Rail electrification

The Auckland Regional Council's transport arm, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA), in December 2008 made an international call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the supply and maintenance of a fleet of 140 electric train cars.

Modernising the suburban rail system is part of Auckland's wider programme of public transport improvements, including:

• 10-minute train frequencies in peak hours
• new and upgraded rail stations
• opening the Onehunga branch and Manukau spur lines
• strengthened bus and ferry networks
• integrated ticketing across trains, buses and ferries
• real time passenger information.

The current plan is to electrify the region's rail system between the CBD and Papakura in the south, and to Swanson in the west.

While the ARC would like to see electrification extend southward as far as Pukekohe in the Franklin District (as a first step towards linking with the main trunk line), that proposal has yet to win wider support.

Electrification is a joint $1 billion project between central and local government.

The Auckland Regional Council funds the purchase of electric trains, while ONTRACK (New Zealand Railways Corporation) is responsible for the required works within the rail corridor, including the overhead wiring and track and signalling upgrades.

Preliminary work has already begun to allow for electrification of the system by 2013 but, it may be possible to have some electric trains running in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

Background

For 100 years, coping with Auckland's growth has been a relentless headache. By the 1940s the major arterial roads - the Great North and Great South Roads - were unable to cope with the traffic volumes. Back then, the advice was that the burgeoning metropolis was likely to reach a maximum population of 600,000 people.

Today, the Auckland region has 1.3 million people. In another 20 years, close to 40 per cent of New Zealanders will be living in Auckland, and by 2050 Auckland is likely to be home to 2.3 million people.

For the past 50 years, each generation of Aucklanders has wavered on the brink of electrifying the region's rail system. Debate about the need for a rapid transit system raged in the 1950s, 1960s and the 1970s, before the rail network began to suffer from long-term neglect and the number of train passengers dwindled to the point that the viability of commuter trains was questioned altogether.

In the past five years, as road congestion has really started to bite, Aucklanders have started to take to their trains. Passengers numbers have risen from 2.5 million five years ago to about 7 million per year. And, once again, Auckland quickly came back to the brink in the great electrification debate.

The ARC believes the time to electrify is now, because the region's transport system must be able to cope.

Why electrify the system now?

Auckland's aging diesel train fleet must be replaced. The Auckland Regional Transport Authority has established that electric trains will be cheaper to run long-term. Around the world, cities with high-frequency metropolitan passenger rail services use electric trains. Electric trains are quieter, faster between stations and more environmentally-friendly.

• The region must take decisive action to combat road congestion. The current transport system relies disproportionately on private cars, while rail corridors are significantly under-utilised. Road congestion is not only inconvenient, it constrains the economy by slowing business traffic and freight. Auckland's expected population growth means another 195,000 vehicles could be on the region's roads within a decade. The country is also spending a lot of money completing Auckland's motorway network. To cope with growth and to maximise the benefits of those new roads, public transport must perform better and carry more people.
• Aucklanders are already getting behind rail, and the region needs a rail system that allows this trend to continue. Rail is extremely efficient at moving people. By 2030, 30,000 commuters could be travelling by rail to the CBD and across the region in the morning peak. Moving the same number of people by car would require around 120 kilometres of extra arterial road and motorway lanes costing at least $3.5 billion.
• Good-quality public transport creates agglomeration benefits including more jobs and greater development in the CBD. And when public transport is visibly "permanent" it facilitates urban renewal. This phenomenon is highly visible along Sydney and Melbourne rail corridors and is beginning to occur in Brisbane.

The quantified economic benefits generated by the Rail Upgrade accrue from four main sources (as required by the Land Transport NZ Project Evaluation Manual):

Benefits to road users:
Travel time and congestion costs savings to road users from fewer people using their cars especially in the peak periods.

Benefits to passenger transport users:
Savings in travel time, improved reliability, improved vehicle quality, benefits to new passengers to rail, increased rail revenue.

Indirect transport benefits:
Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, reduced accidents, improved local air quality, reduced noise pollution, reduced urban sprawl and the "hidden" cost of motoring such as land used for roads and parking, severance and social costs of energy use.

Agglomeration benefits:
Benefits from intensification of economic activity in the Auckland CBD including deeper, more efficient labour markets, better links between suppliers and markets, and increased opportunities for knowledge sharing.

Source: ARTA's Rail Development Plan

Funding

The Land Transport Management Amendment Act enacted by Parliament in August 2008 included provisions for:

• All fuel taxes to be spent on transport, rather than becoming general government funds
• Regional fuel levies for fast-tracking transport capital projects

The Auckland region was the first in New Zealand to successfully apply for a regional fuel levy (In October 2008). The levy starts at two cents per litre on 1 July 2009 (progressively rising to 9.5 cents in 2010). Half of the levy goes towards the ARC's public transport projects.

By accessing this extra funding, the ARC Group (Council, ARTA and investment arm Auckland Regional Holdings) aimed to fully align its financial resources in support of the Regional Land Transport Strategy as determined by the region as a whole in 2005.

The ARC's 10-year financial plan adopted in November 2008 provided for an electrification investment of $496 million, including electric trains, and stabling and maintenance facilities.

While electric trains are the largest single item, there are many bus, ferry and rail improvements in the planning or construction phases. To find out more, you can read the Long Term Community Council Plan 2006-16 and ARTA's Passenger Transport Network Plan. Watch for updates in the news section of the ARC and ARTA websites.