The Campaign For Better Transport

Auckland City Harbour News reports:

Investigations into a city rail link between Mt Eden and Britomart show it could have one of the steepest rail gradients in the country.

Last week Auckland Regional Transport Authority strategic transport planning manager Matthew Rednall presented an update to Auckland City Council’s transport committee.

He says earlier this year the council signed a memorandum of understanding to progress investigations for the link.

“Parts of it are very steep, there is a 70-metre height difference between Mt Eden and Britomart.”

He says the gradient would flatten out at points to accommodate underground stations, which would be on 200-metre-long platforms with access points to the surface.

“We are working on what land is required.”

Mr Rednall says stations would be about 700 metres apart, with possible locations at Aotea Square, Karangahape Rd and Newton.

“They are three distinct areas that connect the city,” he says.

“The catchment would provide coverage for the whole of the CBD.”

The New Zealand Herald has reproduced an article by super city mayoral hopeful John Banks on transport in Auckland, essentially rebuking former North Shore Mayor George Wood’s suggestion that rail may not be the way forward:

Quite simply, New Zealand needs Auckland to work, and for that to happen, it needs to work efficiently. Auckland cannot rely on roads and motorways alone to meet the region’s future transport needs, as the city’s roading network is already nearing the practical limits of expansion.

While this is vision of a CBD loop is great to hear, the question remains whether Banks (or any of the other candidates for that matter) is willing and able to deliver on it.

The New Zealand Herald reports Transport Minister Steven Joyce is “worried” that the Super City mayoral contenders – John Banks and Len Brown – are too ambitious for further investment in rail beyond the $1 billion electrification project:

Transport Minister Steven Joyce is trying to dampen early hopes for airport trains and for a central Auckland rail tunnel as officials continue to grapple with how to pay for electrification.