Subscribe to RSSLatest ARTA Thinking On CBD Rail Loop
ARTA has presented an update on its thinking on the CBD rail loop to Auckland City Council’s transport committee.
According to this report of the meeting, planners consider:
- The stations would be about 700 metres apart
- Possible locations : Aotea Square, Karangahape Rd and Newton
- The underground stations would be on 200-metre-long platforms with access points to the surface
- There are steep gradient issues - there is a 70-metre height difference between Mt Eden and Britomart
- The gradient would flatten out at points to accommodate underground stations
- Objectives for the link: to support growth in the region, increase train patronage and ensure the line is integrated with the national network
- Investigations into the city rail route will be complete by the end of next year
- Construction seven to 10 years away (nice, but says who?)
ARTA map of the loop
5 Comments
Hmm, not really any new info…
Yeah there’s still the $1.5 billion question of how it’s going to be paid for.
Hmm, they seem to still be planning to connect the tunnel to the existing Britomart platforms, thereby restricting the capacity to not even double what we have now.
Did they not get my email?!
Man, more big projects.
we need more monies thought :/
A few points:
There is no need to have flat platforms; several new & old stations have sloped track & platforms - Avondale, Kingsland (Eden Park!) Te Mahia, Fruitvale Rd, etc. That eases gradient back to roughly 1:30 which is tolerable. Flat platforms will give gradients that will kill speed, even for electric trains.
Sad to see ARTA still use dots to mark stations - this misleads people to think station exits are further away tan they really are. We should all use strips to show platform length (at least roughly) to more accurately convey where end exits are.
What is the proposed Parnell station doing at the bottom of Parnell Rise??? At the edge of a motorway, and far from Parnell shops. I thought it was to go by Mainline Steam shed?
Using Ian McKinnon Dr for rail route through Newton would be cheaper and faster to build, and would hook up nicely at Dominion Rd flyover. West trains would then use Kingsland station as junction, with a Newton station at Newton Rd on the CBD line. It would also ease the CBD line gradient, as Ian McKinnon Dr is slightly lower than Mt Eden station, and this could be further eased if the CBD line to Kingsland was a new track, which could be set lower than the existing twin tracks.