Taking a ride on Te Huia - NZ's Newest Passenger Train (with former British Rail coaches)

Рет қаралды 7,155

2 жыл бұрын

An independent review of the Te Huia passenger train, filmed during a ride from Hamilton to Papakura on Saturday July 23. KiwiRail's DFB 7335 hauled the 6-car consist, which turned out to be too crowded for my liking.
For those not in the know, Te Huia's coaches are actually former British Rail Mk2 stock (and 47 years old at the youngest). The Mk2s were originally built from 1964 and 1975, with loads of them being shipped to New Zealand in the 1990s. As for the DFB locomotive, she was originally built in 1979 (which makes her 43 years old) but has been modified several times over the years.
Upon leaving the train at Papakura, I went on to spend most of the day railfanning in Auckland. Watch this space....
(Te Huia's website):
tehuiatrain.co.nz/
(not sponsored)
(channels that inspired this video):
Dylan's Travel Reports ~ / dylanstravelreports
Simply Railway ~ / simplyrailway
Superalbs Travels ~ / superalbstravels

Пікірлер: 55

@brentsummers7377 Жыл бұрын

It would be a fun trip for kids from Hamilton schools to go to Auckland for the day - provided there was enough space for 30 plus children, teacher and parents. The paint job on the carriages look awesome!

@benharris7358 Жыл бұрын

It will be good if they made the intercity train direct to the central stations in each city. They need to electrify the entire line and do realignments to support higher speed tilt trains. Make the route competitive on time and cost with the motorway and it will become the most used in the country.

@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Жыл бұрын

I can definitely see electrification being done over the whole NIMT, but in my opinion tilting trains would be too impratical in New Zealand.

@ClaxMaxtron Жыл бұрын

@@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga they have them in Queensland, I reckon they should be possible here with enough investment

@mattlambert9092 Жыл бұрын

Loved the cutaway screenshot to Father Jack...."DRINK!" haha

@kaymish6178 Жыл бұрын

I leave from Sylvia Park Some mornings on the AT trains and some times see Te Huia blasting past the station. its a pretty busy area because the Coke factory is there too and they often spot rail wagons in their loading dock around 0800-0900 weekdays, so Te Huia is coming through at the same time as a freight train is getting picked up or dropped off while AT trains are stopping at the station.

@graememellor8319 Жыл бұрын

Awesome livery, one of the best I've seen from Au & NZ

@anthonywalsh2164 Жыл бұрын

I saw the train at Puhinui while waiting for the next electric to Britomart having arrived from the airport. I was surprised by an EMD loco on either end, but was wondering where the carriages originated from. You’ve answered the question, thanks.

@stuartlennox66 Жыл бұрын

I worked for the railways in the 80s and 90s and just a point of interest, as you go through the TeRapa yard if you look to your left you can see the TeRapa signal box that I worked in for many years, also before the new purpose built station by the base there used to be several Railway houses on that land, I know because we lived in one for several years, how time changes.

@PhilSmith71 Жыл бұрын

Great video. Gorgeous cloudscape at 3:04. Advertising a natural Wi-Fi network? 🤣

@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Жыл бұрын

That's not what I was thinking at the time, but perhaps it's promoting Te Huia's onboard Wi-Fi (which I forgot to mention in the video).

@mcdstudios-kalanimcd9528 Жыл бұрын

Funny thing is, i raced you guys to pukekohe via papakura, left at the same time, and i still got to pukekohe 15 minutes before you, even with a 10 minute wait at papakura for the ADL service

@tigertiger1699 Жыл бұрын

Great vid🙏

@FromtheWindowSeat Жыл бұрын

Great video. 👍 I’m really keen to try this service when I visit NZ for the first time. 🥳

@tfj100 Жыл бұрын

Hmmm, so what is going on at 13:28? Is this a selfie to while away a bit of boredom? 😂

@daffyduk77 Жыл бұрын

Those coaches look to be radically different to BR days ?? Amazing. And don't you just love that "industrial" EMD engine sound, mmmmmm

@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Жыл бұрын

The doors were re-positioned for Auckland commuter service, as having doors at each end of the coach would probably increase station dwell times.

