Britomart set to overcrowd trains

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Auckland's trains are full to bursting and the situation is unlikely to improve when the Britomart railway station opens on June 23.

As on Auckland's buses, it will regularly be standing-room only once commuters get the first opportunity in 72 years to come into downtown Auckland by rail.

After spending $211 million building Britomart, the region's politicians and planners have not come up with any additional trains for it.

The only new trains operating in Auckland on June 23 will be two refurbished units from the Zig Zag Railway Museum, near Sydney, which cannot use Britomart. They will run on the existing waterfront loop between the eastern suburbs and Newmarket, mostly to carry schoolchildren.

Rail project spokesman Ken McLeod yesterday said meeting demand would be a struggle but "we're doing the best we can with the resources we've got". Restraints included the single line to the west and a shortage of trains and drivers.

The region's planners are relying on old forecasts of a 20 per cent rise in patronage once Britomart opens.

This is despite a warning from Australian rail expert Graham Holden last year to the Auckland Regional Council that steps being taken for the opening might not meet the "significant" potential for growth in passenger numbers. He said many factors would attract Aucklanders to rail, including increased services and hours of service, more attractive stations, park-and-ride facilities, and road congestion.

At present Auckland has just 19 ADL two-car diesel trains carrying commuters. Last year 2.24 million trips were made - just 5 per cent of all trips made by public transport. The number of commuter rail trips in Wellington was 10 million.

When Perth opened a new rail system, the number of journeys jumped from 6 million to 30 million a year. Brisbane and Adelaide, cities of a similar size to Auckland, had 40 million and 12.5 million a year, respectively. Mr McLeod said Auckland's peak services had been full since 1996 and it was standing-room only on a new express service started last September from Pukekohe and Papakura using Silver Fern trains, with 192 seats.

Of the 10 ADL units being refurbished, eight will be completed by June 23 and the other two are due in service by August. There are also plans to refurbish up to 12 British Rail Mark 2 carriages to come into service from August.

Rail project director Elena Trout said that within six months of Britomart opening peak-hour services between Papakura and Britomart would run every 10 minutes; additional peak-hour services would go to New Lynn; services would be extended to Pukekohe; evening services would run to 11pm; and more weekend services would run.