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Train trips between central Auckland and Otahuhu will double from 9am until 3pm on Saturdays, under timetable changes to be introduced next month.
A revised timetable starting on July 2 will also coincide with the opening of a $5 million railway station at the big Sylvia Park shopping centre, which train operator Veolia Transport expects will boost patronage on Saturdays.
Trains will run every half hour on Saturdays on both the southern line through Newmarket and the eastern line through Glen Innes, as they already do on week days.
Despite the extra stop for trains at Sylvia Park, only one minute has been added to expected trip times on the eastern line.
But trains throughout the Auckland network will leave each station seven or eight minutes earlier than they do now on Saturdays, for logistical reasons, and passengers should also look out for minor timetable variations on week days.
The new timetable will also see a doubling of peak-time services on week days between Henderson and Britomart, to four an hour, now that an important 7.5km section of the western line has been duplicated past New Lynn. One timetable casualty causing some concern for New Lynn commuters is their 5.26pm short-run homeward service from Britomart, which will be replaced by a train to Henderson at 5.42pm.
Veolia says it has to make some compromises for the sake of increasing services to and from Henderson because of the longer runs required of some of its trains.
Completion of the $55 million rail duplication project over Queen's Birthday Weekend is already allowing trains to run again on Saturdays between New Lynn and Henderson, after months of replacement bus services bypassing heavy construction activities on the tracks.
But there are unlikely to be Sunday services past New Lynn before the western line is fully duplicated in 2009.
The new Sylvia Park station has been built by Ontrack with money paid by shopping centre developer Kiwi Property Income Trust as a condition of its resource consent from Auckland City Council, and it includes electric lifts to help disabled passengers to get to and from an "island" platform between duplicate tracks.
Ontrack will, meanwhile, hold an open day on June 23 in the Deaf Foundation Hall at 1836 Great North Rd to invite comments from Avondale residents on a plan to move their railway station closer to the town centre.