@patricknepe8850 Жыл бұрын

I love the steam train

@danieleyre8913 Жыл бұрын

I’ll be convinced of the viability of Te Huia the day it’s running a second service of at least 4 cars.

@rp7784 Жыл бұрын

Well I just hope whoever is in government for the next election continues to support the service. But for now Te Huia is meeting my expectations, on the School Holidays they had to increase the amount of cars from 4 to 5 and during the weekends it went up to 6. The half price fares are helping increase demand and now the Waikato Regional Council released their transport plan with Te Huia Service improvements mentioned such as increased services and frequencies so I think it might be a success, the only down side is the speed, hopefully that's sorted out in future.

@VhenRaTheRaptor Жыл бұрын

@@rp7784 They have been running test trains with the driving trailers forward this last week. If I had to guess... its because they want to run multiple sets a day and since they only have three locos allocated... they can't use two locos.

@DKS225 Жыл бұрын

You had me fooled with the SR Stock as when i first saw them i didn't know at first that they turned out to be BR MK 2E stock in a past life. That and i also had no knowledge that BR exported these coaches second-hand anywhere outside of The UK.

@danieleyre8913 Жыл бұрын

Just one thing: That station at Huntly is not the original station. The original station that was there since steam train days was an Island platform. During the Toll rail era; the original and its substantial overbridge structure, was completely demolished so that freight trains could run through at full speed, and replaced with that rather sad side platform that's there now and which trains have to slow down and cross points to get to.

@MichaelBeeny Ай бұрын

I have never used this service because of timings. To be successful the service needs to be at least ever 2 hours and preferably every hour. That way you are not killing time or being tied to the clock. The journey time is also way too long.

@RyanJohnsonRailways Жыл бұрын

Hot Take: I think KiwiRail is intentionally making bad decisions with Te Huia because they very notoriously don't want to be running passenger trains. The pitfalls of this government run corporation being obligated to be profitable.

@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Жыл бұрын

If they don't want to run passenger trains, why do they keep the three long-distance services going? (As an aside, I had to look up what 'hot take' means because I didn't know previously).

@jackgibbons6013 Жыл бұрын

Because they can charge far far more for those tourist services. And they don’t really get in the way of freight, only a couple services a week. Not going to suddenly grow into a headache. The Auckland metro network is now dominated by passenger metro services. Makes what is primarily a freight company’s job harder, having to work around trains that are of a higher priority. Same thing but more pronounced in The US. and Canada. Freight railroads hate the city passenger services.

@danieleyre8913 Жыл бұрын

Bad decisions how? These services are a financial drain on Kiwirail. The problem is not with Kiwirail, the problem is the charter that they had forced upon them back in 2008-9 where Kiwirail are expected to make a profit, get no government subsidies and little in the way of grants, and pay for the maintenance of infrastructure. Tourist trains provide the best return on investment. If you want Kiwirail to provide public services again; lobby this transport minister Michael Wood to get their charter changed instead of pissing away money on studies to try and justify unneeded electrification of lines.

@edwardvincentbriones5062 Жыл бұрын

Coaches on platform about 30 minutes before first departure? Noted.

@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Жыл бұрын

If memory serves, that's normal for Te Huia. Besides the Northern Explorer it doesn't have to deal with any other passenger services until Pukekohe.

@jimcrawford5039 Жыл бұрын

So these coaches are S.G. Re bogeyed, Is that right?. Nice train & video. Cheers from NSW.

@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Жыл бұрын

Yes, the coaches have been re-gauged. NZ uses 3ft 6inch instead of 4ft 8.5inch gauge.

@TheREALPoriruaTrainspotter Жыл бұрын

By the way I filmed The Around The Block 2 yesterday

@jferris11 Жыл бұрын

When did the graphiti get so bad?

