Te reo hits the rail: NZ's first bilingual commuter train service launches in Auckland

Monday, 25 June 2018

Earlier this year, the first Auckland train service to have te reo Māori announcements left Britomart Station and ran to Onehunga.

New Zealand's first bilingual commuter train service has been launched, offering announcements in both English and te reo Māori.

The first train with te reo announcements launched Monday afternoon, and all Auckland rail commuters could expect to hear the pre-recorded announcements from Tuesday morning.

A small crowd of about a dozen passengers travelling on the Onehunga Line after 3pm on Monday heard the first announcement, which warned passengers the express train would not be stopping in Greenlane or Remuera.

'Kaare tēnei tereina e tu ki Greenlane me Remuera,' the pre-recorded announcement said.

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Independent Māori Statutory Board deputy chairman Glenn Wilcox said the move had been several years in the making.

'The reo is not just for Māori, the reo is for New Zealand,' he said.

'You won't go to any other city in the world and hear the reo, but you will in Auckland.'

Auckland Transport chief executive Shane Ellison said the organisation originally encountered software issues putting te reo announcements on the trains.

Tāmaki Makaurau MP Heeni Penare said the move would expose '20 million ears' to the Māori language.

'As a native Māori speaker to know that my language will be heard in the community at large is a bloody awesome thing.'

Auckland Transport spokesman James Ireland said the move would give Auckland the first regular commuter train service with bilingual announcements.

Sue Allison, a passenger on board the first train to use the announcements, said she supported the move in principle, but did not believe it went far enough.

'I'm very happy to hear te reo used. What I'd really like to see is a screen that was showing the words,' she said.

Allison said audio-only te reo announcements were not accessible to the hearing-impaired and it would be more difficult for people to pick up Māori if words weren't also displayed on the train's electronic displays.

She also highlighted a gap in announcements along the route, with some announcements only being made in English with no Māori translation.

Ireland said full announcements in te reo would follow some time later, but the task was complicated because some station names did not directly translate into Māori.

Announcements in Māori would be limited to safety messages and an announcement of the different lines a particular train was on.

Auckland Transport (AT) chief executive Shane Ellison, who was appointed to the role in December, said there had been a six-month delay between the decision to put te reo on trains and its implemendation.

The organisation had encountered issues 'interfacing' with the train's Spanish manufacturer, he said.