Hubbard says it's time for electric rail

Dick Hubbard

Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard is calling for an early decision to electrify the region's passenger rail network, to allow superior urban development with less noise and air pollution.

He told a land transport summit conference in Auckland yesterday that a decision was needed within six months, despite an indication from Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Transport Minister David Parker that electrification is not among priorities for Government funding.

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority says it needs to buy new trains within six years, and that a higher price for going electric would eventually be overtaken by the greater operating and maintenance costs of a diesel fleet, giving projected patronage increases.

Mr Hubbard said he understood one proposal under consideration was for the authority to buy new diesel trains, with the capacity to convert these to electricity later.

"I put it to you that New Zealand is riddled with short-term solutions that become long term," he said.

Electrifying the rail network would not just put more "bums on seats", but had big implications for pollution control and urban design.

Sticking with diesel trains would restrict growth around rail corridors and stations, because they were noisier and created more pollution than electric units.

The regional transport authority says electric trains will be essential for an underground rail loop, from Britomart to Mt Eden via Albert St, as diesel is unsuitable for long tunnels unless strong draughts of air are pumped through them.

Authority chief executive Alan Thompson said this would make underground stations at likely sites below Wellesley St and Karangahape Rd "very unfriendly" to passengers.

Mr Thompson said the authority would like to see Auckland provided with electric trains, but had a lot more work to do before making a final decision on future rolling stock, in consultation with its regional council and Government funders.

Dr Cullen and Mr Parker said in a letter to the transport authority and regional council before Christmas that they were ruling out neither electrification nor a loop tunnel, and expected to consider business cases for both projects in due course.

"However, we do not see them as a priority for Government funding in the short term," they wrote.

They said a core rail upgrade, including double-tracking the congested western line to Waitakere and upgrading Newmarket Station and junction, could be completed in such a way that left the other two projects open to development "at some point in the future".

The transport authority estimates that it would cost about $500 million to electrify its network between Papakura and Swanson compared with $381 million to buy a new diesel fleet, but believes maintenance and operating bills would eventually favour an electric option.

The authority says it would cost a further $500 million to $1 billion to build a 3.5km tunnel between Britomart and Mt Eden.