New Hamilton – Auckland commuter train to begin in August

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › New Hamilton – Auckland commuter train to begin in August

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

6657 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3477

Trusted

#2437062 12-Mar-2020 17:36

mudguard:

But surely there is a tipping point. How much worse does the Southern have to get before people say, I'll take the train. Especially if you had a job that you could say knock off four hours of work on the actual commute, then attend for four hours and then go home?

The Southern has improved of recent times and with more to come, though to be fair the new development near the Ararimu may negate some of the gains.

P.S I'm only talking south of Manukau as I rarely travel north of there on the SH1.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

Stu

Hammered
8743 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2409

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2437065 12-Mar-2020 17:42

Considering they're getting close(r) to starting on the Papakura-Drury section of the Southern Motorway upgrade the train might still end up faster, in the short term at least. There's still quite a bit of work to do on the upgrade. Once they've completed the work (in however many years), it might be a different story. Also depends on what they're planning on doing to accommodate the ~40,000 houses they're supposed to be building in Drury (on top of the Ararimu development). I'm not convinced the upgraded motorway will cope.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

Referral Links: Sharesies -

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? If so, please consider supporting us by subscribing.

No matter where you go, there you are.

TENKAN

314 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 34
Inactive user

#2437074 12-Mar-2020 17:52

This is definitely a useless idea, it won't work, 2 hours and 20min! and leaving hamilton at 630am, what about the people who work in manufacturing,trades, factorys?these people start anywhere from 7am to 8am, how much is the fare going to be?
If could possibly work only with high speed bullet train, double tracking and regular timetable, the cost which hardly matters, private enterprise would be involved, just like the toll bridges/ tunnels we have now.

There's always more work available in auckland compared to hamilton, so I would guess anyone in the waikato would be keen to see this happen.

Handle9

11927 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9683

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2437080 12-Mar-2020 18:05

These will be quite attractive for professionals commuting from Hamilton to the Auckland CBD. The carriages are fitted out with Wifi and tables so 2 hours 20 of being able to work or relax is significantly better than dealing with traffic and CBD parking.

Once the electrification project from Papakura to Pukekohe is complete this will further reduce the time to get there.

If it is like most other mass transport projects (electrification, Northern Busway) in Auckland it demand will significantly exceed expectations.

wellygary

8813 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5297

#2437083 12-Mar-2020 18:21

Handle9:

Once the electrification project from Papakura to Pukekohe is complete this will further reduce the time to get there.

That's not likely to make much difference as the Hamilton train needs to get closer to Auckland not further away ....

What could have a really big impact is the plan to change the terminus to Puhinui once the new station opens in 2021,

along with bus lanes from there to the Airport it will make it a really convenient trip from Hamilton to Auckland airport for less than $20

Technofreak

6657 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3477

Trusted

#2437098 12-Mar-2020 18:57

TENKAN: This is definitely a useless idea, it won't work, 2 hours and 20min! and leaving hamilton at 630am, what about the people who work in manufacturing,trades, factorys?these people start anywhere from 7am to 8am, how much is the fare going to be?
If could possibly work only with high speed bullet train, double tracking and regular timetable, the cost which hardly matters, private enterprise would be involved, just like the toll bridges/ tunnels we have now.

There's always more work available in auckland compared to hamilton, so I would guess anyone in the waikato would be keen to see this happen.

I'm sorry I cannot agree. The cost of such a network would be astronomical and the cost does matter very much. Private enterprise would run a mile as there is no way they could get their money back. The only reason they get involved in toll bridges and tunnels because they know they WILL get their money back.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

Lego

Shop now for Lego sets and other gifts (affiliate link).

Technofreak

6657 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3477

Trusted

#2437101 12-Mar-2020 19:02

wellygary:

Handle9:

Once the electrification project from Papakura to Pukekohe is complete this will further reduce the time to get there.

That's not likely to make much difference as the Hamilton train needs to get closer to Auckland not further away ....

What could have a really big impact is the plan to change the terminus to Puhinui once the new station opens in 2021,

along with bus lanes from there to the Airport it will make it a really convenient trip from Hamilton to Auckland airport for less than $20

Do you really expect it to be less than $20

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

DarthKermit

5346 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3317

Trusted

#2437110 12-Mar-2020 19:22

Just as a comparison, The Capital Connection train between Palmerston North and Wellington leaves at 6:15 am and arrives at 8:20 am. So that's 2:05. I'm not sure what the total route length is, but by road it's about 140 km. The CC currently costs $35.00 for a one way trip.

sailedpeep

83 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 39

#2437123 12-Mar-2020 19:54

This part caught my eye.

