Making Te Huia a permanent service

Te Huia's five-year trial is fast coming towards its close on 30th June 2026. What needs to happen to make it a permanent part of Aotearoa's public transport system?

Buckle up for a bumpy ride through all of the numerous steps needed between now and mid-2026 to secure Te Huia as a permanent service as this is a long post. And spare a thought for the Waikato Regional Council staff who need to do all this work. This post draws extensively from and synopsises a report to Waikato Regional Council’s Future Proof Public Transport Committee at its meeting on 15 August 2025.¹ You can read the report itself at this link.

Te Huia origin story

Te Huia, the regional train connecting Kirikiriroa/ Hamilton to Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, has been an aspiration for the Waikato for many years.

In 2018 a business case for funding a five-year trial rail service was accepted by Waka Kotahi/ New Zealand Transport Agency, with the local share coming from the Waikato Regional Council, Hamilton City Council and Waikato District Council. This is made up of:

• $68.7 million in capital - all invested prior to service launch in 2022 – to purchase refurbished trains / carriages and construct new stations at Rotokauri and an upgrade station at Rāhui Pokeka/ Huntly.

• $29.3 million in operational costs to run and maintain the trains and stations for the five years of the trial.

Te Huia takes flight

After delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Te Huia launched in April 2021 with two weekday return services between Hamilton, Rotokauri, Huntly and Papakura - and one return service on a Saturday.

Over the following four years, various improvements to Te Huia were made including:

• Extension of the service to The Strand in central Auckland.

• Additional station stop at Puhinui (with onward connections to Auckland Airport).

• Additional daily return service on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from February 2024.

• Additional stop at Pukekohe Station from February 2025 (with simultaneous removal of Papakura stop), resulting in faster overall trip time of up to 15 minutes.

Te Huia passenger satisfaction is nearly off the charts at 98 per cent but patronage growth has been impacted by Auckland’s Rail Network Rebuild, especially in 2025 with regular lengthy closures of large parts of the Auckland Network, mostly during school holidays. Total patronage declined by 10.2 per cent in the 2024-2025 financial year when compared to the previous year, impacted by not being able to run on 53 days due to Auckland line blockages and public holidays. But on a per in-service day basis, the reduction was just 2.3 per cent.

While Te Huia’s customer satisfaction is nearly off the charts, it has a long road ahead to become a permanent service. Image credit: Darren Davis

Funding

Like other public transport across New Zealand, Te Huia is funded by a combination of passenger fares and public funding. The public funding requirement is the total operating cost, minus fare revenue. This funding is dynamic – if fare revenue is higher, then public funding will be lower and vice versa. Increases in fare this year have improved farebox recovery to 15.5 per cent but may have had a negative impact on patronage.

In early 2024, it became apparent that Waka Kotahi had only provided funding to Te Huia to mid-2024, not the full five years of its trial period. After significant public and political backlash from the Waikato, Waka Kotahi agreed to continue funding Te Huia until the end of the trial period but at a reduced financial assistance rate as follows:

• 75.5% national funding share - up to 30th June 2024

• 70% national funding share - 1 July 2024 > 30th June 2025

• 60% national funding share - 1 July 2025 > 30th June 2026

• 51% national funding - 1 July 2026 > if Te Huia becomes permanent

From 1st July 2024 to 30th June 2025, public funding for Te Huia was split as follows:

• Waikato Regional Council (WRC) – via targeted rate: 26.70%.

• Waikato District Council (WDC) – via general rate: 3.30%.

• Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) – via National Land Transport Fund: 70%.

The Waikato Regional Council share is collected from Hamilton city rateable properties through a targeted rate. For 2024/25, each rateable property pays a uniform annual charge of $20 and then $10.88 per $100,000 of capital value (up to $5 million). Waikato District Council’s share is collected by a 3.3% general rate.