@Tony_7791 Жыл бұрын

Its not 1950 anymore..

@NZVideoMaker Жыл бұрын

What's the reason for the double locomotives?

@VhenRaTheRaptor Жыл бұрын

With the tight scheduling in Auckland there isn't enough time to run the locos around and [at the time, it's apparently changing, they are running test and training trains] they didn't consider the driving trailers [the former SD cars] safe to operate outside of Auckland... So two locos ticks both boxes. They don't need to run the locos around and they can run backwards without changing anything.

@bigkiwimike Жыл бұрын

Auckland, the country’s largest city does not have a turntable. So because TeHuia goes into town via the waterfront and comes back via the waterfront, you would need to turn the loco. You could in theory use the triangle at the mouth of the Britomart tunnel but there is no chance of this happening during the morning or afternoon peak. Hence, the need for two locos. There is no easy gap to allow TeHuia to go over the hill through Newmarket. So as was said elsewhere, they are undergoing trials and training to allow the former SD cars to be used between Hamilton and Auckland so only one loco will be needed.

@frobes9296 Жыл бұрын

@@bigkiwimike there is a turntable in otahuhu -36.94322235524145, 174.83210449728605

@bramantyoprahoro7284 Жыл бұрын

Push-pull system.

@ClaxMaxtron Жыл бұрын

The holdup was due to a fault with one of the coaches.

@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Жыл бұрын

I'm not surprised that they didn't specify what the problem was. They never do.

@ClaxMaxtron Жыл бұрын

yep, typical over secretive kiwirail

@rikisimeti7955 Жыл бұрын

When I rode on Te Huia last week we were stopped at Papakura (southbound) for a good 25 minutes due to someone smoking in the toilet and they had to reset the smoke alarm. Which is interesting because they did mention the reason of this delay.

@TheTrainspotterFromTauranga Жыл бұрын

Ok. First of all, why the hell would someone be smoking on a train? Secondly, what is with the train operators never properly explaining 'train faults' to the passengers? If they just assume that people aren't going to care, or are focussed solely on getting to their destination then that's getting close to insulting our intelligence.

@rikisimeti7955 Жыл бұрын

Yeah I guess so. The person was kicked off of the train at Papakura and they mentioned on the PA system that he was banned from riding Te Huia for the next 2 weeks. I think the train managers don't tell the passengers the reasons things go wrong is because they don't want the public to think badly of the train service. Especially when they seem to always be having faults with the carriages and the locomotives. That's the last they'd want. So they just keep it quiet.

@bobbobbly7900 Жыл бұрын

why can't anything in nz have an english name?.........maori never had trains,ffs they never even had wheels

@haegeum3040 Жыл бұрын

why are you being racist?? lmao

@yunghatchy5231 Жыл бұрын

Cause maori are the natives in aotearoa you moron 🤦‍♂️

@TheAristocrat. Жыл бұрын

lots of things in New Zealand have English names..

@TheAristocrat. Жыл бұрын

It doesn't matter if Māori had trains or wheels, the route is named after the bird as it has a special place in Māori culture and oral tradition. like many other things that changed from their English to Māori name or just already had a Māori name. It helps more people care or just understand that it exists, and to actually use helping fix the mistakes of the past where people were punished for even trying to speak their native language.

@cv990a4 Жыл бұрын

Because adopting Maori names helps create a clear Kiwi identity separate from Aussie, Canada, US, UK, etc. I think NZ somewhat overdo it with nodding to the spiritual aspect of the Maori culture - I don't think Maori spirituality is any more valid than any other kind (e.g. Christian or Jewish) - but it is true that if you want to list ways that Kiwis differ from other Anglo culture, one of the most obvious things is NZ's Maori heritage. My parents (anglo Kiwis born in the 1930s) understood this - they lived outside of NZ for all but their childhoods, but we always had Maori carvings, etc, in the house. Why? Because it's authentically Kiwi.