Puhinui Station provides faster access to Auckland Airport

 
On July 24, 2021, I joined Transport Minister Michael Wood, Pacifica Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio, Labour MP Arena Williams, Councillors Alf Filipaina, Efeso Collins and Pippa Coom and members of Otara-Papatoetoe and Mangere-Otahuhu local boards to open the new Puhinui Station Interchange.

With the completion of this $69 million project, Aucklanders and visitors will have regular and congestion-free access to Auckland Airport and its employment precinct via public transport.

Safe and frequent travel

For travellers and for the tens of thousands of people who work at the airport and the business precinct around it, the station enables safe, fast and frequent travel, avoiding congestion on the roads during peak traffic times.

The new interchange links the rail platform with a new bus area via a new elevated forecourt, making it easy to transfer. It also includes new lighting, public toilets, drop off zones, better shelter, improved facilities and access for cyclists and pedestrians.

Thanks to the upgrades completed on State Highway 20B earlier this year, travel time between Puhinui Station and the airport will be around 10 minutes. Travel from Britomart to the airport will take around 45 minutes and will cost less than $6.

The buses and trains, including the new AirportLink e-buses launched earlier this year, are all-electric. This will help reduce carbon emissions from our transport network, which make up more than 40% of Auckland’s overall emissions profile.

Platform for future upgrades

Puhinui Station has been future-proofed for future rail upgrades, including space for additional platforms, and for the Airport to Botany Rapid Transit project, which will add a bus rapid transit bridge to better connect east Auckland with good public transport.

The construction of the Puhinui Station helped support Auckland’s recovery from the Covid-19 crisis by creating more than 150 jobs. It will continue to support the recovery by making it easier for thousands of Aucklanders to get to work at Auckland Airport, which is one the largest employment hubs in the country with more than 900 businesses in and around it.

Due to the frequent weekend track closures on the southern Line to allow for critical work to improve Auckland’s rail network and ready it for the City Rail Link, buses will replace trains to and from Puhinui Station during most weekends this year.

During these weekend closures, the AirportLink will still run from the Auckland Airport to Puhinui, and passengers can transfer to a railbus at Puhinui.

Puhinui Station is the latest project to be completed as part of Auckland Council and the government’s $31.8 billion investment in transport over the next decade, which will provide Aucklanders with a world-class, 21st-century network of public transport to allow people to move more quickly and conveniently around the city.

Phil Goff is Mayor of Auckland. He writes a regular Column in Indian Newslink.

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