2008 – Nov – Cotton & Wood – Auckland Metropolitan Railway Upgrading – Operational Background and Challenges

Ian Cotton, CMILT, ONTRACK Simon Wood, BE CEng (UK) MIPENZ, MIET, AMIRSE, Maunsell AECOM This paper provides a description of the Auckland Metropolitan Rail Network including the current passenger and freight operations, the existing multi-agency governance and funding arrangements together with an outline of the current upgrading and electrification projects and proposed electric train fleet. The operational challenges associated with trying toaccommodate ambitious passenger service growth aspirations within a mixed traffic railway, which has had minimal investment for many decades are described, together with an outline of the operational modelling tools which are currently being used to analyse network capacity and develop robust passenger and freight timetables for the electrified railway. A description of the current and possible future signalling and associated railway system control arrangements is provided, together with an overview of the areas in which the introduction of higher frequency electric services will require establishment of new operational and maintenance procedures as well as the development of rail industry personnel capabilities and competencies.