link to the city . Not only to the city but also a west to north north to west connection aswell.
Very well explained with proper facts mate ! Subscribed
The most baffling part of this development is to rename the major station in Auckland from Britomart to "Waitemata", it's been called Britomart station for over two decades and absolutely no-one is going to start calling it Waitemata now so it's just going to create a lot of confusion for tourists and visitors. Given the massive amount of change and complexity involved in the CRL project, I can't understand adding a totally unnecessary change like this into the mix as well.
Orc Central would work fine 👍
Britomart sounds kind of lame though ... Waitemata doesnt
Thanks for sharing another excellent video. I remember visiting Auckland back in 1970 and again in 1979. The main station was then in the Parnell area with a connecting trolley bus service to get into the city. Back then all trains terminated at that particular station. It is great seeing the progress that has happened there since.
I genuinely think people of Auckland have NO IDEA how transformative this is going to be, just like many in Sydney didnt know what was about to hit them with the Sydney Metro. A shame that there are still many level crossings in Auckland and some of the infrastructure is not fit for purpose, which will come into focus as patronage picks up once CRL opens and the network becomes MUCH more useful.
It's crazy that there are still no plans to extend the System to Auckland airport.
That light rail line to the airport (which got cancelled) would have been stupid
@@nicolasblume1046 I have to disagree, the surface light rail as it was originally planned would have been a good project, Auckland needs surface rail especially for redundancy that’s another thing that has worked so well in Sydney. It was only once they went off-piste and started trying to build a poor man’s metro that Auckland light rail began to lose all sense.
@@nicolasblume1046 The decision to go with light rail to airport came from:
1) Extending from Puhinui looks easy on a map, but wouldn't make much sense operationally speaking, because they'd have to divert some Southern Line trains to the airport, making service worse for everyone further south.
2) Extending from Onehunga makes more operational sense - and comes with more benefits, because you can have stations in Mangere and Airport Industrial Zone - but we've had studies for years telling us that Onehunga-to-Airport would be much cheaper to build with light rail than heavy.
3) _Completely unrelated to the airport,_ Auckland Transport started asking for the revival of some of our old tram routes to ease the pressure on our most congested bus routes, such as Dominion Road. Attaching an airport extension to that project was very much a case of seizing opportunity, rather than the airport being the main goal (which is why we ended up with such an indirect route).
Unfortunately the airport immediately became the focus of it in the media, which resulted in all the criticism being on how well-suited the project was for airport commuters rather than what to do about the congested bus lines.
And that pressure to think about the airport first - plus I think some terror among politicians that a surface route would cause too much disruption, which would be politically unpopular after the disruption CRL caused - made them decide to bury it underground in a pseudo-metro, instead of committing to either a true high-capacity metro or an affordable surface light rail. Ended up with the worst of both worlds.
We're lucky that it got cancelled after goofed design like that, but unlucky that the whole idea was thrown out with no plans for replacement.
@@nicolasblume1046 They need to build it from Puhinui Station. Shortest & most central to the Airport. But like all good idea's it was trashed. AT needs to pull their finger out & make daylight happen for Auckland to move on.
@@BigBlueMan118 oh absoluty, surface rail lines are badly needed! But more for Medium distance routes to replace the most conjested bus lines.
The route to the airport is quite long.
It would be okay though if it would just be an additional connecting to a mainline rail connection (which would also be better suited with the far bigger trains).
The mostly underground light rail proposal was really stupid though. Very expensive, but still the same capacity as the surface version.
If they want to build an expensive Tunnel then they should built a full metro line possibly under the harbour to the north shore and then elevated
Hi CityMoose, Useful video with out outsider's perspective. You briefly touched on the increase in train lengths from 6 to 9 cars, which is an important step to increasing capacity, but the cost of lengthening platforms across the network isn't being much talked about. Nor is the conversion of the numerous at-grade crossings across the city to grade-separated: Another significant investment, without which, cross-suburb congestion will grow as train frequency increases: One of the failings of the system is that it doesn't adequately address the bulk of journeys in Auckland, which do not need to go via the CBD. If there is a new line to be added, the northern line would seem to make most sense, but would require a long-planned tunnel which the current mayor has thrown into question. With future city growth uncertain, focusing the available funding on getting the best out of the new CRL...which includes platform extensions and grade separations...looks like being the best medium-term use of funds alongside substantial improvements in the bus network, which are required to make the planned congestion-charging effective.
