Weekly Review No.67
This week: This week, architectural fit-out at Karanga-a-Hape Station continues, AT welcomes another AM unit at the Port of Auckland and the Rose Street bus stops in Whangārei make a temporary move al
Welcome to the Weekly Review, this Monday Pukekohe Station reopens along with the rest of the Auckland Rail network to normal traffic, NZ Transit Buzz will be popping along on Monday to try the station out so be sure to follow us on most platforms under @NZTransitBuzz for a few pictures and special features, right now let’s get settled into the Weekly Review.
Thomas Nash Wellington Regional Councillor and Transport Chair shared Metlink’s 2024 bus data and some highlights are below:
• 26,597,739 bus trips in 2024
• Reliability over 99% every month.
• May - busiest month with 2,582,185 trips
• October - most reliable month at 99.7%
KiwiRail’s dynamic track stabiliser was out on the Auckland and Wellington rail networks preparing the ballast for regular train service, the track stabiliser allows trains to run at more regular speeds after track works as it locks new ballast into place.
City Rail Link shared photos of the architectural fit-out works underway at Karanga-a-Hape Station.
It’s taken two years, but the ship has turned and Interislander has started paying back its out-of-pocket customers as a result of its unreliable ferry service.
City Rail Link shared photos of the aluminium cladding wrap which will be installed on the concrete ventilation shaft on Kingston Street near Te Waihorotiu Station.
Artist Preehya (@preehya_art on Instagram) has just completed a 'purr-fect' mural featuring some fantastic felines for KiwiRail in Wellington.
Ahead of most of the Auckland train network reopening on Tuesday, Auckland Transport and KiwiRail sent a test train around the rail network to de-rust the tracks and perform checks on the overhead lines.
An articulated bus briefly hit the streets of Wellington on Thursday and Friday to conduct a new round of trials, Thomas Nash was “extremely pleased” about the trials which produced better-than-expected results.
Logging trains are back on the tracks running five days a week on the Napier-Palmerston North line to the Port of Napier, taking trucks off the “deteriorating” Napier-Taihape Rd.
KiwiRail shared photos of the work they have undertaken near Quay Park during the summer rail network closure, crews have replaced turnouts in the area and upgraded the track foundation.
Tuesday saw a return to the tracks for most of Auckland’s rail network following the extended summer rail upgrade closure, Auckland Transport confirmed to NZ Transit Buzz that none of the recently delivered AM units would be in service from Tuesday.
A Wellington bus lane camera has racked up nearly a quarter of a million dollars in fines for drivers in just over a month.
It was now requested that Dunedin City Holdings Ltd fund up to $2 million per annum to Dunedin Railways Limited, to fund the renewals of the Taieri Gorge Line rail corridor.
Depot safety control specialist FirstClass Safety & Control deployed depot protection systems at two KiwiRail sites in collaboration with Freightquip.
Four near misses and as many investigations later, KiwiRail has replaced Wellington Railway Station’s Depression-era systems with technology of this century, bringing with it the hope of more commuter trains.
Ahead of Pukekohe Station reopening on February 3, Auckland Transport updated the in-train maps to show Pukekohe as reopened, the maps also show Drury & Paerātā opening in early 2026 and Ngākōroa opening in mid-2026.
Also noted by @YT_JoshRBX on X/Twitter the map shows Onehunga Line services to Remuera & Greenlane as all day instead of Evenings & Weekends.
Momentum appears to be building for bringing trains back to Middlemarch, but a sustainable model has yet to be thrashed out.
Complaints about public transport in Auckland have been declining, although most people still appear to feel neutral to negative about Auckland Transport overall.
KiwiRail has released a video explaining the work they are undertaking to construct three new stations between Papakura and Pukekohe and why the summer rail shutdown has been important for the progress of these new stations.
A bus safety campaign reminding people that we’re all in the same team and not to ignore bad behaviour will be launched by the Dunedin Youth Council, Joint Dunedin Students Council and Otago Regional Council this week.
Another Auckland Transport AM unit arrived at the Port of Auckland Tuesday afternoon, NZ Transit Buzz was able to spot the unit through the fence but has not yet been able to identity the unit number.
Authorities have yet to reach an agreement on the level of safety improvements needed at a Christchurch rail crossing, which almost forced the closure of a cycleway.
The Government spent $1 million on a new plan to replace the Interislander ferries before handing it over to Rail Minister Winston Peters.
Polling conducted by Talbot Mills on behalf of transport unions shows support for publicly owned rail-enabled ferries is growing, with 54% of New Zealanders now backing this option – up six points from last year.
The Rose Street bus stops in Whangārei are now closed and temporarily relocated to Vine Street while work gets underway to construct the new Rose Street Bus Hub.
Transport Rebuild East Coast shared an update on the works they will be undertaking on behalf of KiwiRail, the works include repairs around bridge piers and embankments, culverts and washout repairs.
For the first 10 months of 2024, Te Huia carried almost 74,000 passengers. This compared to 58,000 over the same period last year, Waikato Regional Council said.
Auckland Transport & Howick and Eastern have wrapped HE508 in a special Year of the Snake wrap to celebrate the Lunar New Year, the bus can be tracked on AnyTrip using the code HE0508.
A lack of resources at Kiwirail further delayed the opening of a Halswell Junction Rd level crossing and contributed to a $9 million cycleway budget blowout.
KiwiRail’s efforts to get critical upgrade work completed in the Wairarapa before the line reopens on 9 February is going to plan. It involves the complete replacement of track, sleepers and ballast inside Remutaka Tunnel, as well as undertrack work at several level crossings.
KiwiRail released previously withheld resignation letters of four board members, which reveal Government ministers announced former chairman David McLean’s retirement two days earlier than he had wanted.
To get ready for the new National Ticketing Solution, called Motu Move, expiry terms and conditions for Bee cards are being updated around the country.
Bee Cards are likely to be phased out in the region as soon as next year in favour of contactless credit and debit cards and other digital payment methods for public transport, the Otago Regional Council says.
With school about to start again, the Otago Regional Council is urging pupils to consider travelling to school on Orbus.
An investigation found brain fog from COVID-19 likely played a role in a KiwiRail coal train’s near miss with another train.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand received multiple calls to a large vegetation fire burning along the railway line by Wainui South Road, Whakamarama in Western Bay of Plenty Thursday, Incident Commander Bill Pike says the fire is now contained.