Great video Ryan, you got me, I’m heading to Auckland tomorrow night with a couple of days free b4 a cruise back to Melbourne, so loving trains too I’m going to do this trip. You’re pronunciation of New Zealand place names , wow, they just roll off your tongue, I’m impressed.. Safe travels, looking forward to your next video..

Te Huia is a great service to have. Have used it a couple of times now from Auckland to Hamilton and return. Great to not have to fight the Auckland motorway traffic, sit back and relax on comfy chairs with a bite to eat and drink from the on board cafè. The timetable is created for the Hamilton folk in mind. Would be great to have an earlier service from Auckland to Hamilton as you have to wait for the train to return to Auckland so it is limiting if traveling from Auckland in the morning. Staff are awesome on board. Get a Bee Card which costs the cheaper than paying full fare and can also be used around other Districts on their public transport.

Do between Greymouth and Christchurch, stunning. 😊 Thanks Ryan.

Iv'e done the Te Huia train on two times and I have enjoyed both times one of the times I stayed overnight in Hamilton on the second trip I love trains

The carriages were converted from British Rail Mk 2D carriages which were new in 1971. In 1998 they were launched as suburban carriages in Auckland. The bogies are definitely different to the comfortable ride of the standard gauge bogies they rode on in the UK.

Te Huia is a Hamilton/Auckland/Hamilton subsidised 'commuter' style inter-regional passenger train service, currently operating 2 return services per day Monday to Friday and 1 return service on Saturday. The Te Huia fleet consists of three 4 carriage (two 50 seat passenger carriages, one 20 seat cafe/handicap carriage and one generator/driver cab carriage for 28 passengers and bikes) and one locomotive train sets. Due to the current timetables and Auckland Council not keen for Te Huia to operate on its precious Metro train network, only one train set is used with the second train sits at Hamilton's Te Rapa rail yards not earning any money. The third train set as an emergency spare set. Despite the issues, Te Huia is exceeding passenger targets and is developing its own market both from Hamilton and Auckland. During school holiday periods and on Saturdays, Te Huia operates as a 5 carriage train set with a extra 50 seat passenger carriage being added. From 8 February 2024, Te Huia will have a new timetable with additional services. As a frequent user of Te Huia, the ride quality is slowing improving as the track between Auckland (Pukekohe) and Hamilton is slowly being upgraded, as the track is maintained for rail freight operations. Up to 7 weeks ago Te Huia use to have two locomotives at either end which didn't help in the ride quality, as the trailing locomotive was 'dead' weight restricting the natural ride of carriages. Now Te Huia has one locomotive in push/pull operation, where the locomotive pushes the train from Hamilton to Auckland pulls the train back to Hamilton. which has improved the ride quality. I have been on Te Huia where speed has been up to 108 kp/h which is not bad for a track that has a maximum speed limit of 110 kp/h. With regards to Te Huia running time of 2hrs 36 mins each way, the timetable has a lot of padding built into it to cater for speed restrictions due to the upgrading of track and electrifcation between Papakura and Pukekohe in preparation of the opening of the Auckland's Central Rail Link in late 2025/early 2026. Pukekohe is the end of Auckland's metro rail network and is close to the Auckland/Waikato boarder. Once the Central Rail Link is opened and high capacity signalling (ETCS Level 2) and train control is operational, The Huia's running times will be reduced. Since Te Huia, is funded as a public transport service, Beecard 'tap & travel' ticketing/payment system is available for travel on Te Huia and on Hamilton's urban and Waikato regional bus services. Beecard can also be used on public transport services in 9 other regions in NZ. Once the new national open loop 'tap & travel' ticketing/payment system is rolled by 2026, will see more passengers using Te Huia between Auckland and Hamilton as the new system will eliminate having 2 'tap & travel' cards and cash fares on Te Huia allowing seamless travel to/from and within each region. Rotokauri is a local bus/train transfer hub. The Train manager is correct, it is cheaper to go to Frankton, as on demand ride sharing (taxi, Uber, etc) prices are cheaper from Frankton than from Rotorkauri. Yes, the creamy chicken/mushroom pie is very tasty and so are the heated muffins. Ryan is right, prices are cheap on Te Huia.

Kia ora ryan, love te huia, it's great it's getting busier too, it's really needed, alot of people who live in Hamilton commute to Auckland for work, more aucklanders are going to Hamilton for visits too, it's a great service

Thanks for doing this review, I think this service is a good idea, more people are living south of Auckland and are working in Auckland. It may suit a person who can take their laptop and start the work day on the train, instead of driving.

People from overseas forget NZs small population. Apart from the main cities, you must have a car, or you will never leave your home. For this train service to work you need at least a 2-hour service and preferably a 1-hour service. It MUST also be quicker. I have often considered this service, but found the timetable means hours of waiting time. Car is a much better option. Sad really because the price is fair, and I love trains.

Queensland Rail does do indeed make announcements in indigenous languages on the tilt train but only from Bundaberg to Rockhampton.

Thank you for sharing this

Nice one 👍

It sucks you used the service when the eastern line was down for a rebuild, its the default route te huia takes that has amazing views along the harbour The reason the train was screeching was bc it runs along the tight bend along the southern line, which the residents are unfortunately used to

Very interesting, there are a lot of travel reports but New Zealand trains are rarely seen. I've seen reports on the Tranz Alpine and Tranz Coastal before but never been to NZ myself.

Announcements in English and Maori suffice because they are common languages. If you used Aboriginal languages/dialects in Australia, you'd still be going half an hour later!

The bumpiness is definitely due to the quality of the tracks! Some of the lines around the country hasn't been properly upgraded and had new bedding since beyond the 1930s! However, I do believe that the Waikato Council are interested in keeping the service and will put pressure on Kiwirail to upgrade the line.

I’m doing The Northern Explorer Northbound next year, I’m hoping the ride will be a little better than this but something tells me the carriages might be similar except for the addition of an open air observation car. I can’t find the Gympie to Brisbane rail video, was one done?

Track alignment and track wear look like maintenance issues on this line, with track maintenance 100 kph should be possible and should mean a 90 minute journey or less✌️❤️🇬🇧 nice modern carriages.

Do you have or will do any videos about booking flights to gain the most amount of frequent flyer points? Have you used points to upgrade on a flight you have paid for?

good old hamiltron. city of the future.

0:08 “Trains are wonderful” Until greedy money grabbers come up with excuses with scrap it

Video is not playing properly for me- it keeps starting mid sentence towards the end of it. When I force it to play from the beginning, I just have a countdown timer of 1:53 seconds. It has been doing this countdown for about 8 minutes now. 🤔 I’ll come back later and see if KZfaq has sorted itself out.