Extending Grater Auckland

If you live in Auckland, You might have noticed that there are a lot of apartments coming up around the suburbs.This is mostly because of the unitary plan. Auckland council a basically making more apartments (not houses) because they are trying to lower the cost of houses. And I think it's working very well.

But it's not just happening in local areas. The unitary plan also says that they are also building new suburbs in rural areas. So in 30 years, places like Dairy flat,Pokeno and even Kumeu will be all urbanised and will be capable of holding the young generation of Auckland.Altogether, Around 4500 houses are being created.

Obviously if these plans do go ahead (which they are most likely too) they will need good transport links. For example, I think a smart option for Northwest Auckland would be too reclaim the track between Swanson and Waimuku. But currently,Auckland Transport are investigating that.For the north of Auckland, one thing that is happening is Ara tuhuno, The extension of the northern motorway. to Wellsford. This is definitely happening because it is one of New Zealand's road of national significance. So that is very good.

History of the Onehunga Line

The Onehunga line is the shortest railway line in Auckland with only six railway stations.The Railway Starts at Britomart and ends at Onehunga Town centre.It also is the only Rail line that has a single track railway bit.

The onehunga Line was technically opened in 1873 but it was only used for freight services to the port.It was opened for public transport use in 2010 though.The railway back then was used for freight services because it was a good way to connect inner city freight to the ports in Onehunga. The Onehunga line was then closed in 2006 because of less demand for freight services to Onehunga. It was soon Reopened in 2010 and was brought by Maxx(Auckland Transport) And is now known as the Onehunga line starting from Britomart An ending in Onehunga.

The Onehunga lounge may be the newest line in Auckland but it would be one of the best investments Auckland Transport has made. Onehunga station is always full of people meaning there is obviously lots of demand. I think the future of the Onehunga line is pretty clear: When demand reaches capacity, make the line double tracked and maybe, just maybe in the very long future, we could extend it down to Auckland Airport.

The Crater

The other day, The New Zealand Herald released an article about this man who created a new design for a stadium on the port.The design is called "The Crater" and to be honest i think it is and extremely unique and great design.

This is a very unique design because instead of any other stadium that just goes up, This stadium is underground. This would be a very unique thing for Auckland and I think it could easily be something that makes us worth knowing about.Its also much cheaper then an original stadium because the government wouldn't have to pay for any outside walls.But the main problem I'm seeing is that if it rained,(Which seems to be happening a lot) it could cause a lot of problems underground.But other then that, I think it should definitely go ahead.

Phil Goff is really liking the idea (mostly because it's cheap) so I would say that if this did go to plan, then i would see this happening in about 10 years. It would be so good to have to have a waterfront stadium on our waterfront.It would get rid of massive disgusting chunk off the port to build something that we Aucklander's could be proud of.

History of the Eastern Line

This is a new Blog series where I will talk about the History of all the railways lines in Auckland starting with the Eastern Line.The Eastern line was built in 1930 and it was the newest piece of rail infrastructure in Auckland ever since the opening of the  Manukau railway spur.It goes through 11 stations and it is all completely double tracked.

The Eastern line was originally proposed in 1870.The reason they built it was mostly because of the Southern line. The Newmarket line(Also known as the southern Line) was the only railway at that time that left Auckland central. .Now at this time in 1870,Railways were extremely popular in New Zealand. everyone wanted to catch the train. but on this double track

line railway between Auckland and pukekohe, This obviously meant that traffic was starting to pop up and delays were happening frequently.

 The solution was simple. to create a bypass railway passing Newmarket and the busy rail traffic altogether. this would obviously be the eastern line.this was a perfect option because it would help ease congestion on the Newmarket line and it would also bring growth to places like Panmure and Meadowbank. the eastern line used to go all the way to Papakura but in early 2012,The Manukau extension was open finally connecting one of Auckland's biggest Metropolitan area's to the CBD.

The eastern has had loads of redevelopments over the years including the Panmure station upgrade and the electrification of its railways. But I must say.I think it has had a very good past, and I am excited to see what the future holds for it.

Light rail to Auckland Airport

Last week, Auckland Transport an the NZTA announced that they where finally going to put a light railway to Auckland Airport. I disagree with the idea of putting light rail to the airport because we have to start all the way from scratch, while with heavy rail, we can just continue it on from there.

The Light rail network will be going through Queen Street in central Auckland(And hopefully they could finally make it pedestrian)and onto Dominion Road. There has been some discussion on where the stations would be but I think the best options will be at Valley Road, Balmoral, Mount Roskill and Hillsborough. It would then properly connect to Onehunga Train Station and continue down to the Airport going through Mangere. Here is a video showing more about where it could possibly go.

I disagree with this only because how the government is starting from scratch on this and it will properly take more time to construct. With heavy rail, it will take shorter amounts of time, it will be faster and also it is very convenient. The only big problem with putting heavy rail towards the airport is that it will cost a lot more money.But one thing the government don't really understand is that to make money, you need to spend money.

Review Post: Newmarket

Newmarket is one of the best places in Auckland for shopping and it is only 7 minutes away from Auckland City. It would definitely be known as Auckland-s second CBD. Newmarket is just below Parnell, and just above Epsom.

Newmarket's Train Station has been updated very recently and it might be one of my favourite train station's in Auckland. With its modern design and architecture, It would properly be one of my favourite stations.The old train station had only 2 platforms and was only an island platform so this station has been really improved really well. Newmarket's main street is Broadway and is one of the most incredible streets in all of Auckland due to all the people and beauty it holds.I would say it is the Times Square of New Zealand.

Building in Auckland

Auckland's skyline will be much different in the next couple of years. this is thanks to big infrastructure projects like the City Rail Link and the Nelson ST Cycle way. So in this post today, I will just explain some of those buildings.

1 Mills Lane

1 Mills Lane is the Name of a Hotel/Retail building in Auckland. It should be about 30 storeys high making it 190m high.The closest train station would be Britomart station.It is currently still in investigation but construction will most properly happen soon.

NDG Auckland Centre

The NDG Tower will be the Second tallest building in Auckland once completed.It is mixed Commercial/Retail/Hotel and also a Cinema.Another name for it is the Elliot tower and it will be 209m high.The nearest train Station would be Aotea station when it is completed and Construction is going to start in late 2017.

Downtown Tower

The Downtown tower is the final building I will talk about today.It will be a mix of Retail and commercial and it is also known as commercial bay.It will be 167m high making it the 3rd tallest building in Auckland after the NDG Auckland Centre.The closest train station would be Britomart and construction has already started. completion is October 2019