Heavy rail only solution

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern’s column ( NZ Herald, August 10) and Labour’s pledge of support for a light rail network in Auckland is an example of not doing it right and not doing it well.

National, the Greens, Auckland Council, Auckland Chamber of Commerce, New Zealand Transport Agency, and others, have all jumped on the bandwagon for light rail.

Cities overseas have heavy rail connections between their airports, city centres and railway networks.

In Auckland, light rail would not provide enough capacity in either the medium or long term, and would be 30 per cent or worse slower than heavy rail.

New Zealand First does not accept that heavy rail costing for the airport line evaluated less than 10 years ago at about $600 million, can now be more than $2 billion, as claimed by Auckland Transport.

The Auckland public should be made aware also that light rail refers to modernised trams that operate on rail. Heavy rail is commuter trains like those that run in Auckland and Wellington at present as well as freight and passenger trains. There is a big difference.

We are committed to having heavy rail from the central city to the airport along the Puhinui route.

A line from the Manukau branch line at Wiri Junction, running west to the airport along a near parallel route to the south of Puhinui Rd could be built on mostly undeveloped countryside, to connect the airport with existing Eastern Line services running at 10-minute frequencies between Manukau and Britomart. Rail freight could also be transported between the airport and the Wiri inland port or the Westfield-Southdown rail freight terminals.

There are countless examples abroad supporting heavy rail as the only real longterm solution. Rt Hon Winston Peters, NZ First Leader and

Northland Member of Parliament.