Auckland rail commuters are facing their greatest disruption ever, with a series of line closures extending out more than year as a new round of track upgrade work begins.
The Southern and Onehunga Lines will close for three months over summer – an extension of the usual three-week summer works shutdown – while the Eastern Line will close for much of 2023.
“This will be devastating for confidence in the rail network and in the wider public transport system,” Matt Lowrie, from urban advocacy group Greater Auckland, said.
Track operator KiwiRail and Auckland Transport said the extended shutdowns were needed while the rock foundations for the network were upgraded in preparation for future growth.
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Even with patronage down about 22% following Covid-19, the Eastern and Southern lines carried more than 560,000 passengers during July.
The work on track foundations is the biggest and most disruptive part of work which has been going on for more than two years, after under-maintenance and wear and tear raised safety concerns.
“We don’t want a repeat of this situation,” KiwiRail’s chief operating officer David Gordon said.
Abigail Dougherty/Stuff
Auckland’s remaining diesel passenger units end their service in July 2022 on the Papakura-Pukekohe line.
“As we work on each stage of the Rail Network Rebuild over the next few years, our teams will also be linking in with other rail improvement projects and doing proactive maintenance – dealing with issues that would otherwise need to be resolved later on – to avoid further disruption.”
The train and track owners have not previously warned of disruption on this scale.
RYAN ANDERSON/Stuff
KiwiRail’s Todd Moyle at the Penrose Station, during track upgrades that closed the line in October 2020. (File photo)
KiwiRail said further work on smaller sections would continue in 2024, in the run-up to the completion of the City Rail Link.
The work to this point had focussed on the condition of steel rails and the sleepers they sit on.
With that work done, attention was now shifting to the rock beds that the tracks ran over, Gordon said.
“We appreciate that this work will frustrate commuters, but it needs to be done.”
Auckland Transport hoped to minimise the disruption by running additional rail replacement bus services – although it is currently short of drivers and still cancelling up to 1800 trips a day.
Lowrie questioned why the foundation work was not done through 2020 and 2021, with the shutdowns and speed restrictions imposed then.
“What are the actual improvements in speed and reliability we can expect?” he said.
“We continue to only get vague promises that are never delivered.”
Auckland Transport/Supplied
A map showing the shutdowns planned for Auckland’s rail network throughout 2022 and 2023.
The Eastern Line will be the most disrupted. It will open after the January 15 of the summer shutdown, but will close from late March for much of the year.
The Western Line is unaffected by work covered in the latest announcement.
Auckland’s under-maintained rail network had been the subject of a series of reports commissioned over the past years, which highlighted a $200 million catch-up was needed and that disruption could last for years.
