KEY POINTS:
Britomart is much more than a grand piece of architecture which Aucklanders can be proud to show off to visitors.
For the resplendent $211 million centre - with its cavernous stainless steel-lined station beneath the lovingly restored 1912 Central Post Office building which looks more like an art gallery than a train terminal - has kick-started the development of rail as the backbone of a functional transport system for the country's most populous city and region.
In doing so, it is seen as a confidence-building beacon for a community often criticised by outsiders for its fractious governance and seemingly endless inability to get things done. Some admirers confess to having to pinch themselves to be sure they are still in Auckland when bathed in the natural light pouring through the huge glasshouse above the entrance hall.
The centre's opening in mid-2003 as Auckland City Council's largest civic project was little short of a miracle, after eight years of political sparring and scepticism about the region's ability to move public transport out of the maul of congested roads.
Rail patronage stood at a measly 2.25 million passenger trips a year, just 5 per cent of public transport boardings, having barely grown from 2.1 million in 1996.
Although Britomart was cut down from a controversial $1.5 billion scheme mooted in 1995 by former mayor Les Mills, it was still seen as an audacious statement by his successor Christine Fletcher when there was no guarantee Aucklanders would take readily to rail.
Those brave souls leading the way had to put up with rickety old trains subject to frequent breakdowns, and the gleaming world-class transport centre stood in absurd contrast to rundown, graffiti-bombed suburban "stations" where the only allowances for passengers were a few pieces of rusting roofing iron for shelter and a couple of planks for seating.
Most stations were unlit at night, making it difficult for passengers to know when they had reached their destinations, let alone whether they would be safe when they got there.
This year, Auckland's newly refurbished diesel trains are expected to carry more than 8 million passengers, well on the way to overtaking Wellington's annual rail patronage of about 11.5 million by 2011.
That is when Auckland Regional Council hopes its transport authority subsidiary will, in conjunction with Government rail agency Ontrack, have the first of 35 fast electric trains whisking passengers about at 10-minute intervals in time to welcome Rugby World Cup visitors.
Almost three-quarters of the region's 40 other railway stations have been rebuilt into smart and modern facilities, admittedly with few frills but with adequate shelter and strong security features including good lighting and 24-hour CCTV surveillance.
Some have been upgraded on a larger scale, such as a redeveloped Henderson station which Waitakere City has incorporated into its civic centre with a $5.5 million glass-enclosed "air-bridge".
Other big projects spurred by Britomart include a new $25 million double-storey station for Newmarket, which will have three platforms when it opens next year in a $120 million redevelopment of the critical junction of the southern and western railway lines back to Boston Rd in Mt Eden.
Ontrack is also digging a $160 million trench for trains through New Lynn as a key part of revitalising the town centre, and Manukau City and Onehunga have similar aspirations for linking rail with "smart" urban growth around transport corridors.
The Newmarket, New Lynn and Manukau projects come within a $600 million government funding package for the basic upgrade of the network, which is mainly focused on double-tracking the western line, a project expected to be completed next year.
BRITOMART
* Opened: July 25, 2003.
* Designed by: American-born Aucklander Mario Madayag and local architects Jasmax.
* Cost: $211 million (Auckland City Council paid $146 million, with regional and government funds meeting the balance).
* Depth of station below ground: 18m.
* Length of tunnel: 427m.
* Length of station: Tracks extend 235m into the station building, which has four platforms 150m long (capable of fitting seven-car trains) and one of 185m (for a potential eight-car train).
* Used by: 18,000 passengers each business day (compared with 3500 who used the old Strand station replaced by Britomart), and up to 243 scheduled rail services (on Friday peak days).
* Peak hour use: 15 trains arriving between 7.30am and 8.30am.
* Peak hour capacity: 18 if all trains arrive at even spaces and on time - still an unlikely combination or about 20 once track upgrades are completed into Britomart tunnel and outside its entrance by June.
* Peak capacity likely to be reached: Between 2015 and 2020.
A VICTIM OF ITS OWN SUCCESS
Britomart may have been bold in concept but it turns out not to have been visionary enough.
The station is a victim of its success in boosting rail patronage as it has a single access tunnel and just two sets of tracks - a basic flaw that frustrates commuters stuck in trains awaiting access to one of five platforms.
That is believed to be because of land constraints from a deal between the Crown and Ngati Whatua, in which there was a rush to dig a "cut and cover" trench for the 427m tunnel to allow above-ground property development.
Ontrack has been trying to ease the bottleneck by building a new siding outside the tunnel, and making the tracks into it "bi-directional" so trains from different lines can enter it in parallel.
But Auckland community leaders are forging a rare regional consensus on a need to tunnel through the rear of Britomart to form a loop through Mt Eden, if the showpiece station is not to be fatally logjammed as early as 2015.
Auckland City Mayor and former Britomart critic John Banks has become a cheer-leader for the tunnel project, and regional council chairman Mike Lee calls it a no-brainer which the new Government should consider carefully.
"We've shown it can be done - Britomart is a shining example of Auckland achievement and shows what can be done when the talking and the argument stops, and the work begins."
The Auckland success stories series
Monday: Vector Arena
Tuesday: Regional parks
Yesterday: Re-sanding beaches
Today: Britomart
Tomorrow: Manukau's free pools
