Comparing the Auckland & Wellington Commuter Trains (HD) 

Wellington’s network was in a pretty dire state in 2008. Many of station buildings and the rotting 1950s timber overhead catenary looked almost ready to fall over and the rolling stock was creaking and often broke down or had door failures. But the Wellington Regional council have invested in improving the facilities, in coordination with Kiwirail. The Auckland council has often not cooperated with Kiwirail, and bought electric multiple units with strange rigid swivels that wear the tracks out faster, and adopted an odd operating model where the trains go very slow and stop at every station (instead of having staggered express services) due to never implementing and switchbacks at a midway station. But maybe the Auckland services will improve once this trackbed renewal is finished. They really should have a project of installing a switchback at New Lynn and Puhinui, to allow for staggered services so commuters from Papakura or Henderson don’t have to stop at every bloody station.

Auckland definitely seems to have better trains but then it is a bigger city.

Auckland's rail network was electrified but had the system ripped out in favour of diesel units sometime ago, which is indeed mind blowing but it was a different time when gas was cheaper than electricity. So it was 're-electrified' as it were.

​@@alexn6060 Auckland never had electrified rail

The quality of a service doesn’t depend upon the ticketing system. What’s important is that the trains are reliable and punctual. The second most important thing is that the trains are quick and comfortable. And of course it is important that the stations and are are in the right place. In those regards; Wellington has a good system and service.

Unfortunity NZTA got ride of a great dedicated cycle way from great south road to the airport to make the bus service happen which is a backward step.

I figure once the city rail link is finished, much of it will become easier since the lines will have an increased capacity which means they will have more time available for maintenance

Yes Wellington has a smaller loading gauge in general but especially due to the Johnsonville line.

It should but Auckland and Wellington commuter trains are run by both city councils independently from one another. So it’ll be a whole process trying to connect the two I guess

​@@ronranger29yeah and don't forget the other councils with their bee cards so they've got to make a machine that'll collection all 3 of them

Yes..the JVL is like a cute little mystery tour and a real delight. The Plimmerton to P'kak is wonderful in good weather, especially heading south then you can see the South Island before Pukerua Bay.... the WRL frpm the north end of the tunnel on is a relaxing cruise through the countryside. Your video approved by LeviNZ...and probably Jago.....

It's too hard to get to airport in wellington without making it elevated or using tunnels, and it was only built in 1959. Aucklands bus service can be unreliable as the only ones that half work are school buses. And the Light rail system will probably go on to 2050. (wow that was long)

Purchasing a ticket on board implies handling cash and as we move toward a completely cashless economy this would be a decidedly backward step. Few train managers or guards these days would welcome the hassle and associated security risks.

The Wellington rail system had 30 minute off peak and 15 minute peak services between the 1960s and about 5 years ago.

Before electrification (but after the decision to electrify), the station moved from Parnell to Britomart. Now, Parnell is still an operational station, but for diesel only. I don't think any freight stops there, but the train from Auckland to Wellington starts/ends there. Britomart had a relatively brief period as the diesel hub, then was electrified, then has been under construction ever since. When electrification hit, the southern most point of the network moved to Papakura, if it wasn't there already, and the "northernmost" point (in quotes because it was on the west line) dropped back to Swanson, because AT and Kiwirail can't figure out how to electrify past there. There is a bridge too short to electrify under, and AT won't raise the bridge and Kiwirail won't lower the tracks, so it's stuck forever in political limbo due to funding blame. I think before electrification it went to Helensville, or maybe just beyond. No movement has been made towards rail to the North Shore. Still 30+ years away, unless a drastic change in policy happens.

Most people do. It's like this secret train route that no one likes to talk about. I think it's because we don't like to think about people coming from Palmy, an odd bunch up there.

Some of the Matangi units do indeed have internal adverts.

