Date: March 24, 2015. Location: Howick ATA Station. Time: 5am. Roger Kirk reporting.
Today is my 58th birthday. I am standing in the pre-dawn darkness at the Picton St entrance to the brand new Auckland Transit Authority Howick light rail station. The doors will not open for another 30 minutes.
Why am I standing here instead of having a lie-in, reading the paper in bed and looking forward to a birthday brunch with family and friends? Because I promised myself many years ago I would be on the first train from Howick to the city. Sir Dove-Myer Robinson would have loved to have been involved today as well, I suspect. As that popular old cheese add once said, Good things take time.
I admire the entrance of the underground station, noticing the extensive use of stainless steel to cope with Auckland's marine environment. The whole project had a focus on great design and durability. Although we've been waiting many years for a world-class rail public transit system we finally have one to be very proud of.
Other eager Howicians are joining me as the eastern horizon changes colour. We share the excitement of a fantastic alternative to the mind-numbing, road-choking Pakuranga Rd, Ti Rakau Drive, Te-Irirangi Drive routes to work, university, shows and everything else that takes place west of Howick. By 5.30 the train-tryers fill the village square and as the electric doors are unlocked by the station computer we surge down the escalator and steps to the ticket lobby. The station is located beneath Picton St and in common with all ATA stations has several entrances. A second wave arrives from the Uxbridge Rd entrance, crowding the area.
ATA has run an extensive campaign to introduce the network. One initiative promises every person who tries the ATA on opening day a complimentary one week pass on their Lava Card integrated ticket. The ticket system is almost identical to London's Oyster card and works across all public transit. Anyone riding the first train from any station today receives a one month pass on their Lava Card. My love of trains (and Scottish heritage) ensures I will not be on a later service.
The second initiative is a bold move to wean Aucklanders from their dependency on cars. A Two for Free ticket policy has been announced. This means that travel between stations with no more than one station in between is free. This means that if work, school, the mall, pub or whatever is only one or two stops away you can use the ATA at no charge. There are no restrictions and a glance at the route map shows the possibilities. A resident from the Upland Rd area can shop in Newmarket and get there and back for free. A St Kentigern College student living in Highland Park has free transport to and from school.
This idea came from Perth's excellent Free Transit Zone where travel within the City centre is free. This concept was extended by the ATA to support local communities where people might be able to work, shop, and go to school without needing to rely on a car.
The effect this is having on land use is incredible. Even before the ATA is running the expanding universe of Auckland has finally come to a halt. Developers have turned their sights back towards the Sky Tower and begun showing an intense interest in any property within walking distance of an ATA station. The catalyst for this was the Auckland Council seeing the benefit in not requiring capital expenditure in extending sewage networks, building new roads and covering productive land under hectares of asphalt and concrete. It is planned that land close to ATA stations will be re-zoned to allow higher density housing. To avoid residents being rated out of the family home the Mayor has guaranteed that these properties will only be re-zoned when sold.
I remember in early 1999 being impressed by the plans for the Monterey Apartments, a multi-level development on the site of the old Monterey Theatre in Howick, 150m from the future ATA station. The design had a good feel to it and the location was superb. Little did I know that an apartment bought then for $260,000 would be on the market now for $880,000. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?
The queues for the ticket machines move quickly. Anyone not having a Lava Card can buy a one-trip ticket that has a magnetic strip on one side. The ticket is encoded with your station of entry as you pass through the barriers to the platform level. At the end of your journey the exit barrier compares the station of exit with the value of your ticket and if the correct fare has been paid you are allowed to pass. Lava Cards have the journey cost deducted from the stored value as you pass through the barrier.
I swipe my card at the barrier and pass through, heading down one more level to the platform. The line will be extended from Howick to meet the old Manukau City station over the next 18 months so at the moment the only services from Howick head west. The routes are colour coded, the Waitakere line is green, the line back to Howick is blue. I ease over to the side of the island platform that has the LCD screens with information in green. The display shows the 0600 service to Waitakere is due in four minutes.
Local communities have been invited to choose a theme for their station and the Howick platform level has an appropriate Fencible feel to it. The station walls beyond the tracks have beautiful murals the full length of the platforms celebrating the history of the area. The walls are unable to be graffitied because there are stainless steel and glass doors along the platform edges that only open when the train has stopped behind them. Apart from the obvious safety function the doors improve the station air conditioning by it not having to cope with blasts of tunnel-air as each train arrives.
A chime signifies that the train is due in one minute and the green displays flash the next stop, Botany North, above the destination. Excitement grips us as we wait for our first glimpse of an ATA light rail train and applause erupts as a sleek train glides quietly to a stop behind the glass, the doors lining up perfectly. Both sets open revealing a gap of only 50mm between the train floor and platform.