The cost of a one way smartcard fare from Hamilton to Papakura will be $12.20, with a trip into Auckland CBD costing a total of $18.60 if using an AT HOP card on AT Metro services. [...] We are developing a smartcard ticketing system in place for the service launch, with tag on, tag off functionality.

https://waikatoregion.govt.nz/services/regional-services/transport/rail/

From the phrasing, it sounds like there'll be a new smartcard just for this service. Would it not be easier if they just positioned Bee Card (launching in Waikato soon?) and AT HOP readers at the stations on the route? It doesn't seem like that hard a thing to do, e.g. AT has been able to get HOP readers onto SkyBuses.

DjShadow

4222 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1322

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2437126 12-Mar-2020 20:01

I'd expect once the CRL is complete then hopefully the train will be able to continue on to Britomart. I wouldn't be surprised if down the line they do electrify Pukekohe to Te Rapa then they could run the EMUs all the way to Hamilton.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9996

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#2437260 13-Mar-2020 07:19

DarthKermit:

Just as a comparison, The Capital Connection train between Palmerston North and Wellington leaves at 6:15 am and arrives at 8:20 am. So that's 2:05. I'm not sure what the total route length is, but by road it's about 140 km. The CC currently costs $35.00 for a one way trip.

The Capital Connection hasn't had the same big capital injection or subsidies this new route is getting, so has to operate on a much greater capital recovery basis.

For those commenting on the distance and time, you need to remember that in other parts of the world such travel times are perfectly normal. I know plenty of people in the UK who spent 2 hrs+ each way commuting to and from work, and in Australia there are huge numbers of people who commute from Newcastle to Sydney on a daily basis which does vary depending on the service but gets close to 3 hours each way.

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

Dingbatt

6804 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3694

Lifetime subscriber

#2437300 13-Mar-2020 08:49

I had an interesting conversation with a professional couple in Melbourne last week. They live in a town about an hour (by train) outside Melbourne. Both of the companies they work for pay for their train travel to the city, and because the train has wifi they log bill-able hours as they commute to and from the office.

The alternative would be to encourage businesses with no requirement for face to face customer contact to relocate to regional centres like Hamilton (Palmerston North, Tauranga, Nelson, Whangarei, Timaru, etc, etc.). With giga-bit internet and 5G, there really isn’t a need for a lot of the organisations that are in the Auckland CBD to be there.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1417 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1567

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2437335 13-Mar-2020 09:30

Dingbatt:

I had an interesting conversation with a professional couple in Melbourne last week. They live in a town about an hour (by train) outside Melbourne. Both of the companies they work for pay for their train travel to the city, and because the train has wifi they log bill-able hours as they commute to and from the office.

The alternative would be to encourage businesses with no requirement for face to face customer contact to relocate to regional centres like Hamilton (Palmerston North, Tauranga, Nelson, Whangarei, Timaru, etc, etc.). With giga-bit internet and 5G, there really isn’t a need for a lot of the organisations that are in the Auckland CBD to be there.

That certainly sounds a lot more attractive than what I've dealt with in the past, 90 minutes each way of standing squeezed together with thousands of others on a cramped Tokyo commuter train.

If nothing else, the virus has bumped the idea of telecommuting from something that a lot of companies are reluctant to investigate, into something front and centre. In the longer term, this may act as a spur to normalise working from home for at least a decent chunk of the week, with attendant advantages to congestion issues, emissions, and the well-being of everyone who gets to avoid commutes and office tedium even if only part of the time.

1024kb

1197 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 519

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2437352 13-Mar-2020 09:54

It's 2 hours on the bus from Sky City to central Hamilton. Sometimes 10 minutes faster, sometimes 10 slower. From Sky City, not Papakura. This train is a train in vain.

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

dclegg

2806 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 810

Trusted

#2437463 13-Mar-2020 11:30

Dingbatt:

I had an interesting conversation with a professional couple in Melbourne last week. They live in a town about an hour (by train) outside Melbourne. Both of the companies they work for pay for their train travel to the city, and because the train has wifi they log bill-able hours as they commute to and from the office.

I used to do similar when I lived in NSW. We couldn't afford to purchase a house in Sydney, so we bought one on the Central Coast (along with thousands of other young families in the same boat). The main train journey was around 90 minutes, but with connections at either end I had a 2.5 hour each way trip. I used this time to work (also billable hours), sleep, read, or listen to music.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4