Ready for a bit of time travel? Good, because you'll need to set the dials for a jump ahead to the year 2047 if you want to ride the new train line between Auckland Airport and downtown Auckland.
We kid you not. As much as that rail link is needed now – and has been needed for the past many many years, as any time spent sitting on the gridlocked roads will tell you – it won't be in place for another 30 years, reports The NZ Herald.
When the trains start running back and forth shuttle-style, it'll be a light rail tramway system rather than conventional suburban-style 'heavy rail', according to the agreement between Auckland Transport and the New Zealand Transport Agency.
And it'll come with an NZ$1 billion price tag that's sure to increase as the years tick by. The NZTA reportedly ruled out the heavy rail option last year because it was estimated to cost NZ$2.2 billion.
So what's happening to ease the traffic jams between 2017 and 2047?
Auckland Transport and the NZTA have settled on a busway corridor as a "credible solution" for the next 30 years, which will then see a "staged transition" to light rail – although that busway might not be operational until the mid-2020s.
The NZ government says that it will soon begin work on defining a mass transit corridor between the airport and the city and protecting it from development.
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
04 Mar 2014
Total posts 204
still in with a chance of opening before the "new" Berlin airport then..
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2561
If we had a 'Comment of the Week' award, I think you'd have just won it!
Air NZ Airpoints
12 Mar 2014
Total posts 36
Can I upvote jrfsp's comment twice please mods? :D
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
15 Mar 2016
Total posts 167
Good grief - we saw them working on this early last year. I figured it would be almost done by now!
23 Jun 2011
Total posts 85
you probably saw them working on the inner city improvements..
...or you were actually time traveling last year - in Auckland.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
15 Mar 2016
Total posts 167
There was major construction between the airport and CBD and on the major freeways and the hotel staff said it was for this?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Sep 2012
Total posts 382
I just had to double check the date wasn't 1st April.
Etihad - Etihad Guest
06 Apr 2012
Total posts 125
Great Scott ! 2047 !! We should all have flying cars and hoverboards by then....
24 Feb 2012
Total posts 58
Still, they will probably have a "rail" line from the airport to CBD before Melbourne!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Sep 2015
Total posts 11
I'll ride it for my 106th birthday!
Air NZ Airpoints
12 Mar 2014
Total posts 36
Don't worry, rail to AKL will happen long before 2047. The only holdouts against it now are the current government's inner circle. (Rail to the airport is following the same pattern of denial, delay, arguing and then acceptance as the City Rail Link project did). Developments will be quick once they're voted out.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1374
There is also the current 380 bus to Papatoetoe and Onehunga train stations - Papatoetoe generally preferred due to the traffic on the Onehunga route, and greater train services.
23 Feb 2015
Total posts 260
I was going to make a derisive comment, and then remembered I was from Melbourne ...
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
26 Feb 2016
Total posts 96
Meanwhile, the Vic government will be able to finish the preliminary study on the Melbourne airport rail.
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
11 Mar 2015
Total posts 190
should have left this article till april's fools day who cares what happens in 30 years?
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
11 Dec 2016
Total posts 74
Consistent theme here. Same as Sydney's new BC airport not going to have a train line because.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1374
Turnbull very much supports public transport - catches it regularly. Agree Abbot was more anti
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Apr 2018
Total posts 1
Current Government wants to start building by 2021. Mind you, with no spare construction workers in NZ at present, 2047 is probably realistic for completion!
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