Weekly Review No.15
This week details of KiwiRail's Summer Shutdown are revealed, MOTAT lights up its tram fleet, and Whanganui's Te Ngaru The Tide is seeing passenger numbers boom!
There is just one edition left before our summer hiatus, in the meantime stay in the loop on Twitter [X] for real-time updates throughout the week and dive into this week's edition of the Weekly Review for anything you may have missed.
UK retail giant Boots was recently in Dunedin filming their 2023 Christmas advertisement, the advert included shots of the Dunedin Railway Station and their fleet.
Rather funny that they chose one of the most southern places to try to make it to the North Pole.
KiwiRail revealed details of the 2023/24 Christmas network shutdown in Wellington.
Between December 26 2023 and January 14 2024, work will be taking place across the Wellington network.
WELLINGTON STATION:
Work to replace the signalling equipment at the station and in the station approaches continues
Track work on Platforms 8 and 9
A new turnout will be installed on the station approaches
Work on the overhead lines
WAIRARAPA LINE:
Upgrade the Fitzherbert St level crossing
Replace the rails, sleepers and ballast inside the Maoribank Tunnel
Drainage work in the Remutaka Tunnel.
Begin construction of a new passing loop at Woodside Station
Replace the wooden rail bridge near Matarawa
KAPITI LINE:
Complete the Plimmerton Station project which provides a third main line and platform at the station
Replace rail bridge 23 located halfway between Paekākāriki and the SH1 exit to Queen Elizabeth Park.
The new and improved public space around the Victoria and Albert Street intersection is nearly complete following City Rail Link streetscape works and is due to reopen next week following a karakia.
Over the next few years, the first two fully electric and two electric-hybrid ferries will be joining AT’s ferry fleet.
Sticking with ferries, Explore Group are running direct sailings to Man O' War Bay this summer.
Services are available on selected dates from December through to February, Departing Auckland: 10 am | 11:30 & 12pm, return fares: $95 for adults, children $50.
The truck is used to install & adjust the ROCB along the tunnel ceiling and facilitate the wiring of the copper cable inserted within the beam
This week it confirmed to Radio New Zealand that 21 of its carriages would be taken away in late January.
Off-peak Metlink train services returned to the Wairarapa Line after a long period of bus replacements while KiwiRail renewed the line.
A new poll commissioned by Free Fares has found that 71% of New Zealanders want to keep the current public transport discounts.
At Maungawhau Station construction crews are building up the base layer of what will become the main access to the station entrance.
The lane will connect pedestrians, cyclists and service vehicles between Mt Eden Road and Ruru Street.
After Gulf News reported that Auckland Transport are on the case of ferry users who are buying a $5 HOP card topping up the minimum amount tagging on & off and throwing away the card to avoid paying the full $29.50 fare to Waiheke.
NZ Transit Buzz contacted AT to find out how many unregistered HOP cards have been used for a single transaction for Waiheke trips and we're never used again.
From November 2022 to November 2023 5,692 HOP cards have used this loophole, peaking at 744 trips in October.
AT said most of the cards remained in negative balance while a few cards remained in positive balance as they topped up enough money before travelling to Waiheke.
In a statement, AT said Transport Officers are wharves actively monitoring fraudulent tag on/off behaviour.
Geoff Mackley has captured some amazing footage of the Stillwater–Ngākawau Line back in action after a significant landslide occurred near Tunnel 3 at the Buller Gorge.
Citylink Whangārei services will be free all day on Friday, December 22 as a way of saying thank you for 'being great passengers all year', buses will not run on December 25 -26 and January 1-2.
The old dot matrix passenger information display at Newmarket has been replaced with two screens.
Buses replace train services on the Hutt Valley, Melling, Kāpiti and Johnsonville Lines from 26 December to 7 January.
Buses replace all services on the Wairarapa Line from 26 December to 14 January.
The Hataitai bus tunnel will close from 26 December to 12 January.
Services not running on Christmas Day:
Wairarapa Line
Melling Line
Wellington Harbour Ferries
Cable Car
Free Christmas Day travel excludes:
Airport Express
Wairarapa Line
On-Demand Services
Ferry services
Patronage on Whanganui’s Te Ngaru The Tide service is dwarfing that of all other bus routes in the city - to the point where a rethink of the entire network is needed.
New Waiheke ferry operator Island Direct has launched multi-pass tickets.
10 Tickets will cost: $166
40 Tickets will cost: $576
Auckland Transport have gotten into the swing of the festive season and reintroduced the Santa Hats to the AT App Live Tracker.
GoBay Hawke's Bay will be running Saturday timetables for most days between Christmas and New Year’s holidays, with no services running on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve the normal timetable will resume on January 3.
Auckland Airport has revealed a first look inside its new transport hub before it opens early next year, there will be dedicated transport lanes for buses and taxis.
KiwiRail have released work details for the 2023/24 Summer network shutdown, During part of the shutdown freight trains will not run in Auckland from Boxing Day, with services resuming on January 5.
Work over the holiday break includes:
Enabling works for the new Third Main Line around Middlemore Station and signalling upgrades at Wiri.
Commissioning the new overhead lines between Papakura and Pukekohe, as part of the project to extend electrification to Pukekohe.
Replacing rails, sleepers and ballast (the rocks that sit around the tracks) at sites across Auckland as part of ongoing maintenance.
City Rail Link teams are doing significant track and civil work at Waitematā Station, at Quay Park and some work at Newmarket.
Slip repair works at several sites on the Western Line between New Lynn and Fruitvale.
Doing major civil and drainage works on the inner part of the Western Line, as part of Rail Network Rebuild (RNR) Stage 3a.
Completing RNR Stage 2 on the Eastern Line.
The Government have rejected KiwiRail's request for extra funds to cover cost increases in the InterIslander ferry fleet replacement project.
KiwiRail has said they cannot proceed without further Government funding.
Oliver Lewis from Business Desk spoke with union source Todd Valster from RMTU, Valster said he understands the South Korean shipyard had already started cutting steel for the builds and a heap of work had already been done in Picton too.
Fares on Connect services will move to a zone structure from January 1, with fares calculated by the number of zones you travel in.
Horizons Regional Council will also introduce fare-capping once you hit a certain weekly spend (Monday – Sunday).
MOTAT’s Christmas Lights are back on for 2023, see MOTAT transformed into a festive wonderland including some of their trams, the event runs 13-16, 20-23 December 2023 | 8pm-11pm, Scott Pilkington went to MOTAT to capture some great footage of the light up trams in action.
Via The Post: Wellington City Council will stop using modular bus platforms following safety concerns and updated guidelines.
PayWalled via BusinessDesk: As well as creating uncertainty around the future of the Cook Strait crossing, axing the Interislander replacement project will leave KiwiRail with a hole in its emissions reduction targets.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission have released its report into the accident at Tamaki in Auckland on 1 June 2022, where a locomotive derailed when it entered track crossover points too fast, overturned, and slid on its side for about 55 metres.
New digital signs are coming to Wellington bus stops and train stations after a deal was signed between Metlink and NEC.
By June 2024 the new Real Time Information (RTI) software will be up and running with the whole project completed by December 2025
The RTI system will enhance the tracking of buses and trains and add a feature that measures the available onboard capacity.
Along with the new signs, text-to-speech units will be installed at some bus stops for blind and visually impaired passengers.
Amay Dignon's bus back design is now taking to the streets on one of the Whangārei CityLink buses.
