Source: New Zealand Government
Good morning.
Thank you, Minister of Transport, for outlining the Government’s substantial investment in Auckland’s passenger rail system.
Mayor of Auckland, it is good to see you and to hear a bit of pragmatism.
Distinguished guests who have already been acknowledged, thank you again.
David Gordon, the can-do man from KiwiRail, thank you for your leadership of this project and thank you to your team for delivering it.
Now, let us set the record straight.
The Third Main Line has been a long time coming.
While many advocated for it, we funded it.
In late 2019 the New Zealand Upgrade Programme started life as an NZTA wish-list of planned but unfunded projects, and the then Minister for State Owned Enterprises insisted on including rail projects too.
You might wish to check who that Minister was.
KiwiRail presented extremely well considered projects and we got on with it.
On 29 January 2020, we announced four rail projects:
- This one, building the Third Main Line between Wiri and Westfield.
- Extending Auckland’s electrified network from Papakura to Pukekohe, completed earlier this year.
- Upgrading Wellington’s network, particularly into Wairarapa.
- Developing Drury with new rail stations.
That was more than $1 billion for essential rail upgrades, and more when factoring in our upgrades to Northland’s line and the part-funding of the Marsden Point Rail Link.
This built on wider investments to revitalise New Zealand’s rail system, a programme which we really got going from 2018 after decades of mismanagement and irresponsibility.
We changed the law so that rail is funded like a road.
We committed the funding for major asset renewals – new bridges, culverts, signals, locomotives, carriages, network equipment and much more.
We even saved rail ferries twice – first in 2020, and again after the previous Government went away with the ferries, so to speak.
The end product is a commercial and competitive freight business that will seriously boost our economy, and a passenger network that works for Auckland, Wellington and the regions.
But back to the third track.
This project means freight can run separately from passenger trains at the busiest rail junction in Auckland.
Had we not done this, the busier passenger services that Aucklanders want to see would have shut freight out from the rail network during the day.
We would have had a busier passenger network but derailed our economy.
Ports of Auckland work during the day, so no trains into and out of that port would have a severe impact on imports and exports.
Wealth from our exports are the very reason our country can afford to pay for infrastructure in our cities in the first place.
Fonterra, who rely on Ports of Auckland for resilience, choice and flexibility, are a huge user of rail freight and represent a quarter of New Zealand’s exports in dollar terms.
Their distribution centre in Hamilton is deliberately located at the centre of the Golden Triangle between Auckland and Tauranga.
Companies like Coca-Cola have invested in an expanded rail siding, increasing rail volumes heading south and unlocking carbon, road maintenance and safety benefits in the process.
Mainfreight has invested millions in new rail-served facilities, taking trucks off Auckland’s roads with lower road maintenance and congestion benefits.
The fact is that this railway must serve commuters and the economy.
And investments like the third main line does exactly that.
And unlike those who are fast on the lip but slow on the hip, we deliver.
But far more importantly, the team at KiwiRail delivered the work.
And today, it is our pleasure to extend our thanks, on behalf of the Government, to the men and women of KiwiRail who put the hard yards in and built this line.
Combined with the City Rail Link and the Rail Network Rebuild, the investment in Auckland’s network is actually about New Zealand.
A clogged up, congested major city is not good for the economy.
Roads ripped up by heavy trucks, in a city that rains far too often, is no good for a road budget paid for by road users and taxpayers.
That is why the longer-term projects remain firmly on our radar.
Auckland’s Southern Corridor is the busiest line in New Zealand, serving passengers and freight.
Section by section, we will need to add third and fourth main lines across it to expand capacity, boost frequencies and ensure freight can keep reaching our largest domestic market.
We will also need to grapple with building the Avondale-Southdown corridor.
New Zealand has owned that corridor since the 1940s.
KiwiRail is doing more design work now, particularly on an alternative route beyond Onehunga at the request of locals.
The corridor could see eight trains an hour serving suburbs that have never been connected into the rail network – creating an outer loop from West to South to East and complementing Auckland’s inner city rail link.
A corridor across Auckland, bypassing the busy CBD, would enable freight hubs to flourish in West Auckland as they do currently in South Auckland.
That would get trucks off the local roads, using rail instead, and freeing up the roads for locals and tradies.
That corridor is significant for New Zealand, not just Auckland.
An efficient freight route across Auckland is not just about Auckland, it’s about Northland, Southland and everything in between.
That opens up Northland and ensures exporters and shipping lines have choice and capacity across Tauranga, Auckland, and Northport.
These are longer term projects, but now is the time to get ready.
And as we have shown here in the Third Main Line, we mean business.
Thank you.