I like trains. I like using them. But using Te Huia is hard work.
Let me demonstrate the problem: It's like it's been designed by people who don't use trains.
First, let's say I've had a meeting in Hamilton (which happens more than you'd think).
Let's say my meeting is in central Hamilton, at the Ibis Tanui overlooking the river, say, where you can watch the river flow and the trains come past. After which I'm coming back to my office in Newmarket.
Here's the first problem: those trains coming past me don't stop in central Hamilton. They keep going. Hamilton's railway station is 19-30 minutes from central Hamilton by bus. And because no bus goes from central Hamilton directly to the railway station (I know, right?), there's no way to avoid a walk of at least ten to fifteen minutes.
Like I say, it's like it's been designed by people who don't use trains. So I'll get a lift to Frankton Railway Station. (Thank you.) And then I have to work out how to buy a ticket. (Turns out there's no way to buy one on the platform.)
Second, problem of course, is getting the damned train. 'Cos there's only two per day (or three on Thursdays and Fridays, none on Sundays). So most recommendations by Mrs Google recommend the bus (which will get me to my office in Newmarket, by bus from Hamilton and then train from Papakura) in 2 hours and 23 minutes. Or car (which gets me there between 1 hour 30 and 2 hours 20).
But let's say I'm keen. Keen for a train trip. So keen I time my trip to coincide with the few daily trips of the mighty Te Huia. That trip on at that train is going to take me 3 hours and 22 minutes. Virtually a whole hour longer than the bus just for the sake of going by train!
Sure, it's a pleasant trip — partly because the train is mostly empty. And the scenery is pleasant. And it only stops a few times, for no particular reason, so we get to enjoy it all the more. And if you get yourself a seat with a table you can work on your computer on the way. But that's not really commuter travel is it.
It gets worse if you want to go anywhere near central Auckland. Which brings us to the third problem. Te Huia doesn't roll splendidly into downtown Auckland, with cafes, galleries, bars and plenty of transport connections on offer. Instead it rolls into an abandoned carpark in Parnell.
Let's say my meeting in Hamilton went so well that I want to head home, skip the office and finish the day in my favourite local bar. That calls for 39 minutes of walking in a 3 hour 42 minute journey! I'd leave central Hamilton at 1:35pm, and I wouldn't be getting to the Northern Line Bar in Beresford Square until around 5:15! (I'd sure as hell be out of my brain on that 5:15!!)
You can see the problem. Te Huia doesn't leave anywhere near central Hamilton, and nor does it arrive anywhere near central Auckland. It arrives at that car park in The Strand, Parnell, with few connecting buses. (And the day I arrived the one bus made sure it had left before the train arrived.) So, just like the other end, most people are getting picked up and dropped off by car.
It's like travelling NZ Rail back in the bad old days.
Did I say that Te Huia seems to have been designed and put together by people who don't use public transport?
It's like they didn't want it to work. It is, after all, named after a bird that is long extinct.
Sad, but true! The Northern Explorer might offer an alternative - but it only runs south on Monday, Thursday or Saturday. It departs from the same 'Auckland Strand' station (used to go from Britomart) and arrives at Hamilton Frankton. 2 1/2 hours travel time (0745 - 1015) and no return to Auckland the same day.
A better service was started in the private Tranz Rail days in 2001 which lasted for just over 3 months, with no subsidy, and ran from the old Auckland railway station. It carried less than a busload each day (except from Pukekohe and Papakura as commuters liked the very comfortable long distance seating and non-stop service to Beach Road at the edge of the CBD). I suspect if there is demand for a fast public transport service from Hamilton to Auckland, it would be done by bus and would stop perhaps once (Papakura) to drop people off at the end of the rail system) before heading into town. If motorway shoulders were made available as bus lanes it could even bypass some of the traffic, but buses aren't sexy.
The decision made to prolong Te Huia is probably as much to do with the massive sunk cost in setting it up, so weaning off massive subsidies to go down to the subsidies seen on other rail services isn't crazy, but bottom line is that it has been set up by dotty politicians and mostly local bureaucrats, most of whom see "train" and get all excited like kids.
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Sad, but true! The Northern Explorer might offer an alternative - but it only runs south on Monday, Thursday or Saturday. It departs from the same 'Auckland Strand' station (used to go from Britomart) and arrives at Hamilton Frankton. 2 1/2 hours travel time (0745 - 1015) and no return to Auckland the same day.
A better service was started in the private Tranz Rail days in 2001 which lasted for just over 3 months, with no subsidy, and ran from the old Auckland railway station. It carried less than a busload each day (except from Pukekohe and Papakura as commuters liked the very comfortable long distance seating and non-stop service to Beach Road at the edge of the CBD). I suspect if there is demand for a fast public transport service from Hamilton to Auckland, it would be done by bus and would stop perhaps once (Papakura) to drop people off at the end of the rail system) before heading into town. If motorway shoulders were made available as bus lanes it could even bypass some of the traffic, but buses aren't sexy.
The decision made to prolong Te Huia is probably as much to do with the massive sunk cost in setting it up, so weaning off massive subsidies to go down to the subsidies seen on other rail services isn't crazy, but bottom line is that it has been set up by dotty politicians and mostly local bureaucrats, most of whom see "train" and get all excited like kids.
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