Weekly Review No.44
This week, a funding deal for new lower North Island trains was announced, City Rail Link begins connecting overhead lines and the BUSIT’s Meteor heads for the stars.
Welcome to the Weekly Review a lot has happened in the last week, so let's take a look back at the week that was in the Weekly Review No.44.
As always you can keep yourself updated by following our Twitter/X for real-time transport news updates.
Continued positive community response to extended hours on Timaru’s on-demand public transport service will see the trial continue until April 2025, the trial’s extension will allow for more data to be collected on the service usage.
If you ask Ollie what he wants to do when he gets older, he will say 'Be a train driver!', KiwiRail invited Ollie to its Napier depot so he could see a real train up close and get to sit in the driver’s seat.
A dozen portacoms have been moved to a site owned by KiwiRail near the closed Hukarere Girls’ College north of Napier, they are being stored after being offered up as site offices for the Transport Rebuild East Coast alliance.
Connect - Horizons Regional Transport is running a survey to see if passengers mind if drivers play music that bus passengers can hear and if they play music on board, what genres/stations/playlists should be allowed.
Eke Panuku will begin trialling the Red Boats' ferry service during weekdays to assess passenger demand for early morning and evening services.
Auckland Transport is seeking feedback from the deaf and hard of hearing community on its pilot New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) and captioned safety videos at Waitematā/Britomart Train Station and The Downtown Ferry Terminal.
On Friday afternoon a number of systems across the world were impacted by a bad Crowdstrike update which resulted in a number of systems that use Crowdstrike being taken offline with technicians needing to visit every impacted machine to remove the bad update.
Auckland Transport’s HOP systems were impacted with users unable to tag on/off or use ticketing machines, drivers and crew were advised to let passengers travel as normal and Metlink’s systems in Wellington had minimal impact with only their call centre being unavailable for a few hours.
Auckland Transport updated its website with timetables for the new 999 and 888 bus services ahead of the routes starting on July 21.
NZ Transit Buzz author Grady Connell rode the new routes on Sunday and snapped a few photos while out and about.
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A public transport advocate believes price caps should be added to ferry, bus and train services around the country.
The loss of rural school bus routes has left locals in one Hawke's Bay settlement furious at what they say is a lack of consultation from the Government, with some students now questioning whether to continue their education.
Keirunga Park Railway has been unable to open its miniature train track to the public after a Hastings District Council contractor accidentally damaged part of the attraction.
Catenary support brackets have been installed above the tracks on Platform 1 at Waitematā Station (Britomart), the brackets have been installed ahead of Platform 1 being closed from 22-27 July for the overhead line into the CRL tunnels to be installed.
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Port Marlborough is eager to find out what the new ferries look like, because then they will have a better idea of the work needed around the port to accommodate them.
Safety patrols are being introduced at Porirua railway station after concerns about rising teenage violence, The patrols involve three safety officers, the Mau Te Rongo navigators who will be at the station and 'highly visible' between 7am and 9am and 3:30pm to 5:30pm.
The collapsed rail tunnel at Reefton may not reopen until December – meaning six months of up to 75 coal trucks a day on the road between Westport and the rail loadout at Ikamatua.
City Rail Link has shared photos of crews completing the final stages of the tunnel fit-out, specialised workers are involved in installing tracks, pipes, cable trays, signalling, hundreds of kilometres of cable, emergency walkways and overhead line equipment.
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A report into the state of Interislander’s ferry fleet has found they can safely operate for another five years – if regular maintenance and upgrade work is completed.
The Huntly Railway Station building has received a new red roof a, new paint job and new decks have been installed.
The station building is set to become the new home for the Huntly Museum, but the process has been delayed after an arsonist set fire to the building while it was in the process of being moved back to the station yard, repairs are underway and the museum will take up residence shortly.
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From July 23 Kamo Intermediate Students will be able to take the SchoolLink 2 & 6 services to Kamo High School for a short walk connection to Kamo Intermediate, SL2 runs between Onerahi and Kamo High School & SL6 runs between Raumanga and Kamo High School
The Maritime Union has sounded a note of caution about the seaworthiness of Interislander ferries.
The July 2024 Auckland Metro Programme Newsletter has been released by KiwiRail, the newsletter highlights the work KiwiRail crews have completed between Pukekohe - Papakura and at Drury and Paerātā stations and the work completed for the Rail Network Rebuild.
The new overhead line along platform 1 at Waitematā Station (Britomart) has been installed but is not connected to the existing overhead line, crews have left a gap of around 1 - 1.5m which will be joined together at a later date.
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A medical hub, cafes, apartments and a supermarket are just some of the possibilities being touted for a proposed Waterloo transport hub.
From 29 July, trains at Middlemore Station will return to stopping at the northern end of Platform 1, since mid-January trains have been stopping on a temporary platform extension at the southern end while works to rebuild the northern end took place.