Onehunga is "on-nay-hung-a" (or 'oh-nee-hung-a' if you're lazy). Sometime we joke that 'One Tree Hill' is prounced the same way - 'on-nay tree hill'. It's definitely not "wunny-hunga".
"on-eh-hung-ah"* There's no "nay" sound, just "neh"
@@francois9747 Yep.. Maori has vowel sounds that are very similar to Spanish.
Just image if National had built a train line from Howick to the city vai Panmure or Otahuhu. Also if Avondale to Onehunga line had been completed with a tunnel under the harbour to Mangere Bridge and one too the airport vai Mangere town centre and then onto Middlemore and the main trunk line. Plus widening the tunnel between Swanson and Waitakere . All could happen during the period 1949 to 1984 ( National were the government for 29 years).
curious, can the majority of the population pronounce those station names or mostly just for virtue signalling to the maori?
Most people who have grown up in NZ can pronounce them fairly well, always room to improve though for people who don't speak Te Reo every day.
the sydney metro is an actual metro with all new trains but brisbane and melbournes is just new tunnels and lines
Our planned Suburban Rail Link (SRL) from Cheltenham to Box Hill here in Melbourne is going to be a Metro like Sydney as far as I have heard. Unfortunately, it will be quite a few years before it is anywhere near running.
Very good. Thank you sir.
No North Shore rail . No rail to the airport . It is a third world rail service
You proved in this vid why changing the names to obscure Maori names is a bad idea.
Point of correction. I love the graphics in your vid but it does get one detail wrong.
The CRL is NOT a full loop but rather more of a C-section. This is because there is insufficient room for a Grand Junction at New Market where Southern & Western lines intersect. Although demolition of a building would provide enough room for a turning radius, I can't find any official indication that this is being considered.
In the current scenario, Western line trains (as noted) need to first stop at New Market station before reversing up the Western line. Completion of the CRL will not change this due to the missing turning points (either to or from Britomart). Hence all train routes show Western line trains routing via the CRL before continuing onwards as Southern / Eastern Line trains or bypassing the CRL entirely and continuing onwards as Southern line trains (or visa versa)... but not towards Britomart.
I can't see this situation continuing long term as it hobbles an otherwise flexible system. I'd suspect that plans may be afoot to address this but perhaps after the CRL is completed & operational.
Great video, and it takes an Auzzie to give us a good over view of whats coming.
sucks that there is no reason other than work to ever go into the CBD though
you work on k road? what are you, a stripper?
Tell me you don't go outside without telling me you don't go outside
@@don_dogs so many other places in auckland to go lol, only reason you’d go to the cbd is for work or if you’re a crackhead
@@don_dogs plenty of other places to go that aren’t sad half-dead streets with nothing to do
Denmark is building s tunnel to Germany under the sea. Auckland Harbour is not deep. Denmark is building the tunnel section on the land while a trench is built. Then the tunnel sections are placed in trench. So train could come from Takapuna to the city. Orewa to Takapuna with branch line starting at Silverdale to the bays and Albany joining at milford.
In the 1980's there was a bus strike and lots of people used the trains to get to work, and I did not hear anyone complaining about having to walk from the old station
@@JL-jr9gk Things have changed in 40 years.
Auckland Needs a BRT system too, like Brisbane Metro. Could really work well for connecting the northern suburbs and airport. Just don’t call it metro.
This is very cool. Hopefully it's not cancelled
I also hope they can fix the operating hours, the 10pm finish Sunday through Thursday means getting back from shift work, events, family do's or the sort leaves you trying to find a bus, some of which may run to midnight, or potentially completely stranded and forced to get an uber or taxi back home.
Apparently they are trying to extend this to 11pm post-CRL but its still a bit shy of where it should be. Midnight in the least would be great, and buses that do the same routes as rail until at least 1 or 2am would be awesome as many stations aren't covered by the late running bus routes.
