I’m pretty sure they have specific demands, asking for better inter-city passenger trains. It says in the article the protesters are from the “Restore Passenger Rail climate action group”.
I don’t know their strategy, but if their intention is to get publicity for the cause then the term “it doesn’t matter what they are saying about you, as long as they’re talking about you” comes to mind.
They actually are quite specific in what they want, they want a restoration of all our intercity rail services, to a level of service that existed back in the nineties. It’s not about commuter rail, as many commenters here seem to think.
In other words, they want the government to spend a few hundred mill on rolling stock, and still more on other subsidies, on a service that would take nearly twice as long to go between Auckland and Wellington as a bus. They’ve completely lost touch with reality.
This is also ignoring the fact that diesel rail isn’t that much better than road transport, and can even be worse.
In other words, they want the government to spend a few hundred mill on rolling stock, and still more on other subsidies, on a service that would take nearly twice as long to go between Auckland and Wellington as a bus.
Driving time WLG <=> AKL is about 7.5 hours. Assuming a 15 minute break every 2 hours, that’s about 8.5 hours. It’s 650km, so that’s about 76km/hour on average. I’m sure a train can go as fast / faster than that; definitely not <40km/hour like you suggest.
Yep as right now it’s a scenic route, so no focus on speed. I agree, right now it’s not a very good alternative to driving. That’s the point, that should be improved; it should be faster than driving.
Isn’t the irony here that making cars sit idling instead of getting where they’re going causes more pollution?
Who are these protests convincing? Do they even say what their demands are other than a completely unspecific and unhelpful “combat climate change”?
I’m pretty sure they have specific demands, asking for better inter-city passenger trains. It says in the article the protesters are from the “Restore Passenger Rail climate action group”.
I don’t know their strategy, but if their intention is to get publicity for the cause then the term “it doesn’t matter what they are saying about you, as long as they’re talking about you” comes to mind.
It kinda does matter what they’re saying about you when you’re trying to get public support for a cause though.
They actually are quite specific in what they want, they want a restoration of all our intercity rail services, to a level of service that existed back in the nineties. It’s not about commuter rail, as many commenters here seem to think.
In other words, they want the government to spend a few hundred mill on rolling stock, and still more on other subsidies, on a service that would take nearly twice as long to go between Auckland and Wellington as a bus. They’ve completely lost touch with reality.
This is also ignoring the fact that diesel rail isn’t that much better than road transport, and can even be worse.
Driving time WLG <=> AKL is about 7.5 hours. Assuming a 15 minute break every 2 hours, that’s about 8.5 hours. It’s 650km, so that’s about 76km/hour on average. I’m sure a train can go as fast / faster than that; definitely not <40km/hour like you suggest.
The northern explorer is 10h 15min Auckland to Wellington, and travels almost exactly the same distance.
I thought it was slower, but it’s still much slower than road transport.
Yep as right now it’s a scenic route, so no focus on speed. I agree, right now it’s not a very good alternative to driving. That’s the point, that should be improved; it should be faster than driving.
It’s actually faster than a bus somehow, although a bus ticket is forty bucks.