. My Ten Year Light Rail plan

I want to have Light Rail out to the Airport within 10 years going via Newtown, Wellington Regional Hospital and the Zoo. I believe we are already at the capacity point where buses just can not move the people effectively during peak and the real only option is Light Rail or Heavy Rail. The reason for advocating for Light Rail is that is cheaper to implement than heavy rail, smaller Turning Circles than heavy rail, more integrates into the existing landscape, and very little commercial opportunity for Freight south of Wellington Train Station. 

My 15 Year Plan

Once Light to the Airport is completed we need to expand the system to cover Karori, a suburb with a very high number of bus users with very little room to go upwards in height, so a change in the way we move people from Karori in a new way. While at the other end of the number 2, we have the same issues, with Seatoun Tunnel. One of the other issues is with this bus route, is when a bus doesn’t turn up, The next bus doesn’t always have the capacity to take the load, causing a ripple effect. Light Rail will increase the capacity from 60 passengers per bus to 200 passengers. 

My aim with a Karori-Miramar Light Rail plan is to have a Light Rail line from Karori, following the existing Karori Road, go through its own dedicated tunnel through to the Botanical Gardens, along Bowan Street, then through the Golden Mile or Quay route, along Courtney Place, then along Kent/Cambridge TCE than go through the new MT Vic in the 3rd lane, through Hataitai, then along Cobham Drive to Miramar Cutting, then through Miramar Hub and swing left into Park Road to the Weta Cave. 

One positive with Light Rail, when you have a higher capacity to move people per service, the people with disabilities are not left out without the ability to get onto a service when there is limited room like a bus. 

My 20 Year Plan 

With a new high growth suburb of Wellington coming up is Wainuiomata I believe the Hill to Wainuiomata needs a more viable alternative with Light Rail to Wainuiomata.. The route is a difficult thing as there are 2 clear options, one coming from the old Gracefield branchline, and another less known of coming from the end of the Melling Line, across Kennedy Goods Bridge, through Naenae, then through a Tunnel to the Top end of Wellington Road, through the township and off to the south. 

Both routes have its pluses and minuses, and this will need to go out to consultation but I am certain, i want to have Light Rail to Wainuiomata. 

First plan is to get Snapper onto the Johnsonville Line

One of the first motions is to make the Johnsonville Line into the Snapper Network, currently ever other line have a bus/train pass except for the user of the Johnsonville since its in zone 1 – 3.  The other bugbear is when a bus or train is late/delayed/cancelled, user switch to the other mode and many see swapping from bus to train, see it as being penalized for Metlink Services running late, Also many user currently use the trains less now because there are no off-peak cash fare option. Changes I propose to make is to introduce a snapper-paper ticket option, so users can tag their snapper card at the station, it prints out a ticket and gives the user a 1 hour transfer window for connecting services. The reason for this is that its a stepping stone system that we can use till we have ProjectNEXT ready in 2022. 

Bringing the outer Region of Wellington into High Speed Rail

After the plan introduction of the Electric-Diesel Multiple Units (EDMU) in 2024, my aim is to have them built to the standard of 160km/h high speed rail, considering many once past Waikanae/Featherston north, the line are pretty straight and I believe we can quite affordably without the need to building a new railway and we can use the existing rail gauge we use in New Zealand. As a councilor, I will advocate for Central Government to invest in High Speed Rail, as this is one way to reduce emissions in the Transport Sector.