What is the CBD Rail Loop?
It is an underground rail tunnel that will run from Britomart, parallel to Queen Street, with stations at Aotea Square, K Road and upper Symonds Street.
For more information about the CBD Rail loop you can see the Auckland Transport Agency's page on this topic.
Why do we need a CBD Rail Loop?
Right now Britomart Train Station is a dead end and is only able to take 20-24 trains/hour. This means that within a few years our rail system will be at capacity and we will not be able to add any extra services to cope with Auckland's growing population.
By transforming Britomart from a terminus to a through station, the loop will unlock the capacity of the rail network across the region. This will mean we can run twice as many services on our rail lines - during peak hours we could even have a train every 4 or 5 minutes!
The CBD rail loop will have many other benefits including:
- Reducing travel times for travellers from West Auckland to the CBD by 10-15 minutes
- Being an essential first step to creating rail links in the future to locations like the airport and North Shore
- Revitalizing the CBD - bringing many more jobs, tourists, and shoppers to our central city
- Relieving traffic congestion and giving Aucklanders real transport choices
The government must stop stalling and provide funding for the loop
Planning for the CBD rail loop is well advanced. In November, 2010 the Auckland Council released a business case for the CBD rail loop which showed that the loop has a strong economic case. They concluded that for every $1 we spend on the CBD rail loop we will receive $3.5 back in economic benefits.
The government has disputed these figures. They released their own biased analysis of the CBD rail loop in May, 2011 which suggested that the CBD rail loop has a very poor business case. They are using these figures to justify their failure to fund the loop.
However, an independent analysis of the council's business case by overseas agencies has shown that, in fact, if anything the council underestimated the economic benefits of the loop. The CBD rail loop makes economic and environmental sense.
The CBD rail loop will cost over $2 billion and the Auckland Council can't pay for it alone. By refusing to fund it the government are locking Aucklanders into many more years of poor transport choices. At the same time, the government are planning to spend up to $11 billion on unnecessary motorways over the next 10 years.
Our campaign aims to build awareness and support for the CBD rail loop among the public and local politicians in Auckland to secure the desired funding. As New Zealand's largest city Auckland deserves an effective, reliable, and convenient public transport system - we can't afford to wait another 20 years!
