Onehunga Train line to Reopen
Finally some sense shown about public transport. After being rejected by local government, central government has agreed to reopen the Onehunga train line.
Delight at Government’s decision to reopen Onehunga line:
Finance Minister Michael Cullen announced yesterday that the 3.5km branch line between Penrose and Onehunga – opened in 1873 but abandoned by regular passenger trains 34 years ago – would be reinstated for around $10 million.The Auckland Regional Transport Authority expects that a new station at a site yet to be determined, and extra trains for more than 500,000 passengers a year, will cost it another $3 million to $5 million.
Trains leaving Onehunga every half an hour from 2009 should give passengers a run of little more than 20 minutes into central Auckland, compared with bus trips sometimes three times longer.
Given reopening the train line is only 10 million and some of the roading projects are several billion dollars it struck me as incredibly short-sighted to ignore this project. Especially with 500,000 potential trips per years and Onehunga designated as a growth node.