The low-floor train-sets are manufactured by The Kinki Sharyo Company in Osaka, Japan. This company also built the Singapore MRT light rail vehicles and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority LRVs in Silicon Valley, California. Each unit is 27 metres long. In peak times two units are coupled to give a passenger capacity of 280. Off peak, single units operate, halving the electrical demand from the network. A clever feature of these vehicles is regenerative braking, where the traction system brakes the train by switching the electric motors into generators. The trains speed is reduced by generating electricity that is fed back into the overhead wires. Conventional wheel-braking is only used for the last few seconds of speed reduction.
The train interior is breathtaking! Advertising in recent weeks described the décor as a celebration of the beauty of New Zealand, from the mountains to the beaches. I'm in the rear of the train and the non-slip floor is patterned with alpine rock and patches of snow. The wall facings have tussock and schist patterns below the windows, above are rock faces and more snow with a ridge line just below the ceiling. The ceiling is a cloudless sky blue. This is a two unit train and as I look forward I can see that the next section has forest scenes. I can't easily see into the front unit but the publicity shows it has rolling countryside with manuka and flax (and a few cows and sheep) and transitions from grassy floors to sandy beaches. New Zealanders have always been proud of our clean green image and since the nuclear disaster in Germany in 2013 others have recognised our superb location down under. Our unique country is beautifully celebrated with these fabulous interiors.
A beeper warns that the doors are about to close and ceiling displays showing the next station change to Botany North. With a distinctive electric hum the train accelerates rapidly, surprising those standing. Strap-hangers will have to develop strong arm muscles. The line snakes perceptibly as it follows the ridge under Stockade Hill. The lead end straightens up, the rest coming into line as we arrive at the next stop. More passengers board and in 15 seconds we are on the move again.
The line emerges from the ground opposite the Howick Fire Station and crosses Pakuranga Rd on an elevated track. The Highland Park station is built above ground on the site of the old Sky City Cinema complex. This commercial area had become fairly run down but is now being revitalised with apartments being built and the shopping centre due for a major renovation.
Above ground stations have waist high platform doors. This stop is close to Lloyd Elsmore Park, perfect for getting to sport. Beyond the park the line runs above the centre of Pakuranga Rd and the next stop is at Cascades Rd. Elevated stations have escalators to each side of the road below, avoiding the need to wait for the pedestrian crossings down at street level.
We glide past St Kentigern College and ease left, stopping at the Pakuranga station adjacent to the Westfield Mall. A few Countdown workers get off, the Exit Two escalator delivering them at the mall entrance.
The line climbs slightly before crossing the Tamaki Estuary south of the Waipuna Bridge. The front dips and begins a right turn before we reach ground level at Sylvia Park. From here the line follows the established route to Glen Innes before heading underground again east of the Purewa tunnel. We pass through St Johns, Upland Rd and Remuera stations, then see daylight again before pulling into Newmarket. The old Remuera Station on the red/yellow line has been renamed Market Rd to avoid confusion with the new station located under the Remuera Rd and Victoria Ave intersection.
Newmarket is first of the City Loop stations. The north/west (yellow/green) lines and the south/east (red/blue) lines share the same tracks through the loop stations. If you need to transfer to a different line it can be done at any loop station.
This is one of the brilliant features of the system. The trains are sequenced so that a green line (Waitakere) train passing through a loop station is always followed by a yellow line (Northcross) train. A passenger from east Auckland travelling to the North Shore can alight at any loop station, wait on the same platform and board the next train that arrives. There is no need to search the station for the correct platform. A yellow train always follows a green train. To transfer to a red line (Pukekohe) train this passenger would simply move across the platform to the opposite side. A red train always follows a blue train at a loop station.
The loop station platform display screens change colour depending on the next train due at that platform, so any display in yellow shows that a Northcross train is next to arrive. As this train departs the displays change to green for the next arrival. On the opposite platforms the displays alternate red and blue for services to the south and east.
Every train on the network always passes through every loop station. This design concept is elegant in its simplicity. Compare this with Sydney's City Circle where only some trains pass through certain Circle stations. Many a tourist has had to retrace part of their journey to get on the correct line.
Newmarket is a busier station and the stop is for 30 seconds. We glide off silently around to the left making a faint wheel squeal on the sharpest bend on the system and pass behind the old Lion Brewery site, now home to a clutch of cranes building a new classy retail and apartment complex. Because of the proximity to an ATA station the number of car park spaces required in this project was reduced, freeing floor area for more productive use.
