Waikato council boss 'stunned' by comments new Te Huia train is 'worst of both worlds'

Tuesday, 13 April 2021

The Te Huia commuter train from Hamilton to Auckland launched for the first time on Tuesday April 6.

A Waikato council boss says “he’s absolutely stunned” a Waka Kotahi-NZTA board member has called the new Hamilton to Auckland train “the worst of both worlds”.

The train, also known as Te Huia, has $85.8 million of funding from the Government. Local authorities have provided $12.2 million.

Waka Kotahi director Patrick Reynolds tweeted on Monday that the train was the “worst of both worlds”.

But Waikato Regional Council chair Russ Rimmington told Stuff Reynolds’ comments were “ill-informed”.

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“I’m very surprised a board member has come out making these comments, only a week into the project, which [Waka Kotahi] was an intricate part of.”

Two journalists left the Waikato Times office in Hamilton at 5.35am, one went on the train, the other drove, who made it to Auckland first?

On Monday Reynolds tweeted: “Te Huia’s current pattern is both slow + poor coverage, worst of both worlds, is one-way effectively; no way to go AKL-HAM in a day, blows through stations it should serve.”

Reynolds said the train needs to get to Puhinui Station, and “blows through stations it should serve”.

“Very hard to see how it will attract much ridership until this is fixed.”

The tweet has since been deleted.

Rimmington said the conditions of the rail lines, which had faced decades of neglect, was not the fault of the Waikato Regional Council.

'We've produced a wonderful product that will grow from strength to strength.”

Information on Waikato Regional Council's website says it takes two and a half hours to get to Auckland.

However, he “accepted” improvements were needed to grow patronage on the 98-minute train to Papakura or two and a half hour journey to Britomart.

The council was already working on some of Reynolds suggestions, he said, including obtaining access to Puhinui Station in Auckland.

The station was receiving a significant upgrade, and it was vital Te Huia could stop there, as it would provide an easy transfer to Auckland Airport, he said.

The service shouldn’t only stop at Puhinui, it should go right through to the Strand in central Auckland, Rimmington said.

“We are also very interested in adding more off-peak services which will provide the improved coverage referred to by Mr Reynolds and to serve the communities along the route to Auckland.”

Waikato District Council had identified Te Kauwhata as another station that could be added to the journey, and had set aside funding for that in the draft long term plan.

Rimmington said recent data provided by Waka Kotahi shows the Te Huia journey time is comparable to car travel, more reliable and allows for passengers to make better use of their travel time.

“We look forward to the support of Waka Kotahi to secure these improvements and to leverage the $80 million they have already committed.”

The regional council was consulting about improvements to the service as part of the long term plan.