I Know They Can, I Know They Can

One of the great things about going to university this year has been experiencing the pleasure of travelling into the city by train every week. Contrary to popular opinion as expressed by the media -- and consequently that which is held by a significant proportion of the general public -- Auckland's suburban railways are in fact becoming increasingly reliable and, in my opinion, enjