Pukekohe Railway Station Opens After A Long Period Of Disruption

Pukekohe railway station was closed to passengers on 13th August 2022 in order to rebuild the station and electrify the line from Papakura. This work is completed and the line reopens tomorrow with the first train due just after 5am.

This will be pleasing for the people of Pukekohe, many of whom have had to use the rail replacement busses during that time while others returned to car use.

The Public Transport Users Association supports this latest development and believes that there will be a return to rail use with this valuable new asset. However, Niall Robertson, chair of the PTUA says that AT and KiwiRail have some work to do yet to get the trust of Auckland commuters who have put up with almost continual disruption with building and rebuilding somewhere on the system since electrification in 2015. Robertson adds, “There is still a lot of rebuilding yet to be done, starting with the Papakura to Puhinui section from about Easter to Labour Weekend and more after that on the Puhinui to Otahuhu section”.

PTUA National coordinator, Jon Reeves says, “Hopefully, trains will continue to run, as rail replacement busses are very hard to use on the Southern Line and are very unpopular with customers”.

Robertson says that this is a pleasing development on the Auckland Commuter rail network, but says that the PTUA have been pushing against huge resistance from AT and KiwiRail regarding a smaller but similar version of this service at the other end of the system from Swanson to Huapai. Here there is still no usable public transport and commuters are left on a two lane road which carries more vehicles than the Transmission Gully, and Warkworth Motorways and the Waikato Expressway.

The PTUA have been in talks with other parties and has been able to promote a private rail service, not reliant on any rate payer money, as long as KiwiRail can make the line fit for purpose. Robertson says that one would have thought that AT and the government would grab such a good deal with both hands with that level of private financial commitment, but Robertson says, “That level of enthusiasm is yet to manifest itself from either of these agencies at this point, which is disappointing”.

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