Coronavirus: Start date for Hamilton to Auckland passenger train delayed

Saturday, 4 April 2020

Coronavirus has forced a delay to the highly anticipated passenger train between Hamilton and Auckland, which was due to start in August.

The service, named Te Huia, was set to take its first journey to the big smoke on Monday, August 3.

But with the country currently in lockdown, progress cannot continue at a key stop, Waikato Regional Council transport committee chair Hugh Vercoe said.

The decision was 'inevitable'.

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'We knew it could not get started as soon as we had hoped for.'

Construction of the Rotokauri Transport Hub has been shut down in alert level 4, so everything has had to be delayed, Vercoe said.

Vercoe did not know when the new start date was, that depended on when the country moved out of lockdown and could travel, he said.

'We would be looking to start the service as soon as we possibly can.

'Of course it's disappointing, we were really looking forward to the start date, KiwiRail was on target too.'

People might not be rushing to take public transport for a while after emerging from lockdown, Vercoe said.

There would be work done assuring people when it was safe to do so, he said. 

Vercoe said he was confident the delay was not going to increase costs above the current $92.37 million for the train.

That cost has been signed off, he said.

The $92.37 million is made up of $79.80 million from NZTA and $12.57 million from Waikato councils.

Once up and running, the train is expected to travel between Frankton in Hamilton, and Papakura, in 80 minutes.

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