NZTA board due to decide whether to fund Hamilton-Auckland passenger rail service

Friday, 14 December 2018

In 2018, the Transport Agency gave the green-light to a commuter train service between Hamilton and Auckland.

The Transport Agency's board will decide on Friday whether it will help fund a Hamilton-Auckland passenger rail service.

The Waikato Regional, Hamilton City and Waikato District councils have all endorsed the project, but it is reliant on NZTA funding $66.8 million for it to go ahead.

The total project cost is estimated at $76.27m over six years with local government contributing $9.46m.

Of this, $49.46 million will be used to upgrade the Huntly station, to construct a rail station at Te Rapa and to purchase and modify the carriages.

* Waikato Regional Council reveals fare costs for passenger rail service**

The operating costs were within the regional council's Long Term Plan budget while 100 per cent of the capital costs are to be funded by NZTA.

The Hamilton-Auckland passenger rail service project's fate is likely to be decided by the NZTA board today.

If funding is declined, the project would likely be dropped, Waikato Regional councillor Hugh Vercoe said in November.

If funding is granted, it is expected to be up and running by March 2020. Commuters can expect to pay $12.20 one way to travel 88 minutes from Hamilton to Papakura. Carriages will have wi-fi, a cafeteria, USB power points, toilets and bike racks.

The service will have the capacity to carry 150-200 passengers per journey, subject to the number of carriages used.

It's projected passenger demand will be 20,600 annually for the first year increasing to 103,000 by the third year.

From Papakura, commuters would then need to buy a ticket to travel on the Auckland rail network if they wish to travel on to Britomart.

The service will be contracted to Auckland Transport while ownership of the locomotives pulling the carriages will stay with KiwiRail.

Once the service is running, the Waikato Regional Council wants to explore pushing the service further into Auckland, including the airport.

There would then be a push to swap the diesel engines for electric-run locomotives.