New Zealand Looking at ‘Rapid Rail’ Between Auckland and Hamilton, Report Suggests

The Northern Explorer prepares to leave Auckland, New Zealand, in December 2017. (Photo by Todd DeFeo/The DeFeo Groupe)

Officials in New Zealand are exploring a raid train service between Auckland and Hamilton, according to a report.

“The idea is you would link two of the most important housing markets and job markets in New Zealand,” Stuff quoted Transport Minister Phil Twyford as saying.

Last month, Twyford announced a new Hamilton-to-Auckland passenger train, the Te Huia, would start running on Aug. 3.

“It will allow up to 300 people to get to and from Auckland each day, helping reduce congestion on our highways and transport emissions,” Twyford said in a news release.

“Not only will it take the stress out of driving, the carriages will be comfortable and equipped with Wi-Fi, which will allow passengers to use the two-hour, twenty-minute travel time productively,” Twyford added.

The Te Huia service will consist of a pair of morning trains from Hamilton and two return evening trains each weekday and one return train on Saturday.

NZ Transport Agency is funding the Hamilton-to-Auckland service for five years. During that time, officials will assess the service to see where improvements can be made, according to a news release.

Railfanning Review Podcast

Before you copy and paste this information to your website, please keep in mind this research took a lot of effort. Appreciate it. Learn from it. But do not plagiarize it. Yes, if you think we might be talking to you, we are.