Trams could extend to Kumeu
NZTA chief also outlines best route between the CBD and the airport
Major changes are on the way for Auckland’s $6 billion light rail programme, including extending the modern day version of trams to Kumeu in the northwest.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald, NZTA chief executive Fergus Gammie said the plan for trams from the CBD to Westgate will probably be extended to Kumeu.
Gammie also revealed that NZTA believes that the best route between the CBD and the airport is by train to Puhinui and transferring to buses or trams for the 6km leg to the airport.
The transport agency still intends to build a $3.7b line for modern trams, referred to as light rail, from the CBD to the airport but sees the line as combining transport and development opportunities along the corridor, Gammie said.
For this reason, the project has been renamed the CBD to Ma¯ngere project, which will still serve the airport and allow workers to travel to the airport, a major employment centre.
The changes have been made after Labour handed over responsibility for light rail from Auckland Transport to the transport agency, which is going from being a road builder to looking at all forms of transport to benefit people and communities.
“What we are trying to achieve in the longer term is a system that enables people to spend a lot more of their life on public transport,” Gammie said.
Labour has promised to build light rail from the CBD to the airport and West Auckland within a decade, described as a “game changer” by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Labour’s plans for fast public transport separated from vehicles, known as rapid transit, also include a busway from Botany to Puhinui train station, and on to the airport.
A spokeswoman for Transport Minister Phil Twyford issued a brief statement, saying the minister was on the same page as Gammie and there was nothing more he could add.
Extending modern trams to Kumeu is being driven by already congested roads from a housing boom and projections of 25,000 more homes in the northwest by 2032.
However, the idea is not supported by the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA), which favours extending rail from Swanson to Kumeu and running rail directly from the CBD to the airport via Puhinui.
PTUA co-ordinator Jon Reeves said trams are slow and very expensive, whereas trains can provide fast, frequent and reliable service at less cost.
What’s more, rail can carry freight to the airport and reduce congestion on the roads, he said.
Reeves said there had been no official study comparing the cost of rail, modern trams or a busway from Puhinui to the airport.