Auckland CBD Rail Link Study

At ARC's Transport and Urban Development Ctte meeting today (10th February 2010) we had a presentation about the Phase 1 Summary Report, as conducted by KiwiRail, APB&B and ARTA (in association with Auckland City Council and Auckland Regional Council).

The final objective of the work is to enable the preparation of material needed to lodge a Notice of Requirement by the end of 2010. Since December the satudy group has identified and evaluated potential routes for the link and potential station locations and has identified a shortlist of options for more detailed evaluation.

I have pasted a couple of pictures of a map from the report in here to give you an idea of the main short-listed routes and stations:



What particularly interested me was the recommendation there should be 3 stations (not 2) between Britomart and Mt Eden. Also the assessment of land use support the project can bring. Officers informed the ctte that a lot more work was needed. This would include detailed assessment of land use benefits, and also assessment of rationalisation of bus services (where commuters can switch from bus to rail to make the final trip into the CBD for example - like in Perth).

I have not really done justice to the report here. Just a tip off.

You can download the report yourself at:
http://www.arc.govt.nz/albany/fms/main/Documents/Council/Agendas%20and%20minutes/Transport%20and%20Urban%20Development%20Committee/Web%20version%20-%2010%20Feb%2010%20-%20Agenda%20(part%202).pdf

Auckland CBD Rail Loop and Tunnel Planning

There was an NZ Herald report this week of a political debate that occurred at ARC over the location of railway stations along the proposed Britomart rail tunnel line. You can read that report at: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10604205

I am aware that some rail transport enthusiasts and supporters are questionning the appropriateness of the views that I am advancing in this discussion. Some are saying: "Cayford should keep quiet, the Britomart Tunnel is all that will be funded. If he asks for too much nothing will even happen...." sort of thing.

Fair enough. That's a point of view.

My comeback on that goes like this:

1) Auckland's state highway network - love it or hate it - was planned more or less completely in the 1960's and 1970's. Yet it is only today that the last sections of it are being built. That network was planned to accommodate development and expansion of Auckland, both in terms of land use, population and economic development over a long period of time. As money became available, the top priority sections of that network were built.

2) Auckland's current railway network is pretty much as it was designed almost a hundred years ago. A few new bits have been planned. The Manukau Spur is an example. The Airport Rail link is currently being planned. And a designation to protect the proposed Britomart Rail tunnel section - which was conceived in the 1920's - is to be planned in detail and protected in work that is happening now.

3) But it is piecemeal compared to the planning that is needed if Auckland is going to back itself over the next 30 - 50 years with an electrified rail system, and commit to it.

4) Perth decided to go down the rail route, and decided also to get major bus services out of its CBD. There are still inner CBD bus services, but the line haul bus services now don't go into the centre of Perth. Instead commuters transfer to high capacity electric rail services to get into the CBD. You can see how pleasant Auckland CBD would be without buses during the recent strike. But that can only happen if rail services are commensurate, and planned.

5) Auckland talks about 5 minutes services, but only delivers 12 minute services. Even with electrification the service frequency discussed is still inadequate. How can Auckland get to the 15,000/hour capacity enjoyed by line haul Perth rail services? Do the maths: Assume Auckland has 6 car trains, with each car carrying 100 people. That's 600/train. How many do you need/hour to move 15,000? It's one train every 2.4 minutes.....

6) I won't go on in this blog, but the guts of my argument is that Auckland CBD needs a network of rail services. Not just a single line around the edge. This network needs stations at major destinations including Aotea Square, University/AUT, Hospital/Domain. Otherwise we will just continue being a little - little city, with hundreds of diesel buses cluttering up the streets.

This network won't be built in a day, just as Auckland's state highway network wasn't. But it was planned for the long term. I believe that the strategic planning to support the Britomart Tunnel designation should include preliminary work on the CBD rail network. We may build the Britomart Tunnel and link first, but let's have a better idea about how it will connect with other parts of the rail network.

Good to see John Banks supporting CBD rail extensions...

The Hon Stephen Joyce should be feeling well and truly in a corner over Auckland rail now. Hopefully he will see sense and make some appropriate announcements very shortly. Can't imagine that the Government would like the SuperCity election campaign next year to turn into one where every candidate campaigns against central government transport priorities!

I know there's a lot of enthusiasm for the Britomart Loop - because it will get rid of the bottle-neck and all that - but there are some major planning issues around CBD rail that should be in the public domain.

Today, Britomart is the only railway station in the Auckland CBD. Its configuration constrains the Auckland rail network’s passenger carrying capacity. The Britomart Rail Tunnel project could release this constraint, and add one, two or three more stations, depending on which historical plan is considered. These plans were all prepared before the Auckland region decided to accept a Northern Rail connection to the North Shore through a harbour tunnel, as its preferred alignment and mode for the second harbour crossing.

The strategic planning issues this project poses are many and varied:

• A key objective for Ontrack is to increase rail freight, which in Auckland shares the network with commuter rail services. The implications of this conflict needs to be understood, and options for managing it considered to avoid rail freight services inhibiting the development of high capacity and high frequency passenger transport rail services.

• While the Britomart Rail Tunnel project has been around in some shape or form for almost 85 years, limited strategic planning for Auckland CBD Rail has been carried out recently that takes account of the provisions contained in Plan Change 6 to Auckland’s Regional Policy Statement, let alone a possible rail connection to the North Shore. ARTA (Auckland Regional Transport Authority), which now has the responsibility for planning Auckland’s passenger transport service network, has not conducted the necessary comprehensive strategic planning to support a NOR for the Britomart Rail Tunnel project.

