If you like it then you better put rail in it

The Green Party is calling on the Government to put its money where its mouth is and safeguard Auckland’s second harbour crossing for rail.

In response to the launch of the Green Party's campaign for a rail line to the North Shore, the NZ Transport Agency said today that it was "100 percent committed to providing Aucklanders with a future multi-model transport corridor" as part of a second harbour crossing, without providing any specific detail on what that might look like.

“It's nice that the Transport Agency isn’t ruling out a rail crossing, but Aucklanders want rail to be definitely ruled in. It must be the priority for the second harbour crossing," said Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter.

“The Transport Agency’s statement that it wants to a ‘multi-modal corridor’ for the second harbour crossing is not the strong commitment to rail that Aucklanders are looking for.

“Aucklanders have been pretty clear they want rail to the Shore. A recent UMR poll showed Aucklanders were far more support for a rail harbour crossing than a road-only option.

“Aucklanders do not want to sit in their cars in traffic for the next hundred years; high-capacity, clean-energy rail would give Aucklanders a viable alternative.

“The Government’s own analysis shows a road/bus tunnel won’t work. It will lead to 20,000 more cars flooding into Auckland Central every day. We also know that bus congestion in the city centre will constrain the future growth of the Northern busway.

“The NZTA and Auckland Transport need to commit to safeguarding the crossing for rail right now. The Transport Agency’s own documents show that a rail crossing needs to be safeguarded now in order for it to be possible in the future," said Ms Genter.

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