An empty train was caught leaving Kingsland Station after the Pink concert.
Video / Supplied
Pink wowed 45,000 fans during the first of her two Auckland concerts at Eden Park last night, but the city’s train network has left some with a sour aftertaste.
Fans have described leaving the concert as “absolute carnage” as they faced 40 minute-to-one-hour-long waits for trains on sardine-squeezed platforms.
Photos and videos show large crowds stretching from the platform down staircases onto nearby streets.
One concert-goer, who didn’t wish to be named, said it didn’t appear as though Auckland Transport put on extra train services.
It did put on extra buses carrying people to Britomart, but the concert-goer said she had to get to Newmarket.
She said she left the concert on a high, but when walking out to see a sea of people “totally jammed” in the tunnel to train platform, she just thought, “Oh my gosh”.
“I would have thought the trains would have been ready to go,” she said.
“There should be ... train after train trying to clear the backlog.”
“I really thought that for such a huge concert like Pink they would have done something more to get everyone home.”
The woman said she normally leaves before the end of concerts to beat the rush.
“But in the last song in Pink’s concert, she actually flies around the stadium and you don’t want to miss that,” she said.
Fans waited up to one hour to get onto trains, a concert-goer told the Herald. Photo / Supplied
The woman said she used public transport to get to the concert and it worked well.
She drove from Howick in East Auckland and parked at inner suburb Newmarket before catching a train to Eden Park.
However, after the concert she posted on social media to friends coming from out of town to see Pink’s second concert tonight that they should avoid using public transport.
“I like to think of myself as a good Auckland citizen,” she said.
“And so I actually can’t believe I posted yesterday, saying ‘Don’t rely on public transport’.”
She said another friend told her it took them two hours to get back to the city.
They said the concert was “so good” but “oh my god, the transport was dire”.
Pink performs at Eden Park last night. Photo / Carson Bluck
They were up from Wellington and said Auckland’s trains made them appreciate how well the capital’s concourse and network flowed.
Another friend told her they gave up and walked home instead, the woman said.
“I’d hope that they take some learnings from last night and fix it for tonight, but I’m not holding my breath,” the woman said.
Auckland Transport Group Manager Public Transport and Operations, Rachel Cara said the high volume of people moving in a short space of time last night, putting huge demand on train services, and plans were in place to ease the strain for the next two concerts.
“Eden Park is the biggest stadium in the country and hosted more than 40,000 people for the concert. Auckland Transport (AT) accounted for this and had a plan to get people home as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
“This included running additional train services at maximum size as frequently as possible, as well as running supporting bus services – including direct buses to the city centre and North Shore. Train services heading to Waitematā Station (Britomart) boarded at Kingsland Station and services heading West boarded at Morningside Station.”
“This is why some passengers may have observed trains not stopping at the station they were waiting at, but these were full when leaving their designated station.”
Track constraints did not allow AT to run trains immediately after one another as we could not stack trains at Kingsland Station and insert them when needed, so there were gaps between services, she said.
Following the event, AT carried 16,000 passengers from Kingsland Station and 6000 from Morningside Station.
“People gradually left Eden Park after the concert and wait times at Kingsland Station were no longer than 45 minutes, which is what we had expected for an event of this scale.”
AT again has plans in place tonight and Sunday night to manage the high volume of people that will be travelling to and from Eden Park, and are making further optimisations to reduce wait times where possible, including putting on additional buses to the city centre, she said.
“It feels good here,” Pink told her nearly sold-out audience.
“My cheeks are numb from smiling, I’m smiling way too much.
Pink’s newest tour solidifies her spot as the artist who has played the most stadium concerts in Australia and New Zealand.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” she humbly repeated after playing her hit tunes Raise Your Glass and Who Knew: “Thank you guys for coming to play with us tonight.”
Pink performs at Eden Park on March 8, 2023. Photo / Carson Bluck
