KEY POINTS:
The first stage of Auckland's rail upgrade - the $600 million Project Dart - is a quantum leap in infrastructure improvements, mainly along the western line.
Projects include new "feature" stations at Newmarket and New Lynn, upgrading of other stations, signals replacement and completion of the double-tracking programme from Newmarket to Swanson.
This work will bring short-term pain - trains will run late, especially during the New Lynn work - for the long-term gain of comfortable, fast electric trains carrying thousands more passengers at 10-minute frequencies.
Major projects on the southern line include the replacement of the Onehunga branch line and a new branch line to Manukau City Centre.
But the big leap forward - electrification - hinges on the fate of the Government's Land Transport Amendment Bill, due to be reported back to Parliament this month.
The legislation allows councils introduce regional petrol taxes of up to 10c a litre to pay for roading and public transport projects. Up to half the money can go to public transport.
Ontrack's work to electrify the network will cost about $500 million. The regional petrol tax will enable ARTA to borrow about $400 million to buy 33 electric trains.
ARTA is confident that services can be boosted to 10-minute frequencies and the Britomart will be able to handle 18 trains an hour, instead of the present 12, by 2016. By then, it's estimated, around 440,000 Aucklanders will live within 800m of a rail station.
Electrification should be completed by 2013 but ARTA wants electric trains on parts of the "core network" in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2011. However, Ontrack's Phil McQueen, in charge of the electrification project, is wary about tailoring the project towards "three or four rugby matches" rather than the city's needs for the next 50 years.
All the progress could be undermined by the bottleneck at the Britomart tunnel.
There are options to ease the flow - including bi-directional signalling (allowing trains to enter and leave on the same track) and using the old Auckland station yards to park unneeded trains.
But attention seems to be focused on the bigger picture, not the details.
ARTA's ideal solution is the much-vaunted city loop - an underground link from Britomart under Albert St to join the western line at Mt Eden: a snip at $1 billion and at least a decade away.
ARTA points out the loop won't just solve the bottleneck problem but, with underground stations near Wellesley St and Karangahape Rd, would boost CBD shopping and commerce - just as Melbourne's city loop has done.
There are other dream schemes - a link to Auckland Airport, and a Southdown-Avondale link allowing northern freight trains to bypass the inner-city lines. Ontrack even envisage rail services on the North Shore, "we just need to deal with the gap [the harbour] in the middle".
With billions earmarked for the city's motorways, none of these big ticket rail projects are expected anytime soon. Auckland's passenger rail service will continue to run to the Government's timetable - but at least it's on the right tracks.
