NZ Rail History - Auckland's Rail Revival
Old and new – Second-hand railcar from Australia alongside new electric train built in Spain
The CRL is a key project for a successful Auckland and in the CRL newsletters last year we looked at the historic transport foundations laid by railways to allow the city to grow and prosper.
By the end of the 20th century, however, the rail network was a neglected transport option and the outlook was pretty grim. The city’s elders were even considering abolishing the network altogether when a rail renaissance was sparked by some ‘hand-me-downs’ from across the Tasman.
Rail’s second coming had its origins in the west Australian city of Perth. Auckland bought a bunch of second-hand diesel-powered railcars from the Aussies – a stopgap measure for a massive multi-million-dollar overhaul to modernise the Auckland network and bring it up to scratch.
Shortly after the start of the new millennium, Britomart Station opened. Rail was back in the middle of the city for the first time in 70 years.
Alongside rail improvements, more user-friendly bus services were introduced. As the number of people catching trains and buses to beat congestion on the roads was increasing, changes started coming thick and fast as Auckland took transport steps back to the future.
In 2007, it was officially announced that Auckland’s rail network would be finally electrified. One of the first steps to achieve this was making the Newmarket Station tunnel deeper for overhead wires.
Overnight electrification work installing overhead lines on the Auckland rail network
Three years later the Auckland Super City was born. Alongside its creation the Newmarket Station opened, the Onehunga commuter line reopened following the same route as horse-drawn trams in the 19th century, double tracking the Western Line was completed, and KiwiRail won the contract for track electrification and signals.
One breathless year later the Spanish manufacturer, CAF, started building 57 three-car electric trains for Auckland and a maintenance depot for them in south Auckland.
In 2012, the Manukau line – the first new line in Auckland for over 80 years – opened. Auckland Transport started rolling out its electronic HOP card. Importantly, public transport trips – trains, buses and ferries – exceeded 70 million for the first time since the city’s tram lines were ripped out in the 1950s.
A couple of years later, action was taken to make Auckland’s long cherished transport dream come true – building a railway under the central city.
The first consents were approved for the CRL project with the first spades going into the ground late 2015 - to build a world-class railway line that Auckland needs. CRL’s progress and the huge benefits it will bring to Auckland’s transport transformation is a story still in the making.