Expensive and unsuitable structures
Train platforms too short. The ARC chairman finally works it out after all these years:
"It seems this is a case of bureaucratic foot-dragging and almost could I say sabotage really, because if we are restricting Onehunga to two-carriage trains, yet demanding six-carriage stations everywhere else, it just doesn't stack up."
Mr Lee complained about not being consulted about the "shrunken" station, although he had been told this week that its dimensions were "flashed up" on a projector screen by an Arta official during a regional council meeting in May.
It's sabotage alright. The Avondale Station - for example was demolished and then shifted... and then shifted again! The temporary stop they built looks just the same as the new one. And just like all the other stations there are no clocks. So we have no official acknowledgment of how slow the trains run. There's a level crossing for pedestrians - to invite fatalities. But they've spent money on electric gates for it.
It's all sabotage. It's to keep the works programme rolling over. They deliberately fail to co-ordinate so they have to do everything three or four times. The intersection near my place has been re-made three times in less than a year as each needless mistake is remedied. The auditor-general signed off on the same sabotage with the footpath contractors case. The real rip off is that they haven't undergrounded the lines when they did all those streets. Every bit of concrete that has to be uplifted before its 40 year lifespan to underground the lines is because of the failure of the councillors now and all that waste is their fault. They are misspending on infrastructure to suit budgets and they don't care or comprehend what a mess it all is. When confronted with the mess they will blame each other and central government. All they can agree on is to change policy, again. That's Auckland.
And then there's the stupid sheds which are boring us to indifference.
Strip it back to the metal - weld up the thunderdome.Labels: Auckland/Tamaki
posted by Tim Selwyn @ 10:58 am
4 comments
4 Comments:
Just imagine if they'd gone for that ridiculous water front stadium on that site Tim. May've been ready for the 2023 RWC, may not have. Would have gone over budget by at least $500M too, to boot.
"Strip it back to the metal - weld up the thunderdome."
Best idea yet!
I used to ride the trains home from work in the afternoon from Henderson to Mt. Albert, problem after fucking problem... late... signal failure... train stopping for 30 minutes in the middle of fucking nowhere... etc etc
At least it was in the afternoon, so I wasn't in a huge rush to get home. would suck ass riding that thing in the morning tho
This is par for the course with ARTA - just imagine the fun we're gonna have when the new CCO - Auckland Transport - runs it all and the councillors can only wring their hands on the sidelines. Remember all the councillors can do is elect new CCO Directors every 3 years, and set some vague overarching policy. None of that impacts on nuts-n-bolts stuff like getting platform length right.
To be fair, ARTA can use the 2 car DMU's for the Onehunga line for many years before demand exceeds those 2 car units' capacity. The real danger is flexibility - if the sell off most DMU's, we may have few or no spare DMU's if one breaks down. That could leave Onehunga stranded.
There is a bigger underlying issue with 'make work' contracts - as Tims says - building and rebuilding the same structures. The ARTA claim is (like Kingdon St) that Onehunga platform is 'temporary', yet is appears to have exact same construction materials and methods as the permanent platforms. ARC should demand proof of techincal differences between 'temporary' and permanent platforms. Cat, meet pigeons.
And of course, Avondale did not need shifting at all (it's no closer to the shops than it was before). And New Lynn did not need undergrounding, at cost of extra $70m plus. It only went underground to help the badly designed roads!!!@#$!
Kiwirail need to grow a pair, but then they aren't even letting their workshops bid for the new EMU manufacturing work...
Don't talk to me about fucken trains! Had it up to here with 'em!
One day the blasted train stopped. Just like that. It just fucken stopped. Not at a station like normal trains do. Oh no! It stopped in the middle of fucken Mt Albert and Avondale citing signal failure.
After at least half an hour, I needed to go badly for a piss and no amount of arguing with those baboons who call themselves attendants who sympathize with me.
I ripped open the control flap by the car door and manually opened the doors and walked out, down the train, pissed in the bushes and walked home!
Fuck the lot of them!
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