Bruce Hucker: Commuter rail vital cog in efficient transport system

For decades, local authorities and central Government have known that Auckland needs an integrated multi-modal transport network to complement its motorways as the city is strangled by its own traffic.

Meanwhile, around the world in cities similar to Auckland, metro rail systems are proving to be a key component to reducing road congestion.

While the emperors fiddled during the 1980s and 90s, the Auckland region was burning around $755 million a year in lost productivity.

That's why a consortium of the Auckland Regional Council, Auckland Regional Transport Network Ltd (ARTNL) and Infrastructure Auckland (with assistance from international strategic management consultants the Boston Consulting Group) developed the Auckland Passenger Rail Upgrade Project draft business plan. Last month it presented that plan for public consideration.

Owen McShane, director of the Centre for Resource Management Studies, has seized on the title to declare (Perspectives, June 3) that Auckland is in the thrall of trainomania.

But the plan dismisses the idea that rail is a panacea for Auckland's traffic woes. It makes a case for an improved, sustainable regional commuter rail system as part of a transport network that includes road and ferry services.

Of course, roading is part of the mix. The region is planning to complete its motorway network over the next decade at a cost of $3 billion to $4 billion. The rail system will be overhauled virtually from scratch over the next 20 years for a comparatively modest $1.5 billion.

Water transport is also part of the mix. ARTNL proposes building four new ferry terminals and improving two existing ones and is working with ferry operators to boost the quality, frequency and reliability of services.

Annual patronage is expected to build from the current three million trips to more than seven million by 2015.

Bus operators are investing heavily in new stock to try to keep up with the rapidly growing demand for public transport. And, of course, increased competition in the taxi industry is bringing fares down.

All this combined with a new rail system will have a significant effect on reducing gridlock. The plan is to increase public transport patronage from 46 million trips a year to 110 million in the next 10 years.

Despite scepticism from critics, it is worth remembering that patronage in the 1950s was about 100 million trips a year. But since the construction of motorways from the 1960s, commuters have been enticed out of buses and trains and into cars. Public transport was left to run down.

At present only 700 people take the commuter rail services to the CBD each day. That's not surprising; the rolling stock and stations are dilapidated, uncomfortable, poorly lit and not always safe after dark. Services are infrequent and irregular.

That's why the business plan proposes investing $1.5 billion to upgrade the system in the next 20 years.

Stations will be renovated or replaced. They will have better interchange facilities, retail services and larger and more secure car parks. They will be fitted with security systems and improved lighting. Some of that work has started already.

The Western Line through Waitakere City will be double-tracked to allow for greater service frequency. A Manukau City link is to be constructed. All lines and the signalling systems will be upgraded. A new fleet of rolling stock will be brought into service.

The system will do more than just encourage commuters into the CBD. It will help to get the whole region moving, allowing people to travel easily from city to city as well.

The business plan is based on a goal of increasing annual passenger rail trips from a present total of 2.5 million to more than 25 million trips by 2015. By 2021, this target rises to more than 30 million a year.

The goals are bold because without these increases, rail will make little impact on congestion. And it will be difficult to justify the major capital expenditure if we do not lift our sights and gear the whole system to achieving higher patronage levels.

The critics say the region's population is not dense enough for a rail system to be economic but, worldwide, the experience has been that efficient, convenient and comfortable urban rail has encouraged population centres to grow around transport hubs. Take Perth. It is similar to Auckland in population and geography and had similar transport problems. In the late 80s and early 90s, tracks were extended and electrified and rolling stock and signalling systems upgraded.

In less than seven years, patronage increased 400 per cent to more than 30 million trips annually and is still growing. It is economically viable and has had a significant impact on reducing traffic congestion growth. Not only that, communities are growing around Perth's transport hubs.

Perth is not unique. In Singapore, residential, retail and commercial developments have sprung up around mass rapid transit stations that once stood in deserted land.

Cape Town has grown around its train system. The rail corridor through Sydney's western suburbs towards the Blue Mountains shows the classic pattern of residential and commercial development around transit hubs.

The same will happen in Auckland. Population growth projections indicate sufficient future patronage to support the economic viability of developing our own metro rail network.

The business plan proposes that the metro rail network should eventually be electrified. Although it will initially cost $110 million more than using diesel, electric trains are quieter, faster and cheaper to run.

They are also more environmentally friendly. Lowering emissions will become more important as residential development around transport nodes becomes denser and as people become more sensitive to health-related environmental issues.

Critics ask if electrification is a good idea in view of short-term electricity shortages. But we can't predicate long-term plans on short-term hiccups. Even at 20 million trips a year, trains will use only 1 per cent of Auckland's current power usage. We will have the power we need.

There can't be half measures. That's why the draft plan is a big and bold vision, part of a blueprint for an integrated multi-modal transport network that will service the region's growth.

Local authorities and other interested parties are vigorously debating the detail, but they all agree on one thing. Doing nothing is no longer an option.

* Dr Bruce Hucker is an Auckland City councillor and chairman of the Shareholders Representative Group, which oversees the Auckland Regional Transport Network Ltd. He is also a member of the steering group.