Te Huia, the regional train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been given a one-year life extension. That gives it a small window of opportunity to grow patronage according to the Waikako Regional Council. It desperately needs more bums on seats to survive beyond then says Darren Davis from Adventuresintransitland
The New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) board agreed in mid February to a one-year extension of its Te Huia trial to 30 June 2027 at its current national share funding assistance rate of 60 percent.
The decision was endorsed by the Waikato Regional Council, meaning that full engagement on the future of Te Huia will occur as part of the council’s 2027-2037 Long Term Plan process.
In addition, the Waikato Regional Council’s budget includes $550,000 for a business case to investigate options for the replacement of rolling stock for Te Huia. The current rolling stock are twice refurbished 1970s ex-British Rail mark 2 carriages near the end of their expected life.
Waikato Regional Council Chair Warren Maher said the extension of the service would give Te Huia time to prove its success. “While the service is generally tracking well against its performance measures, councillors agree that it’s critically important for Te Huia passenger numbers to grow.”
Waikato Regional Council elected members are also keen to increase Te Huia fare revenue for the final year of the trial through a combination of increased patronage and higher ticket prices. A report on fare pricing is due to be presented to council before the final Annual Plan budget is approved. Of course, as any economics 101 student will tell you, the interaction between supply and demand curves means that any increase in price will lead to a decrease in demand, a principle that we seem to fail to understand also applies to roads.
The pressure is to increase fare revenue is because the difference between fare revenue and operating costs is split between Waikato Regional Council and Waka Kotahi New Zealand transport agency. The local share funded by Waikato Regional Council will increase if Te Huia becomes permanent.
The current split is Waikato Regional Council 40 percent and Waka Kotahi 60 percent. The future split would be 51 percent for Waka Kotahi and the balance for Waikato Regional Council.
Te Huia’s patronage growth has stalled, largely as a result of the impact of frequent Auckland rail network closures for its Rail Network Rebuild and City Rail Link works as well as some impact from fare increases.
And the disruptions are not yet over. While City Rail Link is scheduled to open in the second half of 2026, there are still quite a number of network disruptions to come over the next five months. These include four days over the Easter Weekend, three further days in April and three days each for Kings Birthday and Matariki.
The good news is that KiwiRail has promised that, after numerous years of lengthy Christmas New Year rail network shutdowns, that full network shutdowns will no longer be required once Auckland’s City Rail Link opens in the second half of 2026.
Why is the window of opportunity so narrow?
Put simply, because the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi review process will kick off in earnest before the end of 2026 and decisions on whether or not Te Huia is to become a permanent service will be made by April 2027. City Rail Link is only due to open sometime in the second half of 2026.
This is important because the City Rail Link means an end to lengthy and hugely disruptive shutdowns of the Auckland rail network and City Rail Link itself, as Aotearoa’s first underground metro-style railway, will be a big incentive to visit Auckland
There is often an interesting confluence between election dates and major openings of infrastructure. The national election is scheduled for November 7. So I’m leaning towards a September 2026 opening date for City Rail Link.
But that, of course, is dependent on the successful completion of the numerous testing and commissioning activities as well as stable operation of full simulations of the City Rail Link day-one timetable.
Waka Kotahi will be keen to see a stable higher business as a usual patronage base for Te Huia once the initial sugar hit of City Rail Link-induced journeys has settled down.