Well I’ve taken a ride on both systems (Auckland on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday and Wellington yesterday) and my assessment is: *Wellington has an overall better service.* The FP/FT Matangi units are noticeably better than Auckland’s AM units, they are much more cosy & comfortable and they have a much smoother ride, especially in their acceleration and deceleration. Aside from some odd service panels on the floor making an uneven surface near one set of doors; the Matangi’s are clearly marvellously designed and were fabricated to a very high standard, and I expect they’ll be giving at least another 30 years of iconic service. The AM units are more roomy with their larger loading gauge to work within, but they have less cushioned seats with a strange hard rubber that become a bit uncomfortable after about 20 minutes. They don’t feel as cosy and warm inside. And they’re definitely not as smooth, they often make strange grinding noises and shake or vibrate on some sections of track. And furthermore; the AM’s look a lot more worn than the Matangi’s, despite the units being 3-5 years newer, so they’ve very probably been constructed with inferior quality materials and components. The seat covers in the Matangi units are clearly made of a high quality durable wool moquette carpet, but the covers on the AM units feel like some cheap & nasty nylon polymer. Given the outstanding job that Hyundai-Rotem did with the Matangi’s; It baffles me that Auckland Transport awarded the tender for the AM units to CAF over them and paid more money. I also have to chuckle now remembering a lot of morons who 10-15 years ago were knocking the Matangi’s online over their Korean manufacture and their “broken nose” frontal appearance (as if that makes any difference), who were mostly Aucklanders with a chip on their shoulder’s towards Wellington. I expect that Hyundai-Rotem will have an advantage if they put in a tender for the tender for the upcoming new 4-unit rolling stock for the Wairarapa and Manawatu services given the excellent job they did with he Matangi’s. Auckland’s network however does generally have much better station facilities; with better covering and higher-quality shelters, better quality service display information (over Wellington’s basic dot matrix), gated entry & hop card top up’s, and public announcements for every train (albeit; initially in Te Reo Maori that almost nobody understands, and voiced by a really fruity sounding guy with a horrible accent). Finally: There seems to be something odd with the Auckland services and them running strangely and frustratingly slow on many sections of track. The western line in particular sees the trains potting along at a low velocity that’s far below the possible speed of the AM units or the track alignments and far from attractive to anyone needing or wanting to use the services, but it also seems to happen on the Southern/eastern line especially around Penrose and Otahuhu. Why on earth?! I would honestly rather have speed of service over service frequency. I’m left concluding that Auckland transport must employ some morons (and who probably listen to morons).

@@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Yes I saw that in one section on one carriage, where there is no overhead baggage storage; they have advert panels. Once side was taken upon with adverts for the Chemist warehouse, the other side hade 3 different panels for three different products/services.

@@danieleyre8913, they are probably having to coast so that a train up ahead can get out of their way. Many of the lines are at capacity due to terminating at Britomart. The city rail link makes it into a loop which will double the train capacity.

@@benharris7358 I hope you’re correct. But I suspect you’re unfortunately not, and that the slow speed is due to AT’s (probably ridiculous) safety protocols in dealing with level crossings, which the tunnel will not alleviate. Especially given that the train services I took were also on a Saturday and that frequencies and general traffic levels weren’t that high. And that the only way this will be remedied will be when AT pulls its head of out its bottom and adopts less stringent and more pragmatic protocols.

1) It's the capital 2) It has perfect geography for rail. It's densely populated (at least by nz standards), and most of the population lives in narrow long 'valleys' between mountains, and convenuently thats where the rail lines are. Wellington feels much bigger than its population suggests. Its rail network is pretty good for small size and its patronage was higher than Auckland's until pretty recently, and still has more trips per capita. It used to be waaaay better than Auckland's, but auckland has caught up and will surpass it soon. Auckland is/was quite sprawly compared to wellington, and was neglected for decades. Christchurch is more like a large country town in the way it functions, and is extremely sprawled

@@shaunmckenzie5509 Is there anything Wellington could do to connect the rest of the city with rail? It looks like the network functions quite well but then stops about 1000m short of being very effective at serving the city, and then a good light rail line from the south and airport across the city would complete the package right? Obviously difficult to justify for such a small city and the rail network that is there is, as you say, really good but it could be *great*

I like the look of Britomart including the concourse. Looks cool and unique.

Rolling out the Snapper system across the network had been in the planning stages for a long time. Then the government came along during the latter part of it and announced a nationwide ticketing system.

