Weekly Review No.40
This week, Aratere runs aground near Picton, City Rail Link moves a step closer to opening and KiwiRail sends in drones to check on a partially collapsed Tunnel.
Welcome to the Weekly Review, I hope everyone enjoys the Matariki long weekend, it has been a crazy week in the world of transport news, don’t forget you can keep yourself informed by following our Twitter/X for real-time transport news updates or catch up with the Weekly Review below.
Christchurch’s long-awaited mass rapid transit system won’t happen in the next decade, after $800 million tagged to the project was retrospectively snatched from the region’s transport plan.
Two of Metro Canterbury’s new electric buses were spotted in Blenheim charging up on the journey down from Auckland.
There is some progress with the ongoing industrial action in Auckland, the Rail & Maritime Transport Union and train maintenance company CAF have ratified their agreement, & their strike notice has been withdrawn.
Negotiations between Auckland One Rail and the RMTU continue with their strike notice still in place.
Commuters catching the Wairarapa Line may have to wait for another four months before the track’s bad vibrations are dealt with and until next year for speed restrictions to be completely lifted.
Eke Panuku has confirmed that from July onwards, the Red Boats ferry will run every weekend until the Wynyard Crossing bridge reopens.
Spotted by @nuclearkiwik, Auckland Transport’s next batch of electric trains is due to arrive in July, from the image shared in AT’s Capital Programme Update the trains look visually the same as the last batch with white-backed seats, and full-colour AT logos, one new thing we have noticed is the addition of a ‘100% electric’ sticker near one of the doors.
Wellington resident Colleen Davey is upset and angry the council plans to put a bus shelter right outside her front gate on Rintoul Street, giving her only two weeks to respond.
Late on Friday evening, we learnt that KiwiRail’s Interislander Ferry Aratere had run aground after leaving Picton, as this was an unfolding story at the time more details can be found on our Twitter/X thread here.
The Post put together a brief history of what’s gone wrong and why replacing the ferries has become difficult.
The Maritime Union said images of the stricken Cook Strait ferry Aratere aground in the Marlborough Sounds are a shocking conclusion to years of warnings about the ageing ferry fleet.
Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand Interim CEO Dom Kalasih said the grounding of the ferry Aratere demonstrates the urgent need for KiwiRail & the Government to replace the aging Interislander fleet, & ensure adequate maintenance of its existing vessels.
Marlborough mayor Nadine Taylor said Friday's grounding of the Aratere Interislander ferry shores up long-time calls for investment into the ageing fleet.
Permanent repairs to the rail bridge over Canterbury’s Rangitata River have now been completed, after floods washed away one of the bridge’s heavy concrete piers on 12 April, KiwiRail crews also found the missing pier, which was buried two metres in the riverbed nearby.
Coromandel Taxis has decided to continue the Thames-Coromandel connector bus as a private service for the near future, with some other minor changes.
On Saturday, we heard of plans to refloat the Aratere at around 9 pm, during high tide, those plans were successful with the Aratere refloated around 9:20 pm before it was anchored near Lochmara Bay to re-ballast overnight.
Tranzit Group’s second successful “repower” bus or 3401 – a single deck electric bus that was successfully converted from diesel to 100% electric – is now delivering services on Metlink’s bus network in Wellington.
KiwiRail board chairperson David McLean will retire early, next month, as Finance Minister Nicola Willis reveals the Government will look to "refresh" the organisation's board.
On Sunday, plans were initiated to bring the Aratere back to Picton. These plans succeeded shortly after 6 PM, and the Aratere returned to Picton Wharf, aided by tugs, 1 day and 20 hours after departing Picton.
Moments after the Aratere returned to the wharf, 1 News announced they understood the Government's independent advisory group had recommended brand new Cook Strait ferries, which are similar in size to the current fleet.
We started the week by taking a timeline look at the grounding and refloating of KiwiRail’s Interislander Ferry Aratere.
A new bus shelter has been constructed near Tuakau College for the 44 bus service between Pukekohe-Pokeno, previously the stops were signs at the road edge.
Queenstown’s LUMA Bus moved over 3500 people from Queenstown Central Shopping Centre to LUMA over three nights, buses operated almost every 10 minutes at each end.
With the Aratere docked in Picton until deemed safe by Maritime New Zealand and KiwiRail, and another Interislander vessel in maintenance, only Kaitaki is operating this week.
City Rail Link has released a video explaining what work they will be doing over the Matariki long weekend, crews will integrate the City Rail Link signalling system with the existing systems at Morningside, Newmarket, Quay Park, Waitematā (Britomart) and Penrose.
The signal update has been designed to reduce the likelihood of disruption to normal train operations at Waitematā (Britomart) if the CRL elements are not completed in time, a test train will run on Sunday to certify the signals have been successfully integrated.
People joining Matariki celebrations in Ōtepoti Dunedin and Kā-Muriwai Arrowtown will be able to catch public buses to festivities over the long weekend.
New Zealand’s resurrected enthusiasm for new Cook Strait ferries is expected to put it to the back of a long queue at a time the last planned ships could have been under construction.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and Auckland Transport have now lodged confirmed designations decisions on the Notices of Requirement with Auckland Council for North West Auckland's future transport projects.
The old Belgrove windmill has been restored after strong winds tore off a section of its wooden blades a few months ago, the windmill once helped supply water to the railway between Nelson and Belgrove.
KiwiRail has sent in drones to check on damage in the partially collapsed Tawhai Tunnel on the West Coast, KiwiRail could not provide a timeframe for when the tunnel will reopen.
Treasury has shoulder-tapped an experienced infrastructure professional to assist with advice around possible new Interislander ferries.
