Timetable set for Britomart train debut

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The first commuter train to enter downtown Auckland in more than 70 years is scheduled to pull into the glistening new Britomart railway station on July 7.

The exact service is still to be determined, but it is likely to be a morning train from the south packed with dignitaries, reporters, a band and regular commuters.

The $211 million Britomart transport centre will be operational on June 23, but it will take two weeks to train 60 Tranz Rail drivers to use the signalling in and out of the five-platform underground railway station.

The railway station is all but complete, but much work remains to be done on the interior of the old Chief Post Office, which will be the entranceway off Queen Elizabeth II Square.

The square is undergoing its own transformation - new paving, a sunken kauri forest, a covered walkway and a road for buses.

Auckland City Mayor John Banks, the critic who lambasted Britomart as the "temple at the bottom of Queen St", will open the project at a civic function on July 25.

A festival day on July 26 will have bands, street theatre and the likelihood of free rail transport.

The historic rail event will be followed by bus services moving to the streets around the Chief Post Office on August 3. Buses to the west, east, south, Western Bays, Three Kings and Mt Eden Rd, as well as the Link and City Circuit service will use Britomart.

Other services will continue to leave from midtown and the Civic Theatre bus stops.

The Auckland Regional Council expects that eight of the 19 ADL two-car diesel trains will be refurbished in time for the Britomart opening, and improvements to services completed.

From June 9, a new timetable will see trains leaving Auckland until 8pm Monday to Saturday instead of 6.30pm. Morning trains on the eastern line will run every 30 minutes from 6am (now 7.15am) and Pukekohe commuters will have an additional early morning and evening service, and their first mid-morning and mid-afternoon services.

ARC passenger transport committee chairwoman Catherine Harland said within six months of Britomart opening more trains and more services would be operating, including a 10-minute peak-hour service between Papakura and the city, more New Lynn peak-hour services, evening services to 11pm and Sunday services.

A draft business plan calling for a major upgrade of rail services and infrastructure will be released today.

It comes from a steering group set up by the ARC, Infrastructure Auckland and Auckland Regional Transport Network Ltd.

Extra train services:

* From June 9.

* Evening trains out of Auckland until 8pm (now 6.30pm) Monday to Saturday.

* Morning trains on the eastern line every 30 minutes from 6am (now 7.15am).

* More morning, evening and daytime services to Pukekohe.