I am told the limited span on weekdays is due to the maintainance window by Kiwirail. But surely there must be some point at which they can get maintenance done in shorter windows?
Its very frustrating as a user that since the 2000's its still 10pm-ish end time on weekdays. While buses and ferries seem to have spanned to midnight for about as long now.
The early morning can be a bit limited as well, many people travel west to south for early morning jobs in the southern industrial areas, but you cant even get there for 4-5-6am shift starts which are quite common, as the western train doesnt even start until about 5:15am from Henderson, getting you there a fair bit after 6am. No bus alternatives either as they also generally start 5ish. This means you have to travel during peak to get back home in a lot of cases. There is going to be time of use charging as well, so don't see how thats fair when you don't even cater properly to shift workers. You don't need to be 24/7 but you can at least minimise the gap.
Cars and cycling on the other hand are 24/7. But then cycling we barely do half decent network. So many people are forced to drive. 9-5ers are just oblivious and think we don't exist (I am also a 9-5er for many years now but I still remember my roots).
The drop to 30 min frequency after 7pm also leaves quite a lot to be desired. I hope they can make it 15-20 min frequency until at least 9ish after the CRL.
It's crazy that some of our bus routes, which are meant to be supporting the rail network not outpacing it, are doing much more frequent runs at those times. In some situations they beat the train for journey time.
Another thing I reckon is the western line could really drop a lot of the unnecessary stops like fruitvale, morningside and baldwin which have easy frequent bus connections to the next station alongside (such as 14, 20 and 22), needs of the many outweigh the few and all that. But it's probably a tough sell to politicians and customers, we have seen that with Te Mahia for example.
I'm excited about this very necessary network of railway. Especially having recently been to Japan. Admittedly that would be a foolish notion to think about Japan and New Zealand in the same capacity but Japan is certainly an inspiration. Provided we experience a favourable societal change in Auckland culturally where our love for motor vehicles wanes over time and a safer society unlike what we're currently experiencing succeeds. We're certainly not prepared for more E vs. For these projects to materialise we're going to need a rapid increase in our population with productivity and prosperity to give leverage this utopian dream however. It doesn't come cheap. Pronunciation of names is the least of our worries but good effort.
Onehunga is Oh-knee-hung-ah and Waitemata is Why-tea-mat-ah. But the important point is this upgrade is a shortfall of what is really required to solve transport in Auckland
The network will still be limited by the time level crossings on the western line can be closed per hour. As it is some pretty major roads are about to be turned into car parks during peak times to achieve the journeys per hour promised for CRL.
No the city rail link wouldn't help much, all it does is added two stations in the city centre. It doesn't make getting onto the trains from the suburbs any easier!
And lets not mention how the taxpayers have to pay over $100m in interests each year because of the huge debts to fund this project, and the revenue from this is projected to be less than $10m each year? Who the f did the cost benefits analysis for this?! (The data was on a nzherald article somewhere)
@@jamescheung3258 It also greatly increases network capacity, allowing far more frequent train services.
Melbournes rail network is also largely the system it had in 1900
I always turn up and go for trains in Auckland and seldom have an issue.
centuries after London, Auckland's finally getting a subway ... really impressive how long it stayed into the middle of age of public transport ....
@@sneakyc4713 This isn’t a metro. And London began its underground in the 1860s, not exactly “centuries ago”.
@@danieleyre8913 more than 1 century ago. yea. Still really impressive how long it stayed in the middle age of public transport.
@@sneakyc4713 London even in 1860 was many times larger and more heavily populated than Auckland now. Auckland was a village in 1960. And London was the first city to do it.
Hahahaha at how you double down on this…
@@danieleyre8913 so what? in the history of public transport, many small cities of a few hundred thousand inhabitants have had metro and better public transport than AKL ... AKL just chose to suck ... you seem quite the AKL fanboi
@@sneakyc4713 Are you 13 years old or something?
Your obsession with Airport link with city is real strange ie because if one is wishing to go south you would have to go north first ... it would be far better to have a recipical loop ie manukau then train station would between the new and original runways ...
Additionally either having a dedicated line to the port or relocating the port facilities ... else where ...
