Radical light rail alternative
A tunnel under Queen St, elevated sections over Mt Eden, and automatic driverless trains are part of the secretive bid from the Super Fund to build Auckland’s light rail.
Details of the plan and the route have been kept secret by NZ Infra, the company the fund has formed to manage the proposal. But a massive leak of documents to Stuff shows a radical plan that differs substantially from anything previously proposed by the Government, including the wellknown NZTA plan for light rail along Dominion Rd.
The plans date from last December, and Transport Minister Phil Twyford and the Ministry of Transport have both confirmed they have been updated since. If successful, the partnership with NZ Infra could mean more enormous projects throughout the country.
But some experts are concerned the project could be extraordinarily costly – perhaps upwards of $10 billion, and lead to years of disruption.
If successful, the the NZ Infra bid could be rolled out for other projects in Wellington but at the moment it looks so expensive and ambitious that parties like NZ First will be unlikely to back it.
What it shows is two lines from central Auckland, one to West Auckland, ending in Kumeu, the other to Auckland Airport. It is believed only the airport line is being seriously considered as part of the current proposal.
There will be two underground stations in Queen St, before heading to Mt Eden.
The other proposal, from NZTA, was for tracks to be laid down Dominion Rd. While this is still an option, a route down Sandringham Rd is also being considered. The most controversial detail is just how the rail will get through Mt Roskill.
NZTA’s plan has been for the rail lines to be ‘‘at grade’’, meaning at the level of the road.
NZ Infra’s proposal is for much of the project to be ‘‘grade separated’’, meaning either below the ground or flying above the road on an elevated railway.
Matt Lowry, of Greater Auckland, a transport blogger, was strongly critical of the proposal, saying earlier proposals from NZTA would deliver 95 per cent of the benefits of the NZ Infra proposal, but at much lower cost. He compared the NZ Infra bid to trying to build the entire London Underground at once, which opened in 1863 and has evolved over 150 years.