Building towards the new Lower North Island trains
We have to wait until 2030 for improved Lower North Island regional train services. What can we do in the meantime to make the existing Capital Connection better?
[This post updates a previous post written in 2023 at the time of the launch of ‘new’ refurbished rolling stock on the Capital Connection between Te Papaioea/ Palmerston North and Te Whanganui-ā-Tara/ Wellington. Also updated to reflect the fact that Kiwirail’s Great Journeys of New Zealand rolling stock is in fact new.]
A bit over two years ago on Monday 31st July 2023 the first Capital Connection service left Palmerston North for Wellington operated by ‘new’ interim rolling stock. This was in the form of ex-British Mark 2 carriages, previously repurposed as interim rolling stock for Auckland suburban service and now re-re-purposed as ‘new’ regional rolling stock.
When the new hybrid Tūhono trains finally start running in 2029, apart from new carriages for KiwiRail’s Great Journeys of New Zealand trains - the Northern Exporer, Coastal Pacific and Tranzalpine - it wil have been 57 years since Aotearoa had actual new long-distance passenger rolling stock. This was in the form of the Silver Fern railcars introduced in 1972. But we have done a good job with refurbishing older British Rail Mark II carriages for the Te Huia and Capital Connection regional train services. Te Huia has shown us what we can do when we start to make good use of this refurbished rolling stock and should be a lesson to the Lower North Island to make best use of its current rolling stock to help build the market for the new Tūhono hybrid trains from 2029.
To get a sense of the quality of the on-board experience of these trains, I recommend watching this YouTube video by Adam Joyce on Te Huia.
While Aotearoa invested $26 million in the 11 carriages in two trains sets of the interim Capital Connection rolling stock, this investment gives us exactly the same lack of service, running just one peak train per direction, five days a week and not at all at weekends, public holidays and for an extended shut down over the Christmas New Year period.
A similar situation occurs on the Wairarapa Line where there are three train sets used for the three peak trains between Whakaoriori/ Masterton and Te Whanganui-ā-Tara/ Wellington. Outside of peak periods, only one of these train sets is used some of the time to provide:
Two return interpeak trips Monday - Friday
An additional late evening return trip on Fridays
Two return trips on Saturday and Sunday
While this is a clear improvement on the Manawatū Line’s single peak direction return service, it’s hardly sweating the assets of three full train sets.
But it seems that we are expected to wait to 2030 for improved train services on the Wairarapa and Manawatū Lines.
There are 8,760 hours in a year and the Capital Connection runs in just 960 of those hours. With one train set, the Capital Connection is idle 89% of the time. With two train sets, the Capital Connection will be idle 94% of the time.
Meanwhile, in the Upper North Island…
In the Upper North Island, Te Huia betweeen Kirikiriroa/ Hamilton and Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland provides:
Two return trips Monday to Wednesday
Three return trips Thursday and Friday
Two return trips on Saturdays
One return trip on Sundays
Te Huia has two possible configurations of three train sets of four carriages or two train sets of five carriages with two locomotives and one spare locomotive available1 and makes use of both train sets. While it’s not perfect, it’s a hell of a lot better than the Capital Connection’s two trains sets running a single peak direction return trip on weekdays only. And as I’ve said previously:
“The best way to recover the capital cost of … rolling stock is to sweat the asset by
actually using the trains to run actual service for actual customers.”
So here’s the rub:
We do a great job at quality refurbishments to create great regional trains,
then we make very little use of those trains to provide improved train service.
When I originally wrote this piece, Te Huia was only operating a very limited peak-focused service. Since then, it has become much more useful, running every day of the week and with more than a single return trip on six of those days.
Six ways to improve the Capital Connection
Here are six ways that could sweat the asset and make best use of the sunk cost of the interim Capital Connection rolling stock as they will be replaced in four to five years by the long-term bi-mode Tūhono trains. These include:
Run a weekday interpeak return trip. Similar to how Te Huia between Hamilton and Auckland operates, a single train set can run multiple return journeys a day. The Capital Connection is stabled for nearly nine hours at Wellington Station during the day. This is more than enough time for a trip to Palmerston North and back and similar to the Wairarapa Line which uses a single trainset to run two interpeak return trips.
Run the Capital Connection on weekends and public holidays, including between Christmas and New Year when Kiwis are most likely to be travelling. Back in the day, on Christmas Eve in 1938, 16 express trains swept more than 11,000 travellers out of Wellington in a single day. Nowadays, that figure is likely in the very low hundreds and only if Christmas Eve falls on a weekday.
Extend the Capital Connection to Feilding. This was one of the recommendations of the Inquiry into the future of inter-regional passenger rail in New Zealand. It is just under 17 kilometres between Palmerston North and Feilding, where a rail platform directly connected to the street is still in place. This could be an interim step towards extending the service to Whanganui in the future.
Integrate the Capital Connection into the national public transport ticketing solution. Currently neither the regional Bee Card nor Wellington’s Snapper is accepted on the Capital Connection. Ticketing is still old school cardboard tickets and passes. This is the twenty-first century folks. But it is unclear if the Capital Connection is in scope for the Motu Move national public transport ticketing solution, due to be rolled out in stages between now and the end of 2027.
Fair fares for the Capital Connection. The end to end adult journey from Palmerston North to Wellington costs $40 or 29 cents per kilometre (or $31.80 on a ten-trip concession card). By comparison, Te Huia for a similar distance between Hamilton and Auckland is a $24.06 adult fare (on a Bee Card) or 17 cents per kilometre. This is similar to the promised fare of $23 (in 2025 dollars) for the new Tūhono hybrid trains once they enter service. Currently, on a quarterly pass it costs an adult (25-64 years old) an eye-watering $11,064 over the course of a year to commute from Palmerston North to Wellington. The $23-$24 mark seems like a fairer fare to me.
Capital Connection fares. Source: KiwiRail website
Feeder bus connection at Palmerston North Station. Waikato Regional Council has implemented earlier bus services and retimed other services to ensure timed connections between Te Huia and the Orbiter bus at Rotokauri Station. There is no reason that Horizons Regional Council could not do the same for the Capital Connection, with a service linking to and from Palmerston North City Centre. This could be achieved by running an additional early route 107 trip from Terrace End at 5:48am through the city centre bus hub at 6:02am and arriving at the station at 6:11am in time for the 6:20am Capital Connection departure. In the reverse direction, the 107 route is still running for the Capital Connection arrival from Wellington but may need to be slightly retimed to ensure a secure connection with the train at Palmerston North Station.
Final thoughts
As I said earlier in the piece, “The best way to recover the capital cost of … rolling stock is to sweat the asset by actually using the trains to run actual service for actual customers.” We are doing this better with Te Huia but we aren’t doing this with the Capital Connection.
And the sunk cost is not only in the rolling stock, but all of the other infrastructure costs associated with it. Public transport is only as good as the quality, frequency, reliability and speed of the services that operate on it. The infrastructure and rolling stock is only a means to an end, not the end itself, which is the service provided.
There is a great opportunity here to make the most of the $26 million cost sunk into the ‘new’ interim Capital Connection rolling stock. There is only another 4-5 years to make use of that investment before the long-term hybrid Tūhono trains will be ready to roll. The time to act is now!
Kiwirails transalpine carriages were brand new, this century. If you are referring to powered trainsets, then silver Fern is correct.
It’s wild that there’s no inter-peak service on the Capital Connection. Such a waste of the assets.