It is important to note that Waikato Regional Council is funding its increased local share through its $2.2 million in Te Huia reserve funds accumulated due to the postponed service launch, COVID-19 lockdowns, and delayed rollout of service improvements in 2023.

What this means is that ratepayers have been sheltered from the reductions in the funding assistance rate for the remainder of the trial until mid-2026. Which means that if Te Huia were to become a permanent service from mid-2026, there will be a substantial increase in the local contribution required from ratepayers. Waikato Regional Council is moving to direct rating and this increase in local share will require consultation with the community through the Annual Plan process. So who gets elected to Waikato Regional Council in the local government elections underway now will be crucial to Te Huia’s future.

Of note is that Auckland continues to contribute zip, zero, nada to Te Huia’s operation even though 21 per cent of Te Huia’s passengers are Aucklanders. This is quite different from funding of the Capital Connection train between Palmerston North and Wellington where the local share is split equally between Horizons and Greater Wellington regional councils.

Auckland continues to contribute zip, zero, nada to Te Huia’s operation even though 21 per cent of Te Huia’s passengers are Aucklanders.

Steps to making Te Huia a permanent service

In summary, these steps are:

• Waka Kotahi board review of the end of the Te Huia trial and whether or not the service should become permanent.

• If the service becomes permanent, inclusion in Waka Kotahi’s Continuous Programme for public transport services receiving national funding support.

• A future services business case

• Extension of running rights and safety systems (including ETCS)

• Future rolling stock

I will cover each of these in turn.

Waka Kotahi board meetings and decisions

The Waka Kotahi Board meetings where the end of trial review will be considered are fast approaching. In December 2025, the Board will receive an update on progress against Te Huia’s key performance targets, as well as an interim end of trial report. In March 2026, the Board will receive the final end of trial review report and decide whether to fund Te Huia as a permanent service or to terminate it.

In making its funding decision Waka Kotahi has the following stipulations:

• An end-of-trial review report should concentrate on how the trial service has delivered against the key performance targets, most specifically patronage.

• Any decision to make Te Huia a permanent service and include it as part of the public transport continuous programme will be on the basis of how it is operating today in terms of service frequency, fleet size and funding envelope.

• The end of trial review report and funding application for ongoing funding should articulate how Council is delivering enhanced value from the service - including optimising the timetable, service offering and use of the current rolling stock fleet based on learnings from the trial.

• The end of trial report should be accompanied by a funding application for the 2026-27 financial year to complete final year of the current National Land Transport Plan period.

• If the Board agrees to make the service permanent, this funding application will be approved with the expectation that Te Huia will become part of the continuous programme from the 2027-30 National Land Transport Programme.

• If the Board decide not to continue Te Huia because key performance targets are not achieved, the application for ongoing funding will be refused while allowing for an appropriate period for Te Huia to terminate.

• As noted earlier, this will require Waikato Regional Council to consult with residents on an increase in local share funding to meet its 49 per cent share and KiwiRail will require an extension to their contract for an appropriate period, pending a formal tender process for an operator of the service.

Future services buiness case

Waikato Regional Council is commencing a single stage business case on the future form of Te Huia. This is separate from the current approval process to make the current Te Huia service permanent at the current level of service.

The scope of the business case includes:

• More frequent services to offer customers better travel choices across the week.

• Faster journeys which make Te Huia more competitive with the private car.

• New railway stations, including potentially at Hamilton Central, Te Kauwhata, Pōkeno and Tūākau.

• Supporting rail infrastructure improvements.

Extension of running rights and safety systems

The Te Huia service must meet various requirements from Waka Kotahi as the rail regulator if it is to continue to operate beyond April 2026. The safety case for the current carriages expires in April 2026. A safety case variation must be submitted by KiwiRail and approved by Waka Kotahi as the rail regulator for the service to continue beyond this time. This includes for the last few months of the trial period.

Waka Kotahi also requires that all rail services operated in the Auckland metro network be equipped with the European Train Control System (ETCS) from August 2026, but from May 2026 in the case of Te Huia.

