Developers warned about train noise

Commissioners assessing plans to populate Auckland's Orakei Peninsula with multi-storey apartment, retail and office blocks are warned to expect a big increase in the number of freight trains rumbling below.

The Redwood Group with Auckland City wants to run the main trunk railway through a tunnel capped by a podium structure supporting "mixed-use" buildings up to five levels high.

Surrounding blocks are planned to rise up to six floors above ground to house up to 1600 residents in 700 apartments within eight to 10 years on 5.9ha, leaving 1.2ha for open space.

Redwood says it has made design allowances for the podium, which would extend about 300m from Hobson Bay to the Orakei Basin, to handle a potential third rail line for freight as well as the electrification of the existing two sets of tracks for passenger trains to and from Britomart.

With support from the city council, it is promoting its scheme as a classic "transit-oriented development" in terms of the Auckland regional growth strategy, which encourages high-density accommodation around public transport hubs.

But KiwiRail and Ports of Auckland, which predicts a tenfold increase in freight trains to and from the waterfront, are urging planning commissioners to ensure adequate protections for residents and site visitors from vibration, noise and diesel fumes.

Others, including the Orakei Residents Society and the Auckland Volcanic Cones Society, say the development will overwhelm a prime part of the coastline and the Orakei Basin's volcanic tuff ring with bulky buildings pouring extra traffic on to crowded roads.

KiwiRail says it supports the concept but, in a submission emphasising the importance of the main trunk line, suggests a proposed district plan change will "give the impression that railway operations will at all times meet the proposed zone controls".

"This might be achievable within the podium structure but will not be so where above-ground services will continue to operate at the outer edges of the development," senior legal adviser Pam Butler said in the submission, before a hearing was adjourned until next month amid unresolved land ownership issues.

She said that although the railway was a known feature of the site, representing a significant investment in public funds, the proposal "virtually ignores the need to ensure that the operational aspects of the corridor are considered as the development occurs in the future".

"There is virtually no reference to the regional and national importance of the railway facility operating through the site and only passing reference to the operational, safety and security needs of the railway line and station ..."

KiwiRail says about 550 trains pass through the Orakei station each week, including about 100 freight trains, some up to 800m long.

As well as big increases in passenger trains with electrification, it expects freight volumes to grow once a night rail shuttle service between the waterfront and a new inland port at Wiri gathers momentum.

Redwood Group development director Andrew Showler yesterday denied KiwiRail had raised any insurmountable obstacles, and said his company had a good track record of building a supermarket and apartment blocks above the Britomart rail tunnel.

"We agree with what they're requesting - we just think they want it at a different stage in the design process to what we'd normally provide."

Mr Showler said the proposed plan change included a requirement to restrict noise levels to a low 35 decibels in apartment bedrooms, the same as for its Britomart developments.

He said buildings could be protected from train vibrations by laying tracks on resilient mountings or designing the podium structure to carry and isolate vibration loads.

The independent chairman of the panel of commissioners considering the proposed plan change, Greg Hill, has given Redwood until July 9 to resolve ownership issues over two properties on the site.