Type Urban rail Stations 1 Character Urban Termini Manukau | Status Open Operator(s) Transdev Rolling stock AM class EMU | |
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Owners KiwiRail, Auckland Transport | ||
First passenger train on the new manukau branch
The Manukau Branch is a 2.5 km spur railway line off the North Island Main Trunk railway from Wiri to Manukau City Centre in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the first fully new section of railway line constructed in Auckland since the Eastern Line in 1930. From Manukau, the branch connects to the NIMT in the northbound direction only.
Contents
- First passenger train on the new manukau branch
- Ride along the new manukau branch railway
- Route
- Southern link
- Station
- References
The estimated cost of the project was $50 million. Construction began in June 2008 with completion expected in late 2011. However, due to other work on the Auckland network taking priority, completion was re-scheduled for April 2012. Station works were reported essentially finished by October 2011, and the line opened on 15 April 2012.
Ride along the new manukau branch railway
Route
The branch leaves the NIMT south of Puhinui station and slightly north of the closed Wiri station. It runs on both New Zealand Railways Corporation and Auckland Council land. The NZ Transport Agency built some of the branch's earthworks. The extension of State Highway 20 to State Highway 1 included provision for the route.
Southern link
Following the opening of the branch, Auckland mayor Len Brown called for the completion of its southbound link to the North Island Main Trunk. The earthwork formation (constructed by NZTA at a cost of approximately $25 million) for such a link is in place, but tracks need to be laid for it at a cost of approximately $1 million, and another $4–5 million would be required to reconfigure the Ports of Auckland/KiwiRail sidings which were built to a design that conflicts with the proposed southern link.
Station
The branch has one railway station, Manukau Train Station, the terminus in Manukau City Centre. Manukau City was merged into the Auckland supercity in 2010. The station will be integrated with a new 16 bay bus station on Auckland Council owned Lot 59, to form a local transport hub serving most of the southern Auckland Region. The station is also intended to move more people into Manukau Central, an area identified by council as a future metropolitan centre.
The station is in (and accessed via) a 300m long trench, similar to the New Lynn station, to ease passage under nearby roads. A total of 47,000m2 of earth had been excavated when earthworks finished in May 2010.
The station is located at the heart of a campus for the Manukau Institute of Technology, being below ground level with the campus building constructed above it.
The branch opened on 15 April 2012. Auckland mayor Len Brown believed 600,000 people would pass through the Manukau station each year, making it the second busiest in the city after Britomart in the CBD. After several months in operation, during June 2012 daily usage levels were around 500-600 passengers.