Brian Rudman: Rail bureaucrats try to go forwards in reverse

I'm a sucker when it comes to preserving our heritage, but I do have to draw the line at the rail bureaucrats' way of speeding up western-bound trains though the Newmarket station bottleneck.

Next they'll be suggesting we dress someone up in a 19th-century tailcoat and have him lead the trains up the track waving a red flag.

Surely a 21st-century rapid-rail system shouldn't involve the driver having to leap out of his/her seat at the first stop and bustle down the platform to a duplicate driving cab at the other end to continue the journey.

There's a certain quaintness about travelling in a train that leaves the city pointing in one direction, then, at the first stop, has to reverse briefly down the way you've come before branching off to complete the trip.

But we're not trying to create a tourist fun railway here, and I'm told the novelty of arriving at your destination facing in the opposite direction to the one you started wears off, especially when it adds four minutes to the journey.

The whizzkid planners at the Auckland Regional Transport Authority reckon that with a bit of fine tuning, they can get the stopover delay down to one minute, which is, they say, about the time it will take for passengers to get on and off, so where's the problem?

Well for one, will time and motion officers be hired to ensure the driver doesn't dawdle? And who, in these days of global terrorism, will be guarding the controls in this one-minute interregnum?

The good news is that the ARTA board has yet to decide which upgrade option for Newmarket station they prefer. But Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee's public dismay that trains could still be reversing west out of Newmarket following an up-to-$75 million upgrade is timely. Particularly when alternatives have either been rejected or talked down.

The officials' clear preference is for a station in the same vicinity as the existing one, behind the Broadway shops near the corner of Remuera Rd. This is past the western line turn-off north of Khyber Pass Rd, which is why western-bound trains have to reverse out of Newmarket to continue.

There are two obvious alternatives. The first is to build an additional station on the western line at Kingdon St or Davis Cres just off Khyber Pass. The officials rejected this option, admitting it met basic operational needs, but that land purchase was likely and there would be increased transfer time between stations.

Certainly an integrated station where trains from the south and west meet is the ideal. But does a slight degree of separation automatically rule it out?

Another alternative is to shift the Newmarket station north to the triangle created at the point near the Newmarket Warehouse where the southern line and the one from Britomart each arc west.

The officials fret that building a station inside this triangle would involve "significant" land purchases causing a likely two-year delay and threatening the 2008 completion deadline.

But what's the point of meeting a deadline if the solution turns out to be a bad one? As Mr Lee says, it is important to get the upgrade of this key rail junction right.

The relocation to The Warehouse site might disadvantage some present users, but there are only 1012 exiting passengers in the morning peak anyway. The focus should be on future users, and maybe they'll say a station near Khyber Pass, next to two cinema complexes and the swimming baths, is not a bad option.

While land purchases might be necessary, surely costs could be offset by selling surplus land near the existing station.

There's one other factor to be considered and that's how much western line traffic will go through Newmarket once/if the mythical tunnel west from Britomart station to Mt Eden is completed.

But some no doubt will, and over the years it will increase rapidly. That's why it is so important to get it right now. Mr Lee pointed out that bad decision-making just a few years back saddled Britomart station with a choking two-rail track entrance. He could have thrown in the four-lane harbour bridge his predecessors thought would also fulfil future needs.

Don't let's add Newmarket station to the list.