Thursday July 24 2014 | Issue 610
Stolen /page5 Nth Canty police find cache of stolen property after raids in Waiau, Domett, Balcairn.
Property / page 37 - 44
Dairying / page 22 - 30 The News features the North Canterbury dairy sector as it gears up for a new season.
The Property Times lists the latest properties for sale in North Canterbury.
A commuter rail service from North Canterbury has been put on the back burner as other short term measures are explored to relieve congestion on the northern motorway.
File photo.
Rail dumped as a quick commuter fix By Robyn Bristow John McCaskey is dumbfounded. The Waipara viticulturalist and political activist is struggling to believe a commuter rail line between North Canterbury and Christchurch has been dumped in favour of ‘‘short term’’ measures to ease congestion on the northern motorway. Mr McCaskey, whose Facebook page By Rail to Christchurch has seen an increasing amount of traffic and comments, says rail is a quick fix to commuter woes and says people are being forced into their cars by the inaction of politicians and those trying to find ways of putting the brakes on motorway congestion. ‘‘The critical thing is there is a mass movement out of the city into satellite towns in North Canterbury. ‘‘But they still want to work in the
city and are being forced to use a car to get to their jobs,’’ he says. ‘‘Rail is practical. There is an empty line which took generations of North Canterbury folk to school in the day. It was no problem. ‘‘Students could stay home, live with mum and dad, save money, ease the housing problem in Christchurch and travel by train to university or school,’’ says Mr McCaskey. He says those charged with finding ways to accommodate the significant growth, in the short term, in the Waimakariri and Hurunui areas, are looking ‘‘far too far ahead. ‘‘Get (rail) up and running fast and as simply as possible. ‘‘If people see it running they will use it. ‘‘Rail has been debated for 20 years and now we will have another talkfest
for 20 years.’’ He believes popup rail stations would cost little, buses, bikes or a mono rail could disperse workers to various areas of the city from the existing Christchurch Railway Station and says making use of older units from Auckland and Wellington, which had been replaced, would cut start up costs. But there needed to be some fast decisions as these units could be sold off overseas rather than be put to good use in New Zealand. Rail has been dismissed in a study as a feasible shortterm option to help ease congestion a product of population growth following Canterbury’s series of earthquake. The study says rail would cost $10 million to get up and running and a further $3 million a year to cover running costs, that the time was not
right to implement a commuter rail service on the singletrack Main North line between Rangiora and Christchurch and that a shortterm rail service was not feasible. Environment Canterbury commissioner Rex Williams says the study told the group ‘‘it was possible to implement a commuter rail service but a shortterm service ws not feasbile’’. ‘‘More significantly the study found that trains alone would not get people to where they needed to be ,’’ he said. ‘‘For now we are going to focus on increasing the frequency of the Blue Line bus service during peak times; introducing a new commuter service between Rangiora, Hornby and the airport; and a park and ride service for communters living in rural parts of Waimakariri,’’ he said. The Greater Christchurch Urban
Development Strategy partners (UDS) the Christchurch City Council, Waimakriri District Council, NZ Transport Agency and ECan are now being asked to commit to the package to ease motorway congestion. The implementation committee says the measures will accommodate significant growth in the Waimakariri area until the Western Corridor and Northern Arterial are built during the next four to six years. The package includes ongoing changes to the operation of State Highway one, the promotion of measures such as carpooling and encouraging people to start work at different times and consideration of additional commuter bus services and new extended bus lanes to help relieve congestion on the northern motorway. Continued Page 2
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