The Campaign For Better Transport

The New Zealand Herald reports that the new Grafton Rd Station, 200m down the road from Boston Rd Station was opened today by Minister of Transport Steven Joyce. The new station has excellent bus-train linkages, and as the journalist points out, numerous points of access.

The Manukau Courier has a full report on the progress the city’s new station is making:

Diggers have started excavating the 300-metre long trench where trains will draw up beside two platforms at the new railway station at Davies Ave.

KiwiRail project manager Paul Crawford says the start of digging is an important milestone along the track to the Manukau rail station opening by early next year.

“It’s going very well,” he says.

The rail trench will be seven metres deep and up to 18 metres wide.

The trench, two 180-metre platforms, the station, its surrounds and services should all be finished by September.

Work will then start on laying 1.8km of tracks between Davies Ave and the southern line at Puhinui.

Organised by www.savepapakura.com , this is the first of series of debates featuring the views of MPs. The first debate is Transport – Auckland’s No 1 issue. Are we on the right track or the road to nowhere?

• Monday 12th April 7 – 9pm
• Boodles Restaurant, courtyard area
• Selwyn Arcade, 182 Great South Rd, Papakura (walkable from the train station!)

Enjoy an evening of food, drinks and lively debate. The MP’s are:

• David Bennett – National MP
• David Clendon – Green MP
• David Shearer – Labour MP

For further details, phone Caroline Conroy (09) 298 5945

The Press reports KiwiRail is considering re-instating passenger services between Christchurch and Dunedin or Invercargill.

The Herald has a nice juxtaposition of a photo of truck accident blocking the motorway with the headline that BIG trucks are on their way.

Up to 5000 trucks will be eligible to carry heavier loads on public highways from next month.

The Government is basically giving the trucking industry a handout with this.  Road user charges weren’t increased in October for truck trailers, and the necessary reinforcement work for bridges etc. hasn’t been done. I’d also question the supposed economic benefits of $500m from the Ministry of Transport. Does this allow for the fact that trucking firms should pay 16 – 21% more per tonne in road user charges to use a bigger truck?

It is official –  maximum truck weights have been increased by the Government to 52 tonnes under a permit regime as announced by the Government in a carefully timed press release just before Easter. What isn’t so clear is how the trucking industry will respond.  If they pay according to the current RUC regime, then trucking companies will pay between 16 and 21% more per tonne of freight.

Furthermore, councils are unlikely to approve permits for heavy trucks without compensation of the damage they cause.  In moving from 44 tonnes to 52 tonnes, trucks of the same axle configuration are also likely to cause twice as much damage to the roading network.

There needs to be stronger regulation of the trucking industry.  There are already too many accidents involving trucks, and the number of roll over accidents will only get worse as trucks get heavier.