In the mean time the central city has lost its attraction to Malls spread around the Greater region and now even those are being down graded a vicious circle ...
This is a good summary but it’s not hard to research and find there will be no surplus capacity to use for new lines like to the airport
Really? That's crazy
@@urbanistfromwhk7682 That makes no sense. Turning any railway terminus into a through station always results in more network capacity.
Via Puhinui that's true, but via Onehunga there doesn't need to be extra capacity. It's the same services feeding through from West or wherever, just going further. No different to extending the southern line to Pukekohe.
The airport line will likely be a continuation of the onehunga line
There used to be trams going up and down Queens street the main road and central road in the CBD
Auckland spent almost half a billion dollars on a busway that has no busses operating during the night so aucklands lowest paid highly exploited hospitality workers have no access to public transport to get home after work and have to spend their entire pay check on ubers, disgusting
So go get educated, build a better skill set, earn a better paid job, problem solved.
@@Timetofly8888 Not the brightest are ya
@pro-storm4951 No one owes you anything. Build a better situation for yourself like millions before you. I'd say it's you that's not too bright if all you have is excuses and blame as to why your life is not to your liking. No one's forcing you to work a low paid job in hospo.
@pro-storm4951 if you think there isn't any other way to succeed in life, I don't think it's my intelligence that's in question here. Difference is, I don't demand others fix my life issues with every excuse under the sun why I can't take responsibility for my own life choices.
they should extend the onehunga line to the airport then out then airport to the other side linking into the manukau line then expand line from manukau to botany and then link into panmure
New moose vid? Yes please!
The tunnel machine we should of bought 40 years ago, surely would have dug all the tunnels by now even in the suburbs as well as the hills north of auckland?
Correction. The CRL was foisted upon us with a grossly understated projected cost and with a lack of alternative options being considered. We didn't need this tunneled rail system at all. All we needed was increased surface rail lines between Newmarket and downtown Auckland. It is not difficult to change trains at a station such as Newmarket if there are sufficient trains running. London commutes often mean passengers change trains at several stations in the course of their journey. The CRL really only provides a rail link from K Road down to Britomart as an additional benefit, which can easily be achieved by express buses running between these destinations. The cost of dual tracking Newmarket to Britomart would have been minimal certainly not 6 billion.
Yes it is a lesson in how city staff can push through a really expensive project that will only benefit a few of those paying for it.
First sensible comment I've seen here
Why are New Zealanders so scared of investing in quality? The City Rail Link isn't just about adding a few extra stations it's about increasing the capacity of the entire rail network by 50%. The additional stops are simply a bonus. CRL means more trains, faster services, and improved public transport for EVERYONE on the entire rail network from Swanson to Pakakura. By the early 2030s, Auckland could have around two million residents. Buses and what ever you are proposing simply can't compete with these numbers. They are a bandaid, not a fix.
The CRL is a long-term investment which means it does cost money. The benefits it will provide to businesses, productivity, and even just the experience of commuting are incalcuable. The CRL means sorely needed vibrancy urban renewal for the city centre. For instance Te Waihorotiu Station is set to become the busiest in New Zealand, with an additional 154,000 pedestrians passing through Wellesly street each day (AT website).
Have some civic pride, they are about to complete what is literally the biggest infrastructure project in the countries history, this is a phenomenal achievement that will make auckland a city worth living in and visisitng. Forget about the cost of the project for a moment and consider the vast benfits ecconomic and otherwise to the ENTIRE city.
@@rickhanover6267 Yes yes because Rick Hanover knows everything unlike those career civic planners and railway staff.
Britomart was at capacity, now it is a trough station, its capacity has increased many magnitudes. Newmarket to Britomart was already double-tracked! Quad-tracking would have meant massive demolitions through Parnell, another tunnel, another viaduct near the strand, more demolitions near the old station, and demolition of the Spark Arena and all this other buildings build over the existing tracks and where the new tracks would need to go. And capacity would have been barely increased.
Stop deluding yourself that you have a clue.
Love your video mate How about you make a video on Thessaloniki Metro system The one that's going to be built
Do you know you've got a caterpillar on your lip?
