Auckland railway electrification

rdf:langString Auckland railway electrification

rdf:langString Auckland railway electrification occurred in phases as part of investment in a new infrastructure for Auckland's urban railway network. Electrification of the network had been proposed for several decades. Installation started in the late 2000s after funds were approved from a combination of regional (Auckland Regional Council, later Auckland Council) and central government (NZ Transport Agency) budgets. In the 2007 budget the Fifth Labour government announced that Auckland suburban railway lines from Swanson in the west to Papakura in the south and including the Manukau and Onehunga branch lines would be electrified at 25 kV 50 Hz AC. Diesel DMU services would remain for Waitakere and perhaps Huapai and Pukekohe. A 2013 announcement said that because of cost, bus services would remain between Waitakere and Swanson, and did not mention an extension to Huapai. The $80 million contract for the electrification infrastructure was awarded on 14 January 2010 to an Australian and New Zealand consortium (HILOR); Hawkins Infrastructure of Parnell and Laing O'Rourke of Australia. Between Papakura, Newmarket, Britomart and Swanson there were 196 single-track kilometres. The overhead infrastructure design was to be based on Balfour Beatty's 3B English design. The contract for 57 3-car EMUs was awarded on 6 October 2011 to Spanish manufacturer CAF. The first public electric service was on 28 April 2014 on the Onehunga Line. Since July 2015, all services have been electric with the exception of Papakura to Pukekohe, which runs a diesel shuttle service, and Swanson to Waitakere, which runs a rail replacement bus service. Electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe has long been proposed, but in the interim, Auckland Council intended to buy from CAF 17 EMUs equipped with batteries (BEMU) that would have extended electric unit services to Pukekohe. In November 2017, shortly after the change of government at the 2017 general election, it was announced that the proposed BEMU order had been cancelled in preference for 15 further AM class units. The rationale for this became clear in late April 2018 when electrification between Papakura and Pukekohe was announced as part of the $28 billion Auckland Transport Alignment Project. The New Zealand Upgrade Programme announced on 30 January 2020 includes $371 million for Papakura to Pukekohe electrification.