A set of points lead us to the right, off the old Western Line and underground again. The next stop is at Grafton, perfect for visiting Auckland or Starship Hospitals, or for students at the School of Medicine. I glance left as we cross the motorways by Grafton Bridge, thinking of a relative who had helped build it, mixing concrete in hand-turned mixers. The bridge supporting my train was mainly cast offsite and erected in a few short months. It does have some graceful arches though, acknowledging its proximity to a famous Auckland icon.
There is more darkness outside until we pull into University Station located beneath Albert Park. Like the other loop stations there are many exits. Students have two exits within Auckland University buildings and one on the AUT campus.
On the move again we pop out into daylight at Constitution Hill, cross the old Parnell Rise railway bridge, then dip below the surface before Parnell Station. A long left turn brings us back into the sun at Gladstone Rd, on the edge of Dove-Myer Robinson Park. What a pity it took 40 years until his vision for the city was realised. The old Orakei line is rejoined and leads us into the new Britomart Station.
I say new because it's capacity had been limited by being a terminus station, the end of the line. Rush hour trains frequently had to wait outside for a departing train to vacate a platform, freeing it for the inbound service. The Super City's second Mayor got things moving by committing to the city loop concept. Mayor Fyfe and his team of visionaries approved the funding that completed Britomart's original design as a through-station, vastly improving its capacity.
The timing was fortunate because a tunnel boring machine was finishing the last of the new rail tunnels in Sydney's northern suburbs. These huge machines are often abandoned when their work is done, the last task a short job drilling their own grave. A group of Kiwi Rail engineers devised a way to recover the machine and use it for the underground sections in Auckland. Because the cost of the boring machine had been included in the Sydney work our cousins across the Tasman were happy to let us have it for only the expense of recovery and shipping. Good on ya mates.
The last two loop stations are Sky Tower and Town Hall. After this the line-pairs separate with the green/blue line passing through the new Khyber Pass Station before rejoining the established western line at the Mt Eden Station. The yellow/red line passes through K Rd, Ponsonby and Three Lamps Stations before it crosses the Waitemata harbour on a dedicated rail bridge.
This beautiful bridge design was based on a Vancouver Skytrain bridge over the Fraser River. It has conventional pier spans at both ends leading to a magnificent cable-stayed centre section over the shipping channel. It looks graceful and complements the "Coathanger" a few hundred metres to the west.
Another green feature of the ATA is hidden beneath the waters of the Waitemata. Massive turbines are incorporated in the piers and generate one third of the electricity the network uses. Electricity can be generated until 45 minutes before and after the change of tide, in slack water times the national grid picks up the difference. Without the regenerative braking feature the total electrical demand would be 25 percent greater.
Easing down the northern grade of the bridge we angle west slightly to join what was the old Northern Motorway Busway. Just like Perth's excellent light rail network the ATA makes use of land adjacent to motorways. This is a subtle form of advertising as frustrated motorists stuck in stagnant traffic can't help but notice trains gliding past at speeds of up to 110kph.
Suddenly feeling hungry, I decide not to ride to the end of the line at Northcross and get off at Akoranga Station. By good luck a red line service pulls in as I cross to the other side of the platform. The destination is the airport and I realise that I can have brunch at my favourite cafe, Columbus Onehunga. Before long we are crossing the harbour again, downtown Auckland looking stunning in the soft light of early morning.
For cyclists who make use of the ATA there are dedicated spaces in the centre of each unit where it hinges. This is an area where passengers avoid standing since the circular floor plate pivots independently of the rest of the unit. In this space are vertical racks where twelve bikes per unit can be stored. There is no charge for carrying a bike onboard.
At the non-loop stations are bike lockers for cyclists who ride from home to their station but can subsequently walk or bus the last part of their journey. Demand is going to be monitored and extra lockers will be added where needed. Your Lava Card can be used to pay the one dollar per day charge for the secure lockers.
The loop section of the ATA runs partly below ridge lines like Ponsonby Rd, K Rd and Hobson St. This allows stations to have not only vertical access but also horizontal travelator access from streets parallel to the ridge. As an example Sky Tower Station has two entrances on Albert St, two on Nelson St, as well as four entrances directly above on Hobson St, one at each corner of the intersection with Victoria St.
Coming back to the surface after Britomart I get a good look at the development of the last of the railway land below Gladstone Rd. The realignment of the rail line to the container wharf has removed the last restriction and building has begun. Because this area is tucked below the higher land by the Rose Gardens the new buildings will not destroy any of the existing views of residents. Provision has been made for an ATA station here as the number of locals increase. It is planned to span the rail lines, making use of the space above. There will be elevated walkways to the Vector Arena, similar to those serving Wellington's "Cake Tin." I hope the name for the station commemorates Robbie and his belief in the importance of good public transit systems.