The Auckland under ground tunnel is a total waste of money! A new Harbor bridge would have been better.
Thankfully another sensible comment. How on Earth is there no harbour crossing for rail, yet you can now go underground from CBD to K-Road, which you could literally walk in a relatively short space of time
@@Knitter-e7fno you couldn’t. Only drunken fools would walk to k road from the cbd
You cannot have a north shore line without a city rail link. The CRL unlocks the increase in rail services for all lines in Auckland including a future line to the shore (via the new station at Te Waihirotiu)
Wait, airport link from the west end of the loop? Why? Isn't the airport to the south of Onehunga?
Whangarei needs a 4 lane hiway between whangarei and auckland
I would of thought the best way to connect to the airport would be to extend the Onehunga line then potentially connect it to the southern line
God bless ya for this video. TRAINS!!!
The digging started almost a decade and destroyed the businesses in the city and still a long way from the finishing . It a total mess. Change its name from City of Sails to City of Cones. Maybe another decade but the CBD will be in tatters by then. Good Luck Auckland
When will the penny drop that steel tracks are the problem. Busses can become trains when auto-guided accordingly. But they don't need to make the return journey on the same corridor in rush hour.
You need to do more videos on Brisbane
You mean reshape part of auckland,a huge part of auckland has zero acess to the rail lines or even bus lanes.
Auckland is decade to late building it!
Auckland should have an city ring and trains sout-north east long times.
Millions and more in agglomeration ...all planed on streets to 99% is creepy.
Auckland decades ago and christchurch, wellington, rest of country would follow after forerunner example.
Why is there no rail network that goes to the airport as most countries in the modem world do ?? NZ trains are a complete and overlooked joke !! To get from Henderson to the airport one must take a train to Britomart and then two or three buses to the airport.
The maintenance and running cost of crl is horrendous. 250 million a year
@@iainfenwick2433 That sounds like BS.
fantasic!! But mr brown whats a corolla bridge. Will other cities like wellington send money to auckland for this or will wellington fix its PIPES!!
Onehunga is pronounced "Oh-nee-hunga"
Yea and the trains don’t show up half the time or are delayed
Francois is making good money …. Those who know , know
Good video. The North Shore (Te Rakipaewhenua) and airport out Manukau need rail lines. Thank you.
@@4evaavfc The airport does not.
The North shore does though. They really should plan converting the northern busway to a light metro and tie it in with the second harbour crossing.
why the hell are the station names in maori? I want to know where tf I am getting off not maangafukapoawhirewirelangu station
Why kiwis only leading in innovation at sports, natural conservatory and fixing broken?
Why kiwis not seen decades ago japanese or some european railway connections profits?
Auckland as an big city should there leading.
Sadly kiwis orientated at USA about traffic.
Aotearoa is no more only farming and sometimes go to auckland for party?
Every dollar spent profits many more if looked after then.
NZ not need city traffic all over but main connections.
Decades they sleeped and now telling no money arround 🤷
From orewa to puki an train connection big build arround auckland should be there....
Please kiwis build and see how great having financed it.
Thank goodness they're renaming "Britomart"! I looked into the reasons for that name and it was nothing terribly great.
@@whophd It’s already been renamed.
We can see how well it has caught on.
Britomart, for HMS Britomart - heritage & history, named after Greek goddess of antiquity - more heritage there.
Name suits me just fine. Unlike some te Reo name that’s recycled for a dozen different geographical entities.
Great video....em....Onehunga is pronounced. o-na-hunga
Dont worry about the language police, most cant speak English without mangling it so for those its a bit much to be preaching. Youve done well. Very good overview and detail.
This is an AI avatar right?
Transport infrastructure is very integral to a city's continued growth. Without it a city is immobilised. Looking forward to Auckland growing into the future. It's projected to reach 2 million within this decade alone and 3 million in a couple of short decades later.
By 2050 Oceania will look very different. With cities like Sydney and Melbourne reaching 8 to 9 million each, Perth and Brisbane reaching 5 to 6 million respectively and even Adelaide and Auckland surpassing the 3 million mark.
