Weekly Review No.116
Inside this edition: New hybrid ferry arrives in Auckland, buses return to the bus hub in Palmy and the Motu Move website goes live.
Kia ora and welcome to the Weekly Review. Another short week, but lots of transport news has happened, let’s take a look back at the week that was in this edition of the Weekly Review.
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Auckland Transport has won an award for best out-of-home ad for the recent WX1 campaign, which features the song WX1 by Church and AP. The award was from the bestadsontv.com website for the week of January 21.
Hastings District Council announced that construction on the rail safety & city centre project in the Hastings mall will start on February 2. KiwiRail will install fencing to improve pedestrian safety & HDC will upgrade the wider area.
Working on the railways has been a family tradition for Palmerston North man Steve Brown. The KiwiRail quality and assurance engineer has just celebrated his 50th year working in the industry.
153 extra parking spaces have opened at Petone Station Park & Ride. The Park & Ride has been fitted with lighting and CCTV. Pedestrian access to Petone Station is via the pedestrian overbridge on Pito-One Rd only.
KiwiRail contractors, HEB Construction and John Holland, have started early works for Ngākōroa Station.
Auckland Transport is beginning a trial of live CCTV on selected bus services to make the bus network more secure.
Buses will return to the Main St Bus Hub in Palmerston North from February 1. Buses had been detouring through Te Marae o Hine - The Square since early January due to roadworks.
Rangitīkei District Council has installed automatic barrier arms at the Bulls bus lane to prevent unauthorised access. The barrier arms work using number plate recognition technology. For bus drivers who need access, they can contact RDC to be added to the list.
KiwiRail have shared a video of a test train completing platform clearance checks at Paerātā, Ngākōroa and Drury stations on Monday.
Supporters of passenger rail are set to gather at Frankton Station on Sunday for a “Stack the Station” rally, as a key funding decision looms over the future of Hamilton’s Te Huia rail link to Auckland.
KiwiRail has committed to never again shut down Auckland’s entire train network after the City Rail Link opens, with the railway owner saying the days of city-wide track closures will be “dead and gone”.
A R A Heritage Buses has shared photos of the work they completed on their fleet. 1812 had its pull cord reinstalled and other buses were given a clean as well.
Rangitīkei mayor Andy Watson said the one-year contract announced last January, which took logging trucks off the Napier Taihape Road and moved them onto rail, had been rolled over another six months until July.
The timeline to replace Wellington’s ageing ferry terminal infrastructure is under strain, with internal documents revealing a widening gap between a government deadline and construction reality.
Waitematā 1, Auckland Transport’s first Hybrid-electric ferry, has arrived in Auckland from boat builder Q-West in Whanganui. Waitematā 1 is expected to have a 300 passenger and 28 bike capacity, which will see use on the Devonport route sometime in 2026.
Private finance appears crucial to get the Marsden Point rail spur built, as Rail Minister Winston Peters’ ambitions come up against a tight Budget and the 2026 election.
F180 has departed Silver Stream Railway for MOTAT. F180’s return to MOTAT marks the end of the events to celebrate 150 years of the railway reaching the upper Hutt Valley.
To celebrate Pride month, Auckland Transport have added Pride flags to their bus tracking. In previous years, the flags were also shown on live tracking for trains and ferries.
After almost three years leading Auckland Transport, Chief Executive Dean Kimpton will be finishing his role on May 1.
All three Hamilton MPs appear to be united behind the retention of the Te Huia passenger rail service between Hamilton and Auckland, as well as potentially expanding it to Tauranga.
The Bay of Islands Vintage Railway will not operate on February 3. This is due to crews having to complete bridge clearance work following last week’s weather events.
By Kasey McDonnell via threesixtysix news: Trams built Wellington a century ago. With the right model, we can transform our streets into vibrant public spaces while moving far more people than buses or cars ever could.
Auckland Transport has shared photos and drone flyovers of the level crossing projects at Takaanini Station and Te Mahia Station.
Mahu City Express has added the ability to book the bus for others into their app.
The Canterbury Railway Society has installed a new points lever for the ballast siding and a new crossing is being built over the sidings to allow for access to the wider site at Ferrymead for maintenance.
More than 100 Chinese-made buses on New Zealand roads are the same as those under investigation internationally over security concerns they could be remotely turned off.
