Te Huia Auckland-Hamilton Passenger Rail Service and Its Predecessors: History Part 1 (1968-2010)

By Geoff Kreegher (Hamilton Ratepayer)

There has been an insatiable appetite to debate, advocate, lobby, campaign, consult and write reports for a passenger train from Hamilton to Auckland. Hamilton City Council has strongly advocated for a Hamilton to Auckland passenger rail service. Part 1 of this History of Auckland-Hamilton Passenger Rail Service covers the time between 1968 and 2010.  This includes early attempts at providing the services and feasibility studies that came before the current Te Huia service.

Background – Previous Hamilton – Auckland Trains

1968-1972

At the suggestion of Hamilton City Council, a refurbished NZR RM class (88 seater) railcar nicknamed the Blue Streak was used for a trial Auckland – Hamilton service from 1968-1972.

This initial service was unsuccessful, with patronage well below the levels needed to be profitable. The service might have been successful if run the other way round from Hamilton to Auckland in the morning but in 1968 the Wellington-Auckland Limited and Express were still timetabled to cater for the early morning commuter market from Hamilton and Huntly.

1991-2001

Two new provincial expresses were inaugurated for the Silver Ferns: the Kaimai Express between Tauranga and Auckland, and the Geyserland Express between Auckland and Rotorua began operating on 9 December 1991, Morning to Auckland back in afternoon (not commuter times) changed to a service from Auckland returning in the evening

Jun 2000-Oct 2001

Tranz Scenic ran the Waikato Connection service for over a year as a weekday single return service running between Hamilton and Auckland. The train used diesel multiple unit railcars.

“At the time of its cancellation the Waikato Connection was being patronised by an average of 129 passengers per trip, most of whom boarded at Pukekohe or Papakura, with only about 30 of those travelling the full distance between Hamilton and Auckland” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikato_Connection (Accessed 02 August 2024)

From 1975 until 2004, Tranz Rail (and other associated companies) operated an Auckland–Wellington Overnight train called The Northerner. However, the overnight train did not provide an Auckland-Hamilton connection suitable for commuters.

The derivation of Te Huia

2005

Ross Rutherford produced a report called Preliminary Feasibility Study into Passenger Rail Services in the Hamilton Area for Environment Waikato and Hamilton City Council.  The study’s conclusions were that the Auckland-Hamilton connection was feasible though would face issues

“The North Island Main Trunk Line passes through Hamilton passes through largely industrial and commercial areas with low passenger demand potential. This situation is not expected to change over the longer term…

…Realistically a Hamilton-Auckland service is very  unlikely to be commercial. Subsidy would, therefore, be required. Patronage numbers are not expected to be high but could grow substantially over time.”

Ross Rutherford, Preliminary Feasibility Study into Passenger Rail Services in the Hamilton Area, Transport Planning Solutions, 2005

2006

Richard Paling and Ross Rutherford wrote the “Hamilton – Auckland Commuter Rail Feasibility Study” (the “Paling Report”), for Environment Waikato and the Hamilton City Council.
The report identified that a daily commuter service was potentially operationally feasible. It envisaged a locomotive hauled train departing Hamilton in the early morning and returning in the evening peak, in a similar manner to the Capital Connection between Palmerston North and Wellington.

After the June 2006 announcement of the Overlander’s cancellation, there were proposals to re-instate the Waikato Connection, including from Dave Macpherson, Hamilton City Council’s Passenger Transport Committee chairman.

A fitting quote:
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – Winston Churchill.

Efforts continued to progress another failure – proving the above statement.

2009

Murray King, Richard Paling and Simon Wood produced a Preliminary Business Case for a Waikato Auckland Passenger Rail Service.
It predicted overall economic benefits over the 15 year evaluation period of $15.5 million and with benefits forecast to increase by 4 per cent per year based on forecast growth in revenue and passenger numbers

As chairman of the Hamilton City Council Transport Committee, Councillor Dave Macpherson was concerned at the lack of progress towards a new Auckland-to-Hamilton passenger service.

“Of particular concern is that no provision appears to have been made by Environment Waikato in its submitted transport programmes to enable a service to be established within the next 10 years. This was not Hamilton City Council’s expectation, considering the many discussions, studies and reports that both councils have been involved in during the last three years; and more particularly considering the Murray King report from late 2008 identifying the current opportunities for rolling stock that would not cost an arm and a leg.”

Hamilton City Council Transport Committee Chairman Dave Macpherson as quoted by Martin Tiffany in the Waikato Times, City seeks assurance on rail plan, 17 March 2009

2010

The Campaign for Better Transport group presented a petition titled “Waikato Trains NOW!” with 11,500 signatures which called for “commuter rail services between Hamilton and Auckland”.
11,500 people signed the petition calling on the Government and its agencies, such as NZ Transport Agency and Environment Waikato, to establish the much sought after rail services.
The Hamilton population was around 140,700 with about 50,000 ratepayers – Hardly massive support with signatures collected from the wider Waikato as well.

 “This is a great idea for so many reasons, and I can see a service between Auckland and Hamilton being popular for a number of different types of trips. For a start, there are those who live in Hamilton (or nearby towns) and work in Auckland – apparently quite a number of people do that amazingly long trip each day. Then there are those whose work takes them between cities: for business meetings or whatever other reasons – I think this would be a pretty significant number of people, hopefully catered for by a 9am service leaving Auckland heading to Hamilton, which returns from Hamilton to Auckland at around 3.00 – enabling people to conduct their meetings between 11am and 3pm.

The big advantage of being able to make this trip by train is that the time spent in the train can be productive. I see high quality carriages with tables so that people can work away on their laptops, or do a bit of paperwork before meetings. Hopefully the train would have inbuilt WiFi, although over time that might not be so essential as more people have mobile broadband.

And then of course it will be useful for tourists. Considering that a commercially viable train operates between Palmerston North and Wellington – both smaller cities than Hamilton and Auckland respectively – surely one would think in the longer run this would work financially. With 11.500 people signing a petition in support of such a service, one would hope that it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a reality.”

Greater Auckland, Massive support for Hamilton-Auckland commuter rail, 29 March 2010

Hamilton City Council received 40 submissions to 2010/11 Annual Plan supporting of establishing a Hamilton – Auckland passenger rail service.

40 submissions were received in support of establishing Hamilton to Auckland commuter/ passenger rail services. Council will continue to engage with Kiwi Rail, the New Zealand Transport Agency and Environment Waikato regarding planning and funding for the introduction of a viable Hamilton to Auckland commuter/passenger rail service.

Page 6 of the 2010/2011 Annual Plan, Hamilton City Council

That year, Versus Research Limited conducted a telephone survey of 1155 of randomly selected Waikato residents for their views on public transport generally and the passenger rail service. Versus reported that residents had a strong support of public transport and rail generally. However, willingness to fund the service through rates and “intention to use” the service was lower than general support. The survey also indicated that many people intendent to only use the proposed rail service occasionally and mostly for “Entertainment or events” and “Visiting family and friends”.  On average those surveyed considered that $36 would be an “acceptable” price for a return ticket on an Auckland-Hamilton rail trip.

Slides from the Passenger Rail Service Market Research Results, Versus Research Limited, November 2010

To be continued in part 2…

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