History of the Southern Line

The Southern Line is the most important and influential railway line in the whole rail network in Auckland. It stretches from Britomart all the way down to Papakura in the south. The line also extends further down to Pukekohe but the line between Papakura and Pukekohe is not currently electrified meaning that when arriving at Papakura, you have to get off a train and swap to an old diesel train used before Auckland's rail line was electrified. This is often considered the Pukekohe connection but it is also technically part of the southern line if asked to Auckland Transport

The southern line is one of the oldest lines to exist in Auckland. It was originally a single tracked railway and it was the main entrance into Auckland when it was built in 1909. The line was at the time the only railway entrance into Auckland from the south between 1909 and 1930. After these years, the Westfield diversion was opened. This is more commonly known today as the Eastern Line in the rail network. This then ceased operations between the Auckland Railway Station (Strand) and Westfield via Newmarket to become part of the North Island Main Trunk Railway. which ran from Wellington To Whangarei via Westfield and Newmarket. This meant the use of the track between Newmarket and Auckland Railway Station was abandoned until the Auckland suburban rail network was put in place. And this created what we know as the Southern line today.

There have been not many extensions or changes to the Southern line in recent years. Thars because unlike the rest of the current network, The southern line was always there as the main entrance into Auckland. the only major extension or upgrade in recent years was the opening of Britomart station in Downtown Auckland. But that affected all the rail lines just as much as the southern.

 The southern line I believe has been very important to Auckland's rail network. connecting people who live a solid 30kms away from Auckland's CBD, and transporting them and connecting them to every single corner of the Auckland. The southern line has always and will continue to play a big role in Auckland's rail network.

This is the last episode of the 4 part series on The history of Auckland's Suburban rail network

Waikato Expressway: Hamilton to Tauranga

As I hope most people know, If you are going on State Highway 1 from Auckland to Hamilton, You may notice that there is a lot of construction work going on between these two hubs.This is because State Highway 1 between Auckland and Hamilton has been classified as a Road of national significance (RONS). This means that hopefully by 2020, The road between Auckland and Hamilton would be all two lanes between both cities.This would mean that Auckland and Hamilton would be the first two major cities in New Zealand to be connected by a full on Expressway.

This is because all the Auckland, Waikato and Bay Of Plenty regions carry 56% of New Zealand's freight travels and movements. Which is an extremely big number.So that got me thinking, what if they extended the waikato expressway to Tauranga?

This would be very good for freight movements in Tauranga because Tauranga has been regarded to have one of the biggest ports in New Zealand (But of course, Auckland's still the biggest) and it would be much easier, faster and safer to have a smoother road to help transport these goods. i think the best option would only go from Hamilton to Tauranga. So there would be no Auckland to Tauranga Expressway.As this would be the much more costly and would take much longer to complete.Below is my idea of where the route could possibly go

I have split the expressway into 5 sections. And you may be able to see an exit at Piarere towards Tirau. For me this made sense because it had the opportunity to split lots of time off from the current State Highway 1 which currently takes a pointless undercut.I have also said that it would be more economical to upgrade Takitimu Road to be 2 lanes each way other then 1 lane each way. This would be good for in future where we don't have to pay more to do something as small as this. And it would be able to give enough space for Freight movers to drive and get to there destination more frequently. The hardest section would probably be the Kaimai Mamaku Section. this is because the terrain here is very steep which could mean that there has to be constant viaducts and maybe even tunnels. Which will not only be expensive but can be very difficult to build.

With this all explained i think that this would be very efficient and it would be great to see even if the government considers doing this. But in total, I think that with this expressway in action. It could potentially take up almost 20 minutes off the trip from Hamilton to Tauranga. which considering its current time of an hour and a half. Thats a good amount of time saved.

This is not a proposed option by the NZTA or the New Zealand Government. I made this just to show people what it could look like with an expressway in place. But don't take this post to believe that this is actually happening.This is just a proposal by me.

The Future of Auckland's port

Recently, the government and the Auckland council have released a plan too get rid of the Ports of Auckland. This could have some huge benefits for us Aucklanders, But with a big cost

As you can see above, the port takes up a huge amount of space. So imagine all this area being free for all of us Aucklanders to use. most of this land will most likely be used as apartments and residential areas.Which is desperately what Auckland needs. more houses to to fulfill our increasing population.And it could not be in a better spot. But plans not only include residential facilities. Plans could also include a couple of brand new inner city beaches,boardwalks, canals and tonnes of recreational space. This would be great because it could be another reason to get people out to enjoy the City.

The plans not only include the reconstruction of the port, They also include the construction of a brand new stadium to potentially replace Eden Park as New Zealand's national stadium. This is would be incredible if this those happen, but it would be in such a tricky location.This is because the Stadium would end up going on top of the railway junction into Britomart which could potentially mean the Railway tracks would have to go underground. which could be very interesting

As exciting as this all sounds. This is just a proposed idea of what could possibly happen when the Ports 30 year budget and plan ends. As when this ends, the port will have to end up moving up to Whangarei. But lets hope this happens soon because I would like my waterfront again.