To put things in perspective, Sydney was 3 million people in the 80s 90s and already considered quite a mid to large sized city.
Really? With birth rates and populations in decline world-wide, where do you see this growth coming from?
@@Knitter-e7f From the hordes of people abroad with skills and professions to offer but lacking the quality of life NZ and Australia enjoy
The amount of time taken to build this has been way too long. When it is finished we will have one short section of modern line that will consistently be let down by the older lines around it. Cancellations are a common occurrence and this new line will do nothing to sort that out.
@@TheAllEngineering Moan moan moan negative negative negative.
The NZ ministry of transport has also been relaying most of the lines right down tot,he trackbed to improve network reliability and resilience in anticipation of the tunnel opening.
@@danieleyre8913 That would be Kiwi Rail responsible relaying the railway lines.
I don't use the trains that often but on the last four times that I have used the train, I have had to make alternative arrangements in order to get to my destination in good time. These were not planned outages on the railway, hardly positive experiences.
The relaying of lines in my area has done, a major portion of the $330 million budget spent with little to improvement in reliability.
My children no longer use the train to get to school because it is too unreliable, they were late too often.
This is hardly a situation to be happy with.
You may find this acceptable, but I do not.
Some heads need to roll, it is just not acceptable.
I'm not sure if you are aware of the rail renewal program in Auckland. Auckland transport has been replacing the track network progressively, new ballasts, new tracks, new foundations, new pipework, so when the CRL opens most of the network should be of a modern standard.
We were on track to but the three stooges decided its woke or whatever they yammer on about
Britomart was finished in 2004😂
It was a tunnel to a dead end.
Useless people in power with no plan until now ..
What a joke
@@KanyeKetchup Britomart caused a revolution in Auckland’s urban rail usage, suddenly it was convenient for office workers in the CBD and university students to commute by train. The best investment Auckland ever made. And you’re reading this from a Wellingtonian.
No you're the joke. You obviously know nothing about railways. The access to what is now Britomart/Waitemata was protected some years in advance when the last tracks of the onetime loco and goods yard were lifted. One siding was left in place and ended in a stop block to permit future downtown rail planning prior to excavation beginning. The rail line, as it extended on to the site, was then used to remove the earth to reduce the number of trucks needed to take the spoil away.
Rather than being a stuff up, as you ignorantly suggest, it was in fact one of the first signs of forward thinking that our backward and road obsessed authorities actually got right.
Somebody somewhere else is wondering why Britomart is the size that it is. That's because it's built on the same footprint - rather cramped - that the old waterfront Auckland station had when it was on the surface. You can see a number of old buildings from that era still in place close around though many have gone of course. To have built a bigger station underground would have been more expensive and potentially affected neighbouring buildings. And given their lack of experience with modern passenger rail they probably felt that it would be big enough for the foreseeable future. Hmm...
@@cathybrind2381 It was less than ten years ago that Treasury and MoT said that Britomart would never reach the target of 20 million passengers per annum. Well, we got to 22 million within three years of that.
I was shocked at how well you pronounced those names. Not even some Kiwis can pronounce that, and they've lived here their whole lives...
whats with all the convoluted maori names?
the stations are Britomart, Aotea, mount Eden, and Karangahape road.
It's the official national language
@@pabloznotti6883 Wellingtonian’s explanation: Auckland is unfortunately home to a lot of tossers who believe in feel-good tokenism (but not real change). Most of them are middle class and went to snobby exclusive single sex schools and have a strange guilt complex towards our indigenous people.
@@lachlanmcgowan5712so is English which is being replaced
@@lachlanmcgowan5712 Te Reo is not THE official language it is one national language. You can hardly have the official language spoken by 20% or less of the population no matter what documents were signed back in the day.
@@lachlanmcgowan5712 that's English,
like the language we all speak every day,
Auckland needs more roads to make us read for self driving cars that will bring us from A to B without convoluted stopovers and for less cost than public transport.
These dumb ideas need to stop.
Auckland is to spread out as a city and public transportation is to late and not needed in a few years.
I can not beleive cities are passing away tax money.
actually it doesnt need it
Huh?