When the Aratere ran aground in Picton on Friday night, it provided a timely reminder to the Government that its current inter-island infrastructure would not last long.
According to the public agenda ahead of Auckland Transport's June Board Meeting, Homai Station is expected to undergo grade separation by early 2025, with the closure of Church Street East planned for March 2025.
The Maritime Union says the Government’s U-turn on purchasing new Interislander ferries is the predictable but costly outcome of flawed decision-making.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis told KiwiRail’s chairman a week before announcing his early retirement that the state-owned enterprise had spent an “excessive and not justifiable” amount on consultants.
Chief Executive of Auckland’s City Rail Link Ltd, Dr Sean Sweeney, has resigned from the City Rail Link (CRL) project to lead the MetroLink project in Ireland’s capital, Dublin.
Dr Sweeney will leave CRL in September, and the search for a new Chief Executive is underway.
According to marine tracking website Marinetraffic.com, the final minutes before the Aratere ferry ploughed into a beach off Picton shows it seemingly breaching a speed limit before accelerating to more than quadruple the speed KiwiRail has as the ship’s last reading.
Mainline Steam Heritage Trust (MSHT) has begun painting AO 123 after it was in the workshop for repairs and a cosmetic upgrade, AO 100's bottom-end disassembly has begun so MSHT can add this car to its operational fleet by the end of the year, and JA 1240 has begun its cosmetic repaint as the original paint job was past its used-by date.
Auckland Transport's Infrastructure & Fleet Specification Manager Edward Wright has revealed to NZ Transit Buzz that Auckland's Hydrogen bus will be 'be used more intensively than it has been' with the addition of hydrogen fuelling stations recently in South Auckland.
The temporary fuelling system used to take 4 to 6 hours while the new fuelling stations mean the bus can now be fuelled in around 15 minutes.
AT says over the coming years they intend for the hydrogen bus to be rotated around several of their bus operators.
In the short term, the bus will remain with Howick and Eastern for a few more months so that they have a period of time using it more intensively with daily fuelling.
Managing Director of Howick and Eastern Sheryll Otway said 'We have been very supportive of the New Zealand-built hydrogen prototype bus and feel it has performed extremely well since it was first launched.'
Dunedin Railways & Dunedin City Council have partnered to run a special event train between Mosgiel & Dunedin and return for the All Blacks vs England game in Dunedin on the 6th of July.
When the Interislander’s Aratere ferry ran aground near Picton this weekend, it was the latest chapter in a long history of the vital connection between New Zealand’s two islands.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon appears to be playing down speculation the Interislander service could be taken off KiwiRail, even if the Government decides to invest in new ships that are not able to carry trains.
KiwiRail has confirmed construction of two replacement inter-island ferries has halted, despite suggestions from the Labour leader the boats are still being built.
Nine incidents similar to one which saw workers nearly hit by a train have been reported to the transport watchdog since it put rail safety on its watchlist.
The future of Palmerston North’s new all-electric bus service has been thrown into doubt with NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi suggesting it might not continue to subsidise the improvements introduced in March.
Additional measures to safeguard truckers from striking the Rust Avenue overbridge in Whangārei are being “looked into” after another truck hit the structure and got stuck on Tuesday morning.
The installation of coloured aluminium fins around the Mercury Lane entrance building will kick off over the coming weeks, once all fins have been installed, they will create a repeating blue diamond motif wrapping around the building.
City Rail Link has shared a photo of the school student's artwork wall which is being installed at Te Waihorotiu Station.
Federated Farmers has criticised NZTA for the prolonged closure of the Telephone Road level crossing, demanding swift action to resolve disruptions for local residents.
Mettkink is running a meet-the-managers event, with managers from Transdev, Metlink, Snapper and KiwiRail will be at Wellington Station between 7:30 am - 9:00 am on July 3rd.
The Ministry of Transport has finished work to identify future options for a resilient Cook Strait connection, including considering the possibility that KiwiRail might exit the Interislander ferry service.
BUSIT is offering free bus rides to the Maanawatia a Matariki event at the Hamilton Lake Domain from midday on Friday 28 June.
The June Te Waihorotiu Station newsletter has been released, featured are the train signal boxes that have now been installed at all four corners of Te Waihorotiu Station, crews are also painting the concrete walls on the platform.
Further along the line, the Karanga-a-Hape Station newsletter is live, CRL team have shared photos from the new platforms where the coping stones, yellow tactile pavers and terrazzo tiles have been installed, also at platform level more than 50% of the ceiling battens have been installed.
At the Beresford entrance building ‘wood’ panels have been added to the service building, compacting work is underway in preparation for a concrete pour outside the station entrance/exit and inside the station work on commissioning the longest escalator in the country is ongoing.
Inside the Mercury Lane entrance building work on the escalators continues while outside the station in early July the architectural sky element will begin to be installed on the eastern and southern sides of the building, framing for the roof is now complete with mesh installed in preparation for the roof underlay, in July the roofing sheets will begin to be installed.
The cable-pulling operation throughout Karanga-a-Hape Station is approaching 75% completion, with 371km of the 503km installed.
The Maungawhau Station newsletter has also been released by CRL, crews have also been busy installing signals this time in the tunnels near Maungawhau Station, and doors were installed for the seven cross passages along the tunnel route.
Sticking with CRL for a moment longer, City Rail Link is offering a unique opportunity for 10 individuals to explore the underground Te Waihorotiu Station in celebration of Matariki.
To enter, all you need to do is share your thoughts on what Matariki means to you here.
The Mercury Bay Model Railway Club’s 7th annual display will be held at the Whitianga Town Hall on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 the of July between 10 am-4 pm.
Have a wonderful long weekend as we welcome in the start of the Māori New Year.