I think that a national system is a nice idea in principle. But in practice the systems have little shared ridership and there is nobody nationally in charge. Auckland has a big established system, but who will want to have to copy Auckland? Wellington is having enough trouble getting snapper to work throughout Wellington, even though the trains have no existing electronic system. From what I've seen in the world, most cities have their own ticketing system, altough most are I imagine built from a small number of technologies. I like the contactless system used in London. You just use your contactless credit card..... Here in Bordeaux, there is a flat fare electronic system for buses and trams. But for short train trip you have to use the national ticketing system, so the same process for going two stops or across France by TGV. They are talking of a unified system for local train/tram/bus trips, but it is still in the future. And then the cheapest ticketing system used more and more often for local transport - free travel.

Yes Wellington still has carboard tickets but is slowly rolling out electronic ticketing. Hardly a biggie though, aside from having the guard still clip everyone’s ticket.

@@danieleyre8913 That they are still using the same ticketing system after 80 years suggests that they have not thought about ticketing systems much during the life of the system. I think it is not very reliable to depend on the guard getting to every passenger. Ticket selling in stations is expensive if you do not use machines, so you depend on guards to sell tickets too. You need zealous guards who are hard to find...

@@keacoq Well the system has worked and it’s only been the last 20 years at most systems in the world got rid of paper and cardboard tickets so nobody in Metlink cares what you think.

Haven't been on a train in Wellington for over 10 years, but was in Auckland last month, and the AT card was seamless regardless of mode - just need mobile payment options without a card.

Chch is where all the cool kids hang our.

Yes, that's the only remaining passenger service that still covers the full North Island Main Trunk. It's unfortunate, because the tickets are too expensive (in my opinion) and the service is bent so far in favour of rich tourists that it has little to no benefit for the less well-off locals.

Masterton boy here. I can tell you from plenty of personal experience that the Wairarapa line is defo worth a go, there's one hell of a view as you come off the Remutakas and head towards the flats, and vice-versa. Can't really compare it to the other Wellington line, as I've never actually taken any, which is kinda odd considering I've lived almost my whole life in Greater Wellington.

Yeah the Matangi’s are pretty ace. I remember when they were new and all of these loser railfans in Auckland mocked them for being ugly. But they are much better than the ADK class being used in Auckland at that time and better than the CAF’s. They’re so smooth and cosy.

Wellington has better trains, but auckland wins with nicer infrastructure, ie nicer stations

Probably of comparable size. Wellington has about 8 platforms but theyre squished together tightly. I think Britomart has wider space on each platform.

Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere ;)

Mainline Steam (I think it is) they have several ex-SAR locos on strength.

That was a mistake on my part. Incidentally I never rode on the SX set.

@@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga we all make mistakes, i rode on them once, theyre nice, my aussie friend can say the same as he rides them on standard gauge

Eh, grass is greener. 2024 had the rails go pop a few times due to heat and cold. It's been a few years since I've been in Auckland but AT ain't so bad.

That's a matter of opinion, as far as I'm concerned.

Auckland has half a rail network. It was pretty much abandoned from 1950 to 2005. Now we are seeing significant investment. The city rail link will double the capacity of all rail lines feeding into Britomart. Proposed two light rail lines Orewa-Airport and Waimauku-Takapuna would complete the rail segment of the network leaving the remainder to be fed by dedicated bus ways. Its important to note that Aucklands public transport network includes buses and trains as a part of the same network since you can use the AT hop tag on/off card on all AT services, and the services are being designed to integrate.

In my opinion; Auckland’s train services are overall pretty good. But I just think overall Wellington’s is better. Auckland’s system has _some_ things over Wellington though; such as the general line stations and the facilities. Wellington has better trains with more comfort and the trains go faster.

@@danieleyre8913 How fast?

@@benharris7358 and dont forget the ferries that are now apart of the AT network

Agreed lol. Especially with all the upgrades happening right now as well

Aucklands rail is a joke compared to wellington

Ah no. Auckland generally has better station facilities. But Wellington has better trains, and they go faster and don’t creak and shake. “Light years ahead”…

go to europe,check thier rail networks,far superior,we need to learn from them,they also maintain them 24/7 none of this worksafe nonsense