Commuter rail: pie in the sky, or worth yet another look?

Tuesday, 3 June 2025

Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey has described talk of pursuing another investigation into developing a commuter rail link between Rolleston and Rangiora as “pie in the sky”.

Mike Yardley is a Christchurch-based writer and commentator on current affairs, and a regular opinion contributor.

OPINION: The prospect of securing commuter rail for greater Christchurch is like a mirage that bobs on the horizon. Despite repeated exposure, it has proven to be stubbornly elusive.

But will the hopes and dreams of making this transport mode a rush-hour reality remain just an illusion? Environment Canterbury has unanimously voted to engage with KiwiRail about conducting a detailed business case into establishing commuter rail between Rangiora and Rolleston.

Cue Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey who has scoffed at the latest endeavour as “pie in the sky”. Doocey tells me the penny dropped when he first heard what ECan was up to. “It must be election year!”

Is this just performative? An election gimmick? Commuter rail has certainly been dangled as voter bait on multiple occasions - most blatantly by Labour as a 2017 election commitment. Doocey argues that “commuter rail on the existing main trunk line has been proven to be unworkable. Add to that, a lack of demand and economically it doesn’t stack up.”

Christchurch’s Northern Motorway, the main access route to the city for commuters travelling from the Waimakariri district.

What about the Waimakariri mayor’s stance? Dan Gordon tells me “the immediate focus for public transport should be on improvements to the existing bus network, to support turn up and go services, and preserving key transport corridors for future public transport needs. But we should always keep the door open to other options if they’re available.” (Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton wasn’t available for comment due to sickness.)

Cast back over the past decade and a freight train of reports and business cases have sliced and diced its feasibility. At face value, passenger rail on our existing rail corridor strikes me as a nice idea. But as much I enjoy train travel and nice ideas, operating a commuter service on Canterbury’s main trunk line faces formidable impediments.

Unlike greater Wellington’s comprehensive double-tracked network, servicing the likes of Porirua, Waikanae, Upper Hutt and Petone, we are saddled with a single-track corridor. Nor do we have a centrally-located terminus.

The last indicative business case for the Greater Christchurch Partnership on Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) in 2023 clearly considered these realities as deal-breakers.

The report even contemplated building a railway tunnel under Hagley Park, or open trench, to link Addington with the city centre.

But despite the $10 billion price-tag dangled in that indicative MRT business case, ECan is boxing on.

Cr Joe Davies is ECan’s lead on public transport. “If KiwiRail say the project is feasible, we will get a paper on the new council’s table by the end of the year.”

Bigger buses on the city’s high-demand routes, like Christchurch-Rolleston, should be the immediate focus for the transport planners, argues Mike Yardley

Davies says there is already $525,000 allocated in ECan’s long term plan that could be deployed to the detailed business case. I have read through ECan’s development case for heavy rail transit. They envisage nine services operating during the morning and evening peak, with peak capacity targets of over 2000 passengers an hour, per direction, with some form of connection between Addington and the city centre.

Davies argues that with “strategic passing loops and coordinated timetabling, we could enable reasonable commuter frequency for a fraction of the cost of double tracking”.

The development case estimates the capital costs at $200 million-$400m, with annual operating costs of $50m-$100m. In addition to Crown and ratepayer contributions, plus fare revenue, Davies floated with me his desire for a regional fuel tax to help bankroll this scheme. That will be a tough sell.

He also envisages extending passenger rail to Ashburton and Amberley. As a point of comparison, the Te Huia rail service between the Waikato and Auckland is currently propped up by an operating subsidy of $80 per passenger. And there’s no guarantee the service will continue beyond April next year.

Then there’s the issue of a targeted rate. Recently, the proposal for a bus service between Darfield and Rolleston attracted overwhelming community backlash, given it would require a targeted rate of $140-178, annually.

I’m struggling to see how ECan’s push for commuter rail will ultimately pass the pub test - but let’s see.

Frankly, I’d rather see ECan focus on the here and now, by actively upgrading our existing public transport network with greater efficiencies, like deploying double-decker express buses to high-demand commuter routes, particularly Rolleston and Rangiora.

Tangible, viable, incremental enhancements beat flights of fancy, every time.