Commuters not all on board with red-eye Te Huia service

More than 100 passengers travelled on the first 4.42pm rail service of the new Auckland to Hamilton line, but early starts means this will be the last ride for some commuters.

The train, known as Te Huia, operates two round trips every workday, with morning services departing Hamilton’s Frankton Station at 5.46am and 6.28am, while afternoon services leaves Papakura Station at 4.42pm and 6.25pm.

Figures from the Waikato District Council shows out of the 147 people that Te Huia can carry, 106 travelled on the inaugural afternoon service on April 6.

However, not everyone is on board for the long run.

Michael Thorne got up at 4.30am to catch the train to a meeting in Newmarket before returning the same way later that day.

He said he won’t be travelling on the service though enjoyed the ride.

“I would like my sleep.

“They’re obviously aimed at the Monday-to-Friday commuter but I would use the train service two or three times a month for business meetings which don’t start until 11am.

“I feel they should have one for the early morning commuter and a later train at around 8am – it’s for those people who do a bit of business and don’t need to get at Auckland at the crack of dawn.”

Meanwhile, families used the late afternoon service on the service's first day.

Nicky Barrett and her children, Angeline and Materoa, were on their way home from a weekend in Auckland and wanted to see what the train looks like. Although they missed it at Papakura, they managed to board at Huntly after dropped off by Nicky’s husband.

“It’s a beautiful train – I wish we had been on it longer actually.

“We would definitely take that instead of driving.”

Trainspotters Alex and Casey Burgess waited for the train on the platform at Frankton, with Alex describing the refurbished carriage is a major improvement.

“Having travelled on the exact carriage to university when I was a teenager, they did one of an upgrade to them.

“[The service] should have happened 10, 20 years ago, but it’s better late than never.”

The inaugural Te Huia afternoon service took 93 minutes and pulled into Frankton at 6.15pm, six minutes ahead of its scheduled time, while stopping at Huntly and Rotokauri Transport Hub.

A car driven by another Te Waha Nui reporter from Papakura at the same time to Frankton beat the train by 18 minutes.