Albert Park Tunnels

The Albert Park Tunnels are currently a group of old war time bunkers under Auckland city's albert park.They were used during the second world war as bunkers and as air raid shelters.The Main tunnel runs from the end of Victoria Street East all the way under Albert park and Auckland University,To finally open back up at Grafton Gully.Well Auckland Council have just recently had some exciting for what to do with them

Auckland Council have recently announced that they are going to reopen The main tunnel for the public's use.They want to open it just in the time for the America's cup.This couldn't be in a better location because since The tunnel is on Victoria street, it will be able to connect to the proposed Linear park which will be a prioritised walking/Bus route which goes completely along Victoria street all the way too Victoria park.This will mean we will be able to walk a completely from east Auckland CBD all the way to The western part.

What the government plan to do (over my knowledge) with the tunnels is put some rich restaurants through the entire tunnel, and make it a type of mall.They also plan to put some glow worm lights to create an effect like Waitomo caves in Otorohanga This will be really nice as since Auckland is the gateway to New Zealand, its gives another a more unique tourist attraction in the heart of the city centre.It also creates a more significantly easier access point from east Auckland and the University towards the future Aotea Train station.Which I can imagine would bring in a lot of traffic.Apparently Auckland Council says it could open in six months,If it starts construction soon that is...

History Of The Western Line

The Auckland Western line Stretches from Britomart Transport centre in The City,All the way to Swanson in West Auckland.It is also the service that stops at the most stations.with a total of 18 stations including the new Parnell station.

By the early 20th century, The railway ran between what's now known as Auckland strand,to Henderson with some mixed services extending to Hellensville.You can still see evidence that there was a service to Helensville over at the local station.But by 1980,Colin Mclaughlin who was the minister of railways at the time,decided to stop services to helensville meaning trains would stop at Waitakere station.Colin Mclaughlin was famous in New Zealand railway history because he was known for closing most of the all of New Zealands passenger railway services.Including the train from Christchurch to Dunedin.In 2015,while the electrification programme was going on in Auckland's railways,The council decided to close the service to Waitakere due to ever decreasing numbers.So today the western line only extends to Swanson.

Suprisingly,The Western wasen't double tracked until 2005.When "Project Boston" Happend.Project boston was the double tracking of the western line between Boston road station( Now known as Grafton) and Morningside station.Double tracking rapidly came to quickly to the whole western line and by 2010,The whole western line was double tracked.With a bunch of extra upgrades to stations like Mt Albert,Henderson and much more.This finnaly made trains come more frequently and more importently,give way to electrified railway

The Western line may probably be the Railway that is the most Dangerous and has had the most closures,But this railway is absolutely full of history that I could not possibly fit into this one blog post.This railway opens up all of west Auckland and brings it to the City and back again.But although it is an amazingly historical line,it still can take up to 70 minutes to get to the city from Swanson.I wonder if there is a railway being built to help fix this problem?

What will Labour do to help shape Auckland for the better?

As you may have heard over the past couple of weeks,Labour has gone into government with a coalition agreement with The green's and New Zealand First.This is a very interesting turn out as no one would expect New Zealand First to would go and work with the greens.

So what does this mean for Auckland? Will we hopefully see any new changes to New Zealand's Largest and most economical city?Well the new chosen Housing and Transport minister of Labour,Phil Twyford has said we wan't to invest more into Rail,Cycling and walking and less on road infrastructure.This also means that the east-west link in Onehunga has been put on a stand still.He also said that they are hoping to start creating rapid transit from the city to Auckland Airport.This is very exciting and important because this will mean we will finally have a direct rapid public transport link from the CBD and New Zealands biggest Airport.This will bring in much more money for All of New Zealand and not only Auckland.

It's Not only Auckland either,Labour have announced that they are also hoping to invest in Regional Rapid Rail between the surrounding regions of Waikato and Bay of Plenty.This is what Auckland Desperately needs.A frequent and good passenger rail line between Auckland,Hamilton and Tauranga.Labour explained that they are also hoping to start this next year.This will be amazing for all of New Zealand,not just these cities.Greater Auckland originally proposed this concept, and here is what the map for it.

It would be an incredible stride for Auckland and it would bring a lot of potential extensions to Cambridge,Te kuiti and we could bring back the geyserland service to Rotorua.But Labour most likely will pay for most of this with a regional fuel tax for Aucklanders.Which has a few cons and pros.I say pros because it could get people using public transport more instead of taking a car.which would very good.There are tonnes more things labour will do to Auckland to help get our city more livable,beautiful and with all these transport opportunities they have.It'll help get Auckland's blood really pum

Labour's Transport policies

As you probably have heard, Jacinda Ardern has taken over Andrew Little's place as Leader of the Labour party.And I think the change has really helped labor's popularity by quite a bit.

One thing I like About The New Labor Party compared to the National party is there Transport policies.I really find that they are perfect to the Future needs of all of Auckland.She said that there promise was to:

• Put Light Rail to the Airport
• create Light Rail besides the Northwestern motorway
• Finally do the congestion free network

Now if you don't know what the congestion free network is, it is a Rail and Bus Network created by Greater Auckland( Formerly Transport Blog) and Generation Zero.It was originally made in 2013.But they have recently updated it about 2 months ago and so it looks like this.

This will also mean that Labor will finally do rail to the North Shore. The National party's transport policies for Auckland are not that good at all.They are basically saying to put more roads. Which doesn't actually help Auckland congestion. In an earlier post,I  talked about if you make to try and stop congestion,It'll just make things worse because it will give people the idea that they have to drive.The only problem with labour's policies is that they will have to put a regional fuel tax for cars making it likely be 10 cents more expensive.But in a way that's good It could help people get out of there cars and use public transport instead.which is better for all of us.