Ask Phoebe: Back-and-forward shuffle still on despite rail upgrade

Newmarket station is due to be commissioned next year. Photo / Brett Phibbs

When the western rail line is completed, will trains from West Auckland still have to back up to get to and from Newmarket station? Brian Preston, Henderson.

If you're coming from the west, the answer is yes, if your train calls in at Newmarket. However, there will be direct services from the west that will go straight to Britomart, missing out Newmarket as a stop.

Going the other way, there will not be all that backing and filling that goes on. Presently, westbound services go into Newmarket, reverse out on a back shunt, wait for trains from the west to go through, and set off again.

The new track layout will mean that trains from Britomart will get to Newmarket and head straight out on the new double-track formation.

Newmarket station is due to be commissioned next January. The direct west to Britomart link will be important for major events at Eden Park, such as the Rugby World Cup in 2011.

When heading citywards on the Northwestern Motorway and aiming for the Nelson St offramp, you go through a tunnel under the other motorways. On a bright day, the lack of adequate lighting in the tunnel make it almost impossible to see. Are there plans to upgrade the lighting? Alan Spence, Green Bay.

No. The tunnel lighting passed a safety audit when it was installed in 2006 and meets lighting standards, so the NZ Transport Agency has no plans to upgrade it.

If you are having difficulty seeing where you're going, you should slow down until your eyes adjust.

While I was driving slowly over the pedestrian crossing outside Epsom Normal Primary School recently, I saw a school crossing patrol member waving a red flag in addition to the normal barrier sign. This is a new one on me. What's it about? Susan Thompson, Parnell.

The purpose of the flags is to increase the visibility of the children on the crossing. Some years ago, a community group donated flags to local schools, and the idea is that the kids pick up a flag and wave it as they cross.

However, a police community education officer said that the child holding the stop sign shouldn't have a flag.

* After my request for information about white diamonds painted on the road near pedestrian crossings, I have been swamped with help.

Kevin Webb of Pakuranga says that it is his understanding that the diamond has only ever been there as an extra warning of a crossing ahead, to supplement the orange ball on the black and white post. He says, and most other correspondents concur, that there has never been a road rule about pedestrians not stepping out once a car is over the diamond.

Ron Steers agrees, and says when he was on crossing duty at school he was taught to raise the stop sign only when a car was outside the diamond, to give it time to stop.

Ron Hood sent in a Christchurch City Council advisory describing the white diamond on the road as a warning sign only, not as any mandatory stopping place. The document adds that if approaching vehicles are between the diamond and the crossing, pedestrians should stay on the kerb rather than attempt to cross.