KiwiRail’s current DFB class locomotives utilised for Te Huia are not ETCS-enabled and thus will not be able to be used beyond May 2026. But the 53 DL class locomotives that operate across the North Island are being equipped with ETCS as a separate KiwiRail project. KiwiRail will equip three of these ETCS enabled locomotives with a passenger conversion to operate the Te Huia trains and allow Te Huia to continue to operate with ETCS within Auckland. Waikato Regional Council is funding the $1.8 million cost (including contingency) to enable this to happen.

DFB locomotives, like the one pictured at Homai, will be replaced with DL locomotives fitted with ETCS . Image credit: Takeshi Aida CC BY-SA 2.0

The three cab car carriages will also need to be upgraded to provide improved end collision protection. When operated in push mode with the locomotive at the back, Te Huia is speed restricted across high risk level crossings. Hopefully this upgrade will eliminate these speed restrictions.

Waikato Regional Council will deliver a safety case review to meet KiwiRail “So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable” and Waka Kotahi regulatory requirements to run the current rolling stock to at least April 2031 using ETCS equipped DL class locomotives.

For your information, “So far as is reasonably practicable” has specific meaning in the Health and Safety at Work Act which in turn updated section 5 of the Railways Act 2005. This requirement imposes a very high bar for safety in the rail industry.

Railway Act 2005, section 5

New rolling stock

The current Te Huia passenger carriages date from the 1970s and are ex-British Rail. These carriages only have a limited service life, and they will increasingly struggle to meet modern safety and operational standards. It is likely that they will have to be withdrawn from service in around 2030-31.

Waikato Regional Council commissioned and funded a rolling stock detailed business case for three hybrid battery-electric units (each four-cars in length), with a capital cost of $130 million if ordered as part of the existing Lower North Island train procurement. Waka Kotahi/ NZTA refused to make a decision on this business case as they consider Te Huia to still be a trial. Waikato Regional Council is still engaging with Greater Wellington and is still trying to secure funding for new rolling stock with procurement part of the Lower North Island project. Increasing the size of this rolling stock order would likely reduce unit costs and deliver better value for money to everyone.

Waikato Regional Council is still working with Greater Wellington to get new trains for the Waikato from the current Lower North Island rolling stock order. Artists Impression of Tūhono train at Wellington Station. Image credit: Greater Wellington Regional Council CC BY 4.0

If the future services business case proposes to increase service frequency from the current two to three return trips per day, more rolling stock would be needed – potentially between eight and ten four-car units. Waikato Regional Council continues to engage closely with the procurement of the Tūhono bi-mode trains for the Lower North Island for opportunities to increase the size of that train order.

There are other rail projects which have a close inter-dependency with Te Huia. The most significant of these is potential electrification of the North Island Main Trunk between Pukekohe and Hamilton and the East Coast Main Trunk from Hamilton to Tauranga and Mount Maunganui which is currently at the detailed business case stage. If this project proceeds, this will potentially impact choice of rolling stock and possibly infrastructure upgrades that would be necessary to increase the journey speed and frequency of Te Huia.

Final thoughts

Firstly, congratulations for making it this far in the post. Just reading all the work that Waikato Regional Council has to do just to keep Te Huia running beyond June 2026 is enough to cause me to want to have a little lie down.

As always, kudos to the Waikato community, politicians and council staff who have worked so hard to get Te Huia up and running. This was a decade’s worth of hard mahi which continues to keep the service running during the trial period and to hopefully make it a permanent feature of Aotearoa’s public transport landscape.

As a pioneer in a regionally-driven inter-regional public transport service, the Waikato has shown other regions across the motu what needs to be done - and the amount of political and staff commitment and funding needed - to get inter-regional public transport services up and running. Kia kaha!

1. Agenda of Future Proof Public Transport Subcommittee, 15th August 2025