As the new lines have been built, capitalising on the capabilities of the electric trains that arrived just after the Rugby World Cup, there have been some casualties. Orakei and Meadowbank Stations will soon be removed, the new east line in this part of the city moved closer to population and shopping areas along Remuera Rd. The Grafton Station also had to be sacrificed, the city loop line needing to leave the old route on the Newmarket side of the station to have enough room to curve around to meet the new Grafton Station. On the plus side Sylvia Park has remained despite an early proposal showing the east line heading to Pakuranga after leaving Panmure Station. The patronage at Sylvia Park consistently exceeded forecasts so it was included as an east line stop.
Before long I get a glimpse of the Mainline Steam Depot in Parnell. As passenger numbers grew on the old Auckland network pressure grew for a station to serve Parnell. The plan was to evict the steam engines and relocate the old Newmarket Station to this site. This short-sighted proposal assumed university students would walk from here and that visitors to Parnell would slog uphill from the station built in the gully.
Fortunately the new Auckland Council made a bold decision and began building the new city loop, the northern and eastern lines. Because the new Parnell Station would be beneath Parnell Rd, Mainline Steam was able to stay at the Cheshire St site. The old Newmarket Station was still moved here though and has been beautifully restored. This allowed the removal of the last of the decrepit old platforms at The Strand although a single line has been retained to give steam trains access to the Orakei line they will share with container trains.
The old line up through the tunnel to Newmarket has also been saved for both Mainline Steam and freight trains to the north of Auckland. I am pleased to report that the ugly advertising billboards on the old rail bridge over Parnell Rise have finally been removed. The bridge has been formally recognised as heritage structure and is being restored to its original state. When Mainline Steam are running excursions Constitution Hill is a popular spot for photographers.
The combination of a classic bridge, an historic steam engine and late afternoon sun gives the chance to get that one-in-a-million shot. For those wanting an "Old and New" shot this be achieved by zooming out to show the new ATA bridge crossing the old rail bridge.
Newmarket Station is soon behind as we head "over the hill" and down the red line. Apart from the renaming of the old Remuera Station little has changed. The stations had been upgraded and the overhead electric system installed as 2011 drew to a close. At Penrose we head south west and pass over six level crossings. These quaint old crossings have outlived their usefulness and with the greatly increased frequency of trains are a hazard to both road and rail traffic. There are plans to elevate the airport line between Penrose and Onehunga, keeping local traffic moving and greatly improving safety.
At Onehunga I get off and recall a memory from my childhood. I grew up in Mangere Bridge and, to get into town (to go the pictures), I would walk across the old bridge and catch a trolley bus from the Onehunga terminus. The old bus turn-around was dug up when the new Onehunga Station needed the space. Electricity is once again taking people from here to the city, 40 years after the last trolley bus service.
The airport-bound train moves off, it will call at the international and domestic terminals before beginning the return trip on the yellow line to Northcross. There was early resistance from the Auckland International Airport company to the proposal to extend the Onehunga branch line to the airport. It could only see income from car parks decreasing but pressure to have more predictable travel times to the airport continued to build. Eventually the company realised that an airport of any worth has decent transit links to the city it serves, a section of green-painted road does not count.
One more far-sighted decision has been to treat the airport stations as normal suburban stations, unlike many cities where air travelers are gouged if catching the train. I was last in Sydney in 2013 and paid $27 to travel by train into Circular Quay. The passenger beside me had joined the train one station before the International Terminal at Wolli Creek, his fare to downtown Sydney was only $5.40 because he was treated as a normal suburban traveler. No wonder Sydney Airport employees drive their cars to and from work! The Auckland Airport stations do not have higher fares, they are just regular stations on our fantastic network. In 2018 the airport line will continue to Manukau making travel south much quicker. Manukau will also see the extended east line from Howick one year earlier.
I ease across The Mall into Columbus Cafe and choose an outside table so I can watch the trains, just as I used to many years ago, riding my bike home from Manukau Intermediate School. I see Ryan is inside, making the best flat white in Auckland. Great coffee and great trains, what more could a ferroequinologist want for his birthday?
Pilot with the vision
Roger Kirk is an Air New Zealand pilot who flies Boeing 777s to most of the airline's overseas destinations. An obsessed train fan, the 53-year-old uses his stopovers to visit the public transport systems of cities all over the world.
The father-of-two from East Auckland admits he hasn't worked out how much such a system would cost us, but notes the price climbs each year nothing is done.
The image attached to the story shows what an Auckland rail system could look like in five years. It is one of a set of composite photographs Mr Kirk has produced.
"The idea for this has been about five years in the making," he says.
"I started work on it when the airline was flying to Singapore. Then we stopped flying to Singapore and I started again from scratch."
The train pictured is from the Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, California.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Aucklander
What have we learned from the Auckland floods?
OPINION: There have been changes to warn city residents to get to higher ground.