@@TxtalArmi you gotta have smartness to be able to know what i was talking about
@@yvonetubla7682 Do you have any idea how much we need this, it’s gonna improve the transport and the city a lot.
@@TxtalArmi you shouldnt believe things without evidence
Auckland needs a damned rail link to the airport. A total no-brainer!
Also needs CBTC if they really want to increase rail capacity.
woneehunga 😭
Why did they rename britomart and mt eden? who calls mt eden that ? how stupid
The Maoris?
Idk. Now there is half a dozen Waitemata's that are mostly all different places. The harbour, the police district, the local board, the station and so on.
I'm pretty good with adopting te reo, but I still call the stations Britomart, K Rd (unchanged I guess), Aotea (already te reo), Mt Eden or I will just confuse myself and others.
Why not just keep the names and have the te reo as subnames like most everywhere else without a long-standing te reo name?
@@milkydildos I’m from Wellington and I agree it is very tokenist and I chuckle over it.
I don’t expect these names will stick and over time they’ll just revert to the long accepted names.
@@Secretlyanothername I would say middle class white Aucklanders who went to single-sex schools, with tokenist and politically correct ideas, who patronise Māoris
If we were going to name the stations from scratch, then Waitemata (taking the name from the harbour it sits alongside) makes more sense than Britomart. On the other hand, renaming Mount Eden to use the Maori name for that mountain misses the fact that the suburb it sits in is still called Mount Eden, and nobody uses the word Maungawhau to refer to that suburb, so I think that change will be confusing, and problematic for people wanting to go to the mount eden area, and not realising that they need to get off at "Maungawhau". I believe the 'Karanga-a-hape' name is a correction to what K Rd should have been named, but it will cause confusion where there will be signage in Karana-a-hape station referring to the Karangahape Rd exit.
It's only going to be "transformative" if people use it, and this is hampered by three major factors: the existing train network is limited in terms of where it serves, the service reliability is terrible, and there is increasingly little reason for people to go to the CBD - and ultimately that is where all lines were created to lead.
I am a full time pedestrian/public transport user, who lives and works in the CBD. The trains are so unreliable that I no longer consider them as options to get anywhere. Auckland must have the most well-maintained tracks in the entire world, because they are closed for maintenance so often - but even so, the moment so much as a sparrow farts too close to the tracks the service goes down.
There are so many issues the Council needs to address in order for this investment to pay off. But the fact that Auckland Transport prioritise ideology over practicality when it comes to naming conventions and signage, suggests that, in true Auckland Council fashion, the *actual* infrastructure will be less about future-proofing and more about gesturing. The whole project will be as underbaked as everything else they touch.
@@foreignparticle1320 Another negative Aucklander, The reason why the current network reliability is poor is because Kiwirail,and the MoT are slowly relaying most of the lines right down to the trackbed, so as to make the network much more resilient and less maintenance dependent. It’s tied in with the opening of the tunnel.
@@danieleyre8913 It’s been a problem for years... long before the CRL was even locked down. But even in a post-2026 world where everything worked perfectly, there are other significant impediments to maximising ridership.
@@foreignparticle1320 Oh look there were some black marks on Auckland’s network I noticed when I used it back in July 2020.
Station dwell times are too long. And the train goes far too slowly through the western line, especially across level crossings.
They need to change their operating protocols. They should probably also look at slowly grade separating the network, and planning for platform lengths to take 9 car trains.
I also don’t understand why peak services from outer stations like Papakura have to stop at every station instead of having staggered express services like most urban rail systems.
@@danieleyre8913 They are rebuilding the lines line down as far as the underlying formation because in true Kiwi fashion they couldn't be bothered doing that even when they renewed the rails 2-3 years ago...
@@cathybrind2381 I somehow think it’s for more solid reasons than “couldn’t be bothered”.
What a load of crap, two hundred million dollars to run it a year, will never pay for its self, should no ot even be allowed to run and save the taxpayers money
This guy drives. I wonder if anyone looked at the cost of running each new lane on the motorway and whether that pays for itself...
Ok, in that case we should cease operation of all infrastructure seeing as it's often subsidised.
Roads are more costly to maintain, operate and repair than railways relative to their benefits and capacity.