Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee is accusing the Automobile Association of trying to sabotage the $1 billion rail electrification drive.

A furious Mr Lee says that is the intent of a letter the AA has written to him - and copied to Transport Minister Annette King - challenging council preparations for a regional fuel tax... [more]

Helensville is back on Auckland's passenger rail map, after 28 years in the wilderness.

Members of the South Kaipara community lined their heritage railway station before dawn yesterday to cheer the arrival of the first train sent there since 1980 to carry commuters back to Auckland... [more]

The Onehunga Enhancement Society (TOES) has launched a petition to restore the foreshore at Onehunga and save it from being paved over as part of Transit's Second Manukau Harbour Crossing project.  Read about it here.

Want to know what is driving up oil prices and the cost of living?

Oil depletion is now being increasingly recognised as a significant and real risk to the way we live. We think it is time to move on to examine the impacts and responses that might mitigate the worst side effects.

Come and find out about oil depletion and climate change at this all day conference, featuring some of the foremost experts available:

• When: Saturday, 26th July 2008, 8:30am
• Where: Oakridge House, Unitec, Mt Albert, Auckland
• Cost: $110, concessions available for unwaged, retired and students

Hosted by Engineers for Social Responsibility and the Sustainable Energy Forum. Registration form and agenda available here.

Full details of the speaking line-up here.

New traffic-flow figures suggest our love of driving is waning, possibly because of rising fuel prices.  Figures for last month, given to the Weekend Herald by Transit NZ, show traffic on the city's motorways in peak hours is down an estimated 3 per cent since May last year... [more]

Last year, the Government raised more than $2.3 billion from taxes on petrol and diesel sales, and about $120 million in royalties on local oil and gas production... [more]

Travellers and workers are being offered a cheap new way of reaching Auckland Airport, by rail and bus in less than hour - if all goes well. A trip by the Herald yesterday morning from Britomart to the airport, with a bus connection at Papatoetoe railway station, cost $8 and took just 52 minutes... [more]

Western Leader 

Plans for a $7.2 million tram system running through the heart of Henderson are being looked at by council as a way to improve tourism and revitalise the town centre.

The proposal would see a 2.66km tram line running from Corban Estate, into Lincoln Rd, down Selwyn Peacock Drive into Alderman Drive, on to Edsel St, Railside Ave and on to Great North Rd...[more]

ARTA has accepted in principle a recommendation for sweeping rail loops between Britomart and the airport, estimated to cost just under $2.2bn.  This is fantastic news and effectively endorses the CBT's airport rail petition, which was signed by over 10,000 people.  Full story here.  Given record high oil prices and public transport at capacity, it would make a lot more sense for the Government to fund this proposal rather than the $1.89bn Transit is asking for two motorway tunnels at Waterview.

The plan also includes a link between Onehunga and Avondale, which isn't shown below.

 

 

The CBT has released its latest Oil Production Briefing Paper.  Oil prices across all grades are at all time highs, despite conventional crude oil achieving record production rates.  Aviation fuel prices stand out in particular, with an increase in price of over 60% in a little over six months.

Local reaction to increased petrol prices has been of the "shoot the messenger" variety, with calls to eliminate GST, delay the imposition of fuel taxes and establish an enquiry into petrol pricing.  These reactions are understandable, but implicit in these proposed solutions is the idea that petrol, which is a finite resource demanded by every country on earth,  is somehow "too expensive", and that perhaps, one day, petrol prices will come down.  In our view this policy of hope is not an effective strategy.

Read it in full online here, or download the PDF here.

Press Release: Greater Wellington Regional Council

Greater Wellington Regional Council today announced that it will be buying an additional 20 new electric commuter train units in addition to the 70 that it has already ordered.
 
In November 2007, Greater Wellington Rail Ltd (a trading subsidiary company of the Council) entered into a contract with Rotem Mitsui, a Korean/Japanese consortium, to purchase 70 new trains (35 two-car units) with an option to buy a further 20 (10 two-car units) by 1 May 2008.
 
Council Chair Fran Wilde said that the cost of the additional new trains was within the $210 million original budget and the Council decided to exercise the option.
 
The first of the new trains, which are being manufactured in Korea, are expected to arrive in New Zealand in 2010.

ARTA press release

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) announced today that the first rail service to Helensville since 1980 will start on Monday 14 July 2008, in line with the introduction of an updated network-wide timetable. The network-wide timetable, which begins on Sunday 13 July, will reflect the completion by the New Zealand rail agency, ONTRACK, of the double tracking work from Henderson to Swanson, enabling four trains an hour to run during morning and evening peak on weekdays on the Western Line...[more]

The price of oil has hit a new record above $115 a barrel after a US government inventory report raised concerns about supplies...[more]

This is a major problem and our Government responds by building more motorways.

With the demise of the Maxx online discussion forum, the committee of the CBT has decided to host our own discussion forum for all things "better transport".  You will find it here:

http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/forum

There is only one forum - "Auckland Transport Discussion".  Just click the heading and take a look.  Feel free to reply to the posts and create your own topics.  If you have any other suggestions about the forum, send me an email -

Minister of Finance (and de facto Minister of Railways!) Michael Cullen marked the official start of the New Lynn trenching project last Friday. The $120m project, which involves building an underground stop at New Lynn in order to grade separate rail from the road above, is due for completion in two years time.

Dr Cullen spoke of the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.  He also restated that funding electrification of Auckland's rail network was solely dependent on cross party support for a regional fuel tax.  No mention about diversion of funding from roading projects if petrol hits $3 a litre, or any contingency plans for rising petrol prices...[more]