Te Huia just had its busiest week, why is it now under threat?
Te Huia train between Hamilton and Auckland has had a pretty rough ride. But darker clouds as well as a glimmer of hope loom on the horizon for the service.
Te Huia’s triumphal return to central Auckland
I’ve previously covered Te Huia’s enforced truncation to Papakura here. This lasted a little under a month, with Te Huia returning to Auckland Strand Station from Monday 7th August 2023. That week saw Te Huia offering free rides to all customers.
In those six days, 7-12 August 2023 (as Te Huia doesn’t run on Sundays), Te Huia carried 3,835 passengers on 22 services - two return trips on weekdays and a single return trip on Saturday. That equals an average of 174 passengers per trip. According to Te Huia, the strongest uptake was on the interpeak trips to and from Hamilton and on the Saturday trips. Additional carriages had to be put on to accommodate passenger numbers as Te Huia’s normal consist accommodates 125 passengers.
3,835 people using Te Huia in a week indicates quite some latent level of demand for inter-regional train services in Aotearoa. So it’s odd to think to Te Huia’s future is far far than certain, and that its fate could swing on the result of the October national election. Why this is requires a bit of delving into Te Huia’s short but event-packed history. So let’s look at Te Huia’s story to date.
Five years isn’t what it used to be
Five years isn’t what is used to be, especially when it comes to the alleged five year trial of Te Huia train between Kirikiriroa/ Hamilton and Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland. While initially there was talk of Te Huia being a five year trial, the reality is much different.
Te Huia story to date
Te Huia launched on 6th April 2021, one year after its originally intended start date of April 2020, due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially, it only operated as far as Papakura Station, 31 kilometres from Auckland City Centre, where a connection was required to an all-stops AT Metro train using a different ticketing system to travel further into the city.
On 9 July 2021, the Saturday service was extended from Papakura to run to Auckland Strand Station. Te Huia was suspended the following month on 18th August 2021 due to the re-imposition of a full national lockdown and the subsequent lengthy border closure around the Auckland region.
In May 2021, Waikato Regional Council approved the extension of Te Huia in response to public feedback on the 2021-2031 Long Term Plan | Mahere Whānui. More than 80 per cent of all submissions were on the proposal to extend the new Waikato to Auckland passenger rail service. Of those 1,240 submissions, 95 per cent were in favour of improvements to the service with many wanting it to happen sooner than the proposed 2023/24 timeframe1.
A staged improvements approach was approved for Te Huia in 2022. The service was extended to Auckland Strand Station on weekdays, timetable changes were made to suit the Auckland market, and a new stop at Puhinui was implemented with the relaunch of Te Huia on 24 January 2022.
On 3rd March 2022, Waikato Regional Council requested that the 5-year trial be completed on 24th January 2027, enabling a full five years of continuous operation. But Waka Kotahi, in a letter dated 20th May 20222, agreed to the two-year review being completed in January 2024, but that funding needed to be applied for to extend Te Huia beyond 30th June 2024. However, funding prioritisation decisions are already starting to be made for the 2024-2034 Long Term Plan and Regional Land Transport Plan periods.
In effect, Te Huia’s supposed five year (or sixty months) trial could end up being just over half that at 33 months, or less than three years.
In that same letter, Waka Kotahi refused the Waikato Regional Council’s request to reallocate already committed funding to Te Huia to advance service improvements, including additional weekday and Saturday trains and introducing Sunday train service.
Waka Kotahi’s refusal to reallocate already committed national funding means that the Waikato Regional Council can only afford modest service improvements in the form of a third return Hamilton to Auckland train on Thursdays, Fridays and a second return trip on Saturdays. But even that train is a slow train coming, due to Kiwirail’s inability to provide sufficient locomotive drivers to operate the service. At this stage, it looks like the additional trips may only start in April 2024.
Taking the fun out of funding
So Te Huia only has funding secured until 30th June 2024, only three months after the planned additional return trip Thursday to Saturday is likely to begin service. To operate beyond the 30th June 2024 date requires all of the following plans to line up in perfect harmony:
Hamilton City Council Long Term Plan
Waikato District Council Long Term Plan
Waikato Regional Council Long Term Plan
Waikato Regional Land Transport Plan
National Land Transport Programme
As Auckland has experienced not so long ago, lining up one Annual Plan can be quite the marathon effort, let alone lining up three Long Term Plans and regional and national land transport plans and programmes.
But in all of this, the National Land Transport Plan is the biggest risk as, even if a more public-transport friendly government were elected, funding stresses are likely to be extreme in the wake of increasingly frequent severe weather events, chronic construction cost inflation and ongoing labour shortages. Funding really is too tight to mention.
The current capex and opex for Te Huia is funded at a much higher than usual Financial Assistance Rate of 78.5% by Waka Kotahi. But if Te Huia opex moves into Waikato Regional Council’s public transport continuous programme as a permanent service, it will drop back to somewhere around 50%, requiring a much bigger local share by Waikato District (including for areas around any new station stops) and Hamilton City Council. And as we all know, rates rises are never particularly popular, especially in the context of the broader cost of living and housing affordability crises.
The Waikato Regional Council has its work cut out for it to line up all of the funding ducks in a row to keep Te Huia going beyond 30th June 2024.
Meanwhile, a glimmer of hope
The New Zealand government released Te Tauākī Kaupapa Here a te Kāwanatanga mō ngā waka whenua | Draft Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024/25-2033/34 on 17th August, 2023. This includes, for the first time, a funding activity classed for interregional public transport. This activity class is for:
This activity class has a funding band of $20 million to $50 million a year for the first three years only of the ten year 2024-2034 National Land Transport Programme. But as it reads, this is for “new, extended and improved services” and the document notes elsewhere that “In addition, the Government is already investing in inter-regional rail passenger transport, through the Te Huia and Capital Connection services3” So it’s unclear where funding sits for the existing inter-regional services.
Final thoughts
It is clear that funding for Te Huia is not secure beyond 30th June 2024.
A lot needs to line up at all tiers of government for Te Huia to keep operating beyond 30th June 2024.
Key Long Term Plan and Regional Land Transport Plan prioritisation decisions are starting very soon with formal public consultation in early 2024 on these plans.
The irony of the government issuing a report on the future of inter-regional passenger rail while one of the only two actual public transport inter-regional services in Aotearoa being under threat of closure. Securing the long-term future of Te Huia would be a good start.
There is a glimmer of hope in the draft Government Policy Statement as this has a specific funding category for inter-regional public transport services, but it is unclear whether this covers supporting existing services such as Te Huia and the Capital Connection.
There is an opportunity now to submit on supporting Te Huia’s ongoing funding in the current consultation period on Te Tauākī Kaupapa Here a te Kāwanatanga mō ngā waka whenua | Draft Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024/25-2033/34 to help secure its future.
Future of the Service, Te Huia web site
Waikato Regional Council, Te Huia Train Service Subcommittee agenda, 17th June 2022
The draft National Land Transport programme proposes a total of between $60 to $150 million for inter-regional public transport. That doesn't even cover the Palmerston North-Wellington and Waiarapa Line passenger rail upgrades already committed to (and increased!!! by National) so the drafters of the Land Transport programme must assume there is further funding for passenger rail under some other budget or ....