• Auckland City Council will need to be involved in the planning for the size, location and functionality of railway stations within the CBD area, as well as bus/rail interchanges that might be required on the CBD periphery. ARTA, ARC and ACC will need to coordinate and sequence land use changes, the staging of transport infrastructure construction, and the roll out of new rail services – in order to optimise integration outcomes. There is a need to properly coordinate these planning processes in accordance with RLTS provisions, which suggest a duty to establish an appropriate “CBD Rail Steering Group” including ACC, ARC, ARTA and Ontrack.

• The Auckland CBD has changed immeasurably since the Britomart Tunnel was first conceived almots 100 years ago. Other major destinations have emerged: Hospital, Domain, University. If the goal is to reduce the need to take a bus into the CBD - because there is good rail - then these other destinations need to be served by an underground CBD rail network, of which Britomart Tunnel is one corridor. ARTA are engaging with this planning. It needs to be public.

These questions need to be addressed thoroughly in an Integrated Transport Assessment process in accordance with RPS provisions, culminating in the development of a publicly agreed long term Auckland CBD rail network plan, before Ontrack can legitimately proceed to issue a Notice of Requirement for the Britomart Rail Tunnel project.

Auckland's Britomart Rail Tunnel Project - Ontrack Designation Process

One benefit of not being a chair this term of ARC is that I have had time between ARC meetings and workshops to take Masters in Planning Practice papers part-time at Auckland University. One paper I took in 2008 was Masters Infrastructure Planning. Its main assignment related to the strategic planning needed to support a Notice of Requirement (NOR) for the proposed Britomart Rail Tunnel project. The form of the assignment was a report to Ontrack.

Below I have pasted the Executive Summary of that assignment. If you are interested, I can send you the whole thing, plus appendicees. Remember - it is an assignment - but I wrote it as if it was objective and informed advice for Ontrack.

My key findings are set out in this Exec Summary.

Having done the research and analytical work needed for this assignment, I felt it would be useful to share my findings and recommendations with ARTA, and so provided a copy to a couple of ARTA Board Directors who tabled it at an ARTA Board meeting in October. At the time I wasn’t sure which organization (Ontrack or ARTA or both) would be carrying out the necessary NOR planning work.

I understand that at that meeting, the ARTA Board resolved to carry out a region wide network planning assessment. I also learned that Ontrack was to lead the NOR work, but in partnership with ARTA. I also provided a copy of the assignment to Ontrack staff who were working on Request for Tender (RFT) documentation in respect to the preparation of NOR documentation for the Britomart Rail Tunnel. You will recall that the previous Govt instructed Ontrack to protect that corridor – after the Downtown Westfield resource consent issue.

Just before Christmas Ontrack issued its RFT (request for tender) documentation. The due date for tenders is 5th Feb, $5 million has been set aside for the work, Ontrack is intending to lodge the completed NOR documentation with Auckland City Council within 12 months.....


Executive Summary - Joel Cayford's Ontrack report

Ontrack has been instructed by Government to protect and designate a preferred route for the Britomart Rail Tunnel in order to provide future passenger transport services. This report is a high level strategic analysis of work needed to support the related Notice of Requirement.
Electrification and expansion of Auckland’s suburban commuter rail network is now strongly supported at national, regional and local levels, both politically and in the transport and land use strategies set out in key planning documents.

Today, Britomart is the only railway station in the Auckland CBD. Its configuration constrains the Auckland rail network’s passenger carrying capacity. The Britomart Rail Tunnel project could release this constraint, and add one, two or three more stations, depending on which historical plan is considered. These plans were all prepared before the Auckland region decided to accept a Northern Rail connection to the North Shore through a harbour tunnel, as its preferred alignment and mode for the second harbour crossing.

The strategic planning issues this project poses are many and varied:

• A key objective for Ontrack is to increase rail freight, which in Auckland shares the network with commuter rail services. The implications of this conflict needs to be understood, and options for managing it considered to avoid rail freight services inhibiting the development of high capacity and high frequency passenger transport rail services.
• While the Britomart Rail Tunnel project has been around in some shape or form for almost 85 years, limited strategic planning for Auckland CBD Rail has been carried out recently that takes account of the provisions contained in Plan Change 6 to Auckland’s Regional Policy Statement, let alone a possible rail connection to the North Shore. ARTA (Auckland Regional Transport Authority), which now has the responsibility for planning Auckland’s passenger transport service network, has not conducted the necessary comprehensive strategic planning to support a NOR for the Britomart Rail Tunnel project.
• Auckland City Council will need to be involved in the planning for the size, location and functionality of railway stations within the CBD area, as well as bus/rail interchanges that might be required on the CBD periphery. ARTA, ARC and ACC will need to coordinate and sequence land use changes, the staging of transport infrastructure construction, and the roll out of new rail services – in order to optimise integration outcomes. There is a need to properly coordinate these planning processes in accordance with RLTS provisions, which suggest a duty to establish an appropriate "CBD Rail Steering Group" including ACC, ARC, ARTA and Ontrack.

This report explores these key issues, and asks several strategic questions, all of which need to be addressed thoroughly in an Integrated Transport Assessment process in accordance with RPS provisions, culminating in the development of a publicly agreed long term Auckland CBD rail network plan, before Ontrack can legitimately proceed to issue a Notice of Requirement for the Britomart Rail Tunnel project.

Ends

I can provide copies of the RFT, if you are interested. The NZ Herald ran a story about this which you can read at:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10551410