Western Rail Corridor - the real key to powerhouse to commuting in greater Christchurch?

Christchurch Airport station built on a line,  under Orchard Road and Airport Carpark. 

Photo Actually Stockholm underground - Wikipedia

This Commentary was significantly updated/shortened from a posting back in December 2010

In a recent post I advocated building a rail link between Redwood area, just south of the Styx rail overbridge heading west to Johns Road, then past the airport down to Islington, creating what is in effect a circular rail network with lengthy spurs, able to be operated in all sorts of inter-active commuter patterns  (see map below).

Click on images to enlarge (the map above was superceeded in November 2011 by the one below)

For a much larger version go to HERE

As well as adjoining many existing residential areas, industrial and office park areas and major shopping hubs, this network would also serve the airport and the proposed/existing Addington City sports and events zone, and the central city.  

The network as proposed here would serve (and no doubt foster) many new developments, such as Upper Styx or Islington Park. Or  for instance it might add a big boost to redevelopment in the older areas such as those around Charleston, Roimata, Philipstown if,  by boarding a train at Ensors Road,m residents could easily access almost every major industrial-office park zone and several huge retail employers stretching from Rangiora to Rolleston!

Although it lacks the direct "rail to Cathedral Square" quality of the [2012?] proposed light rail route, the circular route pattern in the map above links well over 200,000 of our residents (and 100,000 more across the whole province)  into easy access to the central city by conventional and sturdy commuter rail. 

This would have a huge impact far in excess of the minimal cost-benefits of a singular light rail line proposed to Ilam by Bob Parker's team. 

The commuter rail benefits include a reverse pattern flow - comfortable inner city apartment life-styles fostered in central areas because it is possible to get to work by rail to almost every major employment zone - as far afield as Rolleston or Rangiora. 

Peak hour flow going both ways is a huge financial benefit in any public transport system.

This suggested new line between Styx and Islington would be double tracked with grade separation (NO inter-action with cars etc)/ In  my vision it would be built mainly as part of the  Auckland-Christchurch freight corridor but offer opportunity to structure in commuter rail, presumably also mostly financed by Government and KiwiRail, as has happened in Auckland and Wellington. 

Indeed it would be silly to build such a freight corridor and not factor in passenger transport facilities and land use in adjoining areas, even if some commuter rail links might still be years away.

I believe this link rail project could be built for not much more than the $400 million figure estimated for creating a light rail down Riccarton Road. (comparative new and upgraded railway spending to date in Auckland is over $2 billion, Wellington at least $800 million)

I also believe this western rail corridor delivers far more industrial, economic, environmental, and social punch for the money.

Preserving the current single between Styx and Addington (and the attractive cycle and walkway) this would give Christchurch three lines access tofro the North.  Peak expresses might travel straight to Addington then reverse to central Christchurch, but many other services would loop via airport - most of this route at high speed being grade separated. It offers quality service to multiple hubs AS WELL as the city centre, possibly the only way to generate sufficient usage to make commuter rail viable in a city as small as Christchurch.  

The rail loop corridor protects the long term mobility and potential quality of life of ALL city residents (in a way the Riccarton tram line does not)  if oil prices rise dramatically and permanently, as they may well do now that oil production appears to reached peak production.  

Apart from much shorter drives to car parks at stations at the periphery of the city (eg Russley, Chapmans Road) trains and bikes can work exceedingly well together and some carriages could be designed especially for cyclists, with a network of quality cycleways tofro stations.

It also reinstates Christchurch truly at the centre of the Province in the sense residents from Timaru and Ashburton etc. and from Amberley and Rangiora etc can rail direct to the International airport and sports stadiums.

A great advantage of this rail corridor suggested here is that most of the infrastructure can be built in advance of extensive new housing, commercial and industrial areas - at East and West Belfast, The Styx Centre (Northwood), Styx Mill, Johns Road, Spitfire Centre, Dakota Park, Russley, Masham, Broomfield, Islington Park, the Izone at Rolleston, Rolleston itself, Wigram, Addington and Sydenham and (in peak hours anyway) the expansion of the Woolston industrial area. 

This premature design factor, allows removal of conflict between trains, residents and cars (using over passes, underpasses or trenches and subways and also allows access to the rail to be maximized whether for bike and skateboard or for park and ride and kiss and ride. Glassed off platforms could allow direct access into malls and shopping complexes.

I suggested in my previous posting that the line via the airport could be built in a cut and cover trench (as at New Lynn, Auckland) with a line and station under the length of Orchard Road, adding perhaps $150-200 million to costs). Any station in this area would anyway need to be served by a people mover or a five minute shuttle bus service to airport terminals and work places in the general area.

On my (potted) reading the basic line costs of double tracking and necessary signal cabling etc would be under $7 million per kilometre, including currently rural land purchase; the overbridges (such as Buchananans Road, Yaldhurst Road etc) about $15-20 million each, the smaller stations about $5-10 million each. (These figures are only extrapolated from Australia and NZ projects without all factors known and may be widely astray- welcome more accurate guesses!)

Unlike Bob Parker's inspired (yeah right)  "light rail network" which is expected to to cost $1.9 billion and would take years to develop in sequence, line by line after the proposed City-Riccarton tram line, the Western Rail Corridor and associated commuter system, in one move brings a huge chunk of greater Christchurch into one linked system for (probably) less than $600 million while simultaneously hugely upgrading our rail freight base and its potential doorstop link to industry. 

Commuter rail of course also has much greater elasticity and room for expansion than either buses or light rail - in the event of a new "Lancaster Park" at Addington and big Test matches and similar, adding carriages and locomotives to the DMU unit system means rail could deliver tens of thousands directly into the area, from all of Canterbury - and directly.

The made here suggestion relies on tacking commuter rail onto the Government's Auckland-Christchurch freight corridor upgrade; the probable increased use in public transport post peak oil; onto an effective system based on multiple traffic generator points and multiple use patterns. 

Not least this idea also recognises the greater stability of stony north and west land, which suggests a greater rebuild of thousands of lost houses (from the earthquake) in these areas rather than in the east. With its many swamps and large green spaces (QEII, golf courses, estuary etc) the eastside always was always more of  a challenge in terms of sufficient population and geography, to service with a frequent multi-directional public transport network. 

This challenge seems likely to greatly increase with the reversion of many unstable areas, formerly housing, back to park or paddock. Lyttelton (even adding Heathcote and Diamond Harbour populations ) falls too far short in of any minimum viability for commuter rail, quite apart from the long walk up the hill better mitigated by the bus routes.

The conditions that once supported commuter rail to port are long gone, and instead there is a serious bottleneck with great vulnerability for freight. On the other hand a park and ride (and bus drop off/pick up zone) area at Chapmans Road might attract residents working in the north and west from all of the Sumner/Lyttelton/Harbour area. 

Wellington aside - it is unusual to build rail (light rail or commuter rail) in cities as small as Christchurch, in low density/high car ownership countries such as Canada, USA or Australia (Canzus!) . Over two plus years I have checked out over 120 cities in "CANZUS" between 300,00 and a million in these four countries and Wellington is the ONLY city with its own proper (7 day a week, multiple routes) commuter rail system (Noted - one or two cities have commuter rail links but these are primarily to bigger cities nearby - eg Newcastle to Sydney, Bridgeport to New York)

However a very effective route structure with multiple overlapping functions, and potential for peak hour travel operating in both directions could just put Christchurch ahead of the class, creating a very resilient infrastructure to support the city's growth and economic survival in the years ahead. 

I believe it would be criminal to investigate the current light rail proposal [or the Green party proposal in 2017!!] without a full and proper study of the option above.