Christchurch's mass public transport plan earns national nod
A joint application from Christchurch City Council and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi on behalf of the Greater Christchurch Partnership has seen MRT successfully make it into Te Waihanga Infrastructure Commission's draft National Infrastructure Plan.
The MRT project, which will provide high capacity, frequency, fast, reliable travel, was assessed by a team of independent experts from the commission.
It deemed it to be of national importance by meeting New Zealand's strategic objectives, being good value for money, and capable of being successfully delivered.
The MRT is a public transport system that would operate on dedicated routes to ensure speed, frequency and capacity.
That would likely mean a combination of buses and light rail that would be separated from other traffic - the idea being travel would be faster than other options in and out of the city.
Council strategy, planning and regulatory services general manager John Higgins said while inclusion in the draft National Infrastructure Plan does not guarantee funding or political support, the endorsement is still an important step forward.
'Having our MRT work on the list gives central government investment partners confidence that the project has been assessed as having merit by independent experts,' he said.
'It was one of 17 projects nationally to make it through the first round of submissions.'
Higgins said the project is in the early stages but would involve a 22km dedicated corridor, with 21 stations connecting Hornby and Belfast via the central city.
'It is a key component of the Greater Christchurch Spatial Plan, which was developed with our Greater Christchurch partners,' he said.
'This sets out the pathway for enabling the Greater Christchurch population to grow to 700,000 residents over 30 years, and towards a million people, cementing itself as New Zealand's second largest city and principal urban area of the South Island.'
The next phase of the MRT project, which the council is leading, focuses on developing a Route Protection Detailed Business Case to identify any additional land needed, as well as designating it before construction and advancing the design to define land requirements.
A second round of projects is also being assessed for the National Infrastructure Plan and the council submitted the Public Transport Futures programme for consideration.
'This programme includes lower cost improvements to the city's existing bus network and is an essential step towards implementation of MRT,' Higgins said.
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