Text messaging on train delays

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Suburban rail passengers with cellphones are in line for text messages telling them when trains are running late.

Tranz Metro and the Auckland Regional Council are about to start a trial through the Telecom and Vodafone networks and hope to introduce the service to the public in about a month.

Passengers will be sent messages when long delays are expected.

Regional council rail spokesman Shane Ellison says it is an interim solution, given that most train stations lack public address or passenger information displays.

"It is an immediate solution to inform passengers of any delays, and will be complemented by passenger information displays when they become operational," he said last night.

Auckland Regional Transport Network chief executive Martin Gummer says electronic information displays may be one of several uses for fibre-optic cabling, for which his organisation has a $10 million grant from Infrastructure Auckland.


Meanwhile, regional council rail director Elena Trout has reported a "considerable improvement" in punctuality of trains in March with almost 75 per cent of services running on time or no more than five minutes late.

She told the council's passenger transport committee this week that the main reason for delays that month was a more than 40 per cent increase in patronage from March last year.

That meant longer boarding and alighting times at some stations, but there were fewer hold-ups from mechanical problems.