From the 29th pedestrian access from Orakau Road to Platform 1 will now be at the centre of the platform and via a temporary footpath.
KiwiRail has shared photos of the work taking place for replacing the Merton rail bridge over the Waikouaiti River in Otago, crews have completed stage 1 of the work which involved preparation for stage 2, replacing the remaining 9 sections of the bridge.
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BUSIT's Meteor officially hit half a million rides during the recent school holidays, BUSIT also announced they have 'something special lined up' for the Meteor's first birthday in August.
Cabinet had not yet made decisions on what might replace the Interislander ferries, an independent report on the options for doing so was delivered last month, but has not yet been released.
Metro held an event to celebrate the arrival of 21 new electric buses, the new buses bring Metro's total number of electric vehicles to 65.
Two of the new buses are set to be used on the Orbiter route, while the other 19 are being deployed across the network, Another five buses are expected to arrive over the next few months.
Spotted by @hamishjt on X/Twitter, Auckland Transport has shared the full design drawings for the Karanga-a-Hape Station precinct integration project, the drawings show how the re-designed roads will interact with the new Karanga-a-Hape Station.
Keirunga Park Railway hopes to get train rides back on track after repairs to a bridge support, once an engineer’s report is provided, a council building officer would visit to confirm it was safe for the train to resume operating.
Keirunga Park Railway president Michael Newby said operators “absolutely expect” trains to be running for the public again for their next scheduled date, August 4.
The HOP card featured on the Bus & Train fare zones map located on the side of AT Hop machines has been updated and features a new HOP card design, the card design was also recently featured in the AT brand guidelines document.
NZ Transit Buzz understands some retailers may have this new card design for sale.
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The finish line is in sight for Auckland’s City Rail Link, Chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney said the first test train could be running in November, but it is “early days” on a final timeline.
A new poll by Talbot Mills suggests more New Zealanders oppose the decision to cancel the ferry contract than support it, overall, 34 percent of people agreed with the decision, while 46 percent disagreed.
City Rail Link has shared a video update on how construction is progressing at Karanga-a-Hape Station.
Additional Metlink train services on the Hutt Valley, Kāpiti, and Johnsonville lines, and increased capacity on core bus routes, are confirmed for the upcoming All Blacks games on Saturday 10 August and 28 September, including free public transport for ticket holders and Sky Stadium members on bus and rail.
A co-funding agreement to purchase 18 four-car trains and associated infrastructure for the lower North Island has been welcomed by Greater Wellington and Horizons regional councils.
This comes as three suppliers have been shortlisted to design, build and maintain the trains, the short-listed companies are:
Alstom Rail Transportation New Zealand Limited
Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles S.A.
Stadler Bussnang AG
The new trains will replace the existing fleet of 50-year-old carriages, the contract to build and maintain the trains is due to be awarded in early 2025, with the new trains expected to start delivering a higher frequency of rail services from 2029.
The $800m upgrade for lower North Island commuter rail will see 15 minutes carved off the train trip between Wellington and Masterton, the upgrade would also increase speeds on the Wairarapa line from 90km/h to 110km/h.
Waikato-King Country regional bus passenger numbers dipped last month and are likely to take another hit this month.
Numbers on the 32 Tokoroa and 26 Te Kūiti connectors continue to plummet. Only 800 passengers travelled on the South Waikato service and 817 on the King Country run.
Figures supplied to The News by Waikato Regional Council also showed:
9419 people used the 20 Cambridge service in June – down 2211 on the previous month
10,476 hopping on board the 24 Kihikihi – Te Awamutu – down 2535 on the previous month
Auckland Council has released new renders of the streetscape and plaza design around Waitematā Station (Britomart), Auckland Council says seats, bicycle racks, bollards and eight native trees will be planted around the plaza's edge to prevent unauthorised vehicle access.
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With more than 40,000 bus passengers a month, Arataki is the second busiest bus hub in Tauranga, following community calls for a safer environment, it's now getting an upgrade.
Improvements include:
Replacing existing Farm Street shelters with new high-capacity shelters
New signage and information boards
New street furniture designed to reflect the area including open seating, bicycle parking and rubbish bins
Enhanced pedestrian crossings, wider footpaths, and a new shared user path
Improved streetlights, and new CCTV monitoring
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Latest figures from Auckland Transport confirm that violence against bus drivers appears to be climbing, according to data from AT, the number of assaults against drivers in the first six months of 2024 rose to 33, up from 21 over the same period a year earlier.
How well do you know the route codes of Auckland's frequent bus routes?
X/Twitter user @gallicist has updated their Frequent Bus Routes quiz on JetPunk, since the last update 6 new frequent routes have been added, test your knowledge here.
Never use the buses (commute West to CBD by bike/train) but as a city cyclist love the electric ones, don't miss the diesel fumes and noise!
Is it true that our Transport Minister is thinking diesel power for the new Wairarapa and Palmerston North trains? Or is the commitment for battery/electric power?