KEY POINTS:
Waitakere City leaders _ backed by a lineup of private developers _ appealed to the Auckland Regional Council yesterday for hefty extra funding to "leverage" the rejuvenation of New Lynn suburb off a $140 million railway trench.
Although the regional council has offered $12.55 million towards building a new railway station along the bottom of the trench, which will run 1.1km through New Lynn town to depths of up to 8m, Waitakere Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse says another $7.9 million is needed to develop a superior transport hub.
That would pay for enough of the trench to be covered to allow buses to drop and collect passengers almost directly above it, rather than remaining on privately owned land which had become "one of the most dangerous crime areas in Auckland".
Although existing funding will allow the Auckland Regional Transport Authority to build some degree of cover over the trench, which is costing Government agency Ontrack $120 million and Waitakere City $20 million, an extended lid would require mechanical ventilation for diesel fumes. Waitakere, which also plans to spend almost $53 million on roading improvements above the trench, says ventilation will still be needed even after passenger-rail electrification as diesel locomotives will keep hauling freight through New Lynn. Ontrack has spent six months clearing the ground for the trench, which it hopes to complete by the end of next year and thus remove trains from heavily congested road crossings.
Ms Hulse acknowledged that an extended-cover trench would provide better development opportunities for private companies including Infratil, owner of Auckland's largest bus fleet
But he said the region as a whole would benefit from extra rail patronage attracted by a dry and safe transport interchange.
ARC chairman Mike Lee said his organisation had shown its support for New Lynn and would consider Waitakere's request "very carefully" against needs of other parts of the region "crying out for funds".
He said: "We have to ask how much regional ratepayer money is going into leveraging private profits."