By Chris Morahan via Talking Transport: The numbers are in and public transport patronage in Greater Christchurch in 2025 ended up almost exactly the same as 2024.
The last Citylink Whangārei Beach Bus of the 2025/26 season will run on February 5. The bus leaves Rose Street at 11:15 am towards Ruakākā Beach, with the return trip departing the beach at 2 pm.
A century-old school transport policy has become a bugbear for people unhappy about changes to high-school bus routes in Palmerston North, but don’t expect it to change any time soon.
Auckland Transport have shared statistics related to the installation of Driver Safety Screens. The statistics do not appear to include driver screens that came pre-installed from manufacturers.
650 driver safety screens installed
400 more to fit in 2026
Metlink rail services will be replaced by buses over Waitangi weekend (6 to 8 February) as KiwiRail carries out planned rail infrastructure upgrades. The Kāpiti, Hutt Valley & Wairarapa Line will be replaced by buses. The Johnsonville Line will continue to run.
Auckland Transport will be closing the train network over Waitangi Weekend to complete essential works for City Rail Link.
Work over the weekend will include the continuation of work at Henderson station to complete the Third Platform, Egress/Staff Footbridge and works at the three Level Crossing Removal sites at Glen Innes, Te Mahia and Takanini with the installation of the new footbridges.
As bus and train fares rise from 1 February, some say low-income households are feeling the impact most, while others accept the cost of public services.
The trial reopening of the Hairini Street slip lane onto Turret Road outside morning peak hours has been extended until March 2026. During the morning peak (6.30 am to 9.30 am) it remains buses only.
Following the launch of Motu Move in Christchurch in late 2025, the Motu Move website has officially gone live. The website can be found at motumove.govt.nz
During the City Rail Link network testing, AM198 was spotted with a stripped interior. AM198 is likely undergoing a refurbishment, as the unit is one of the original EMU units delivered in batch 1.
Mother nature’s farewell to John Rochford was not a kind one. His final crossing as a skipper on the Diamond Harbour-Lyttelton ferry was marked with 40 knot north easterly winds, blustery rain and choppy waters.
Effective February 16, Fullers360 is making annual pricing changes to commuter fares for Waiheke Island ferry services. Commuter fares will increase by a range of 3.6% to 3.9%.
Affected products for this price change are fares for frequent ferry users including, Fullers360 Monthly Waiheke Pass, 40-trip, and 10 trip Flexi Passes. All other Fullers360 visitor and tourism product pricing remains unaffected. As Auckland Transport published on 1 February 2026, the AT Waiheke Monthly trip price remains unchanged at this time.
Almost two years after it lost its supermarket, Wellington Railway Station now has a pizza vending machine ‒ but it’s still unknown if a new supermarket is on the way.
Bus use in and around Te Awamutu continues to climb. Patronage on the Te Awamutu–Kihikihi service rose nearly 14 per cent over the past year.
Auckland Transport has taken delivery of the final batch 3 EMU trains. The arrival of the 23rd unit of batch 3 takes Auckland’s total electric train fleet to 95. The final train to arrive is numbered AM1249.
In AT’s press release about the final new train arriving, they detailed the work completed on existing units to upgrade them prior to CRL service.
WORKS:
Operational connectivity
LED lighting
Drag-detecting door sensors,
Emergency alarms
KiwiRail has shared images of the progress at Bridge 133 on the Stillwater-Ngākawau Line. The existing timber & steel bridge, which is more than 100 years old, is being replaced with a modern concrete & steel structure that is more resilient to seismic & flooding events.
The bridge is being rebuilt by HEB Construction, who are keeping the line open during the construction period. Government funding has enabled this project and several other renewal projects across the South Island.
KiwiRail are also working closely with its internal and external teams to support the project through to completion. The monitoring of weather conditions & river levels has been essential in ensuring a smooth and successful work programme.
Auckland rail operators have launched an investigation into how an electric passenger train entered a non-electrified section of line, damaging overhead cables and throwing services into chaos for much of Monday.
McMullen & Wing have shared pictures from the recent launch event for AT2. Due for launch the Tuesday prior to Auckland Anniversary weekend, wind gusts meant that she only touched that water briefly on her planned launch day, with her actual full launch a week later.
Currently docked at McMullen & Wing’s marina, ‘AT2’ has a couple of months of commissioning and sea trials ahead before entering service. AT2 has been spotted on API Trackers with the name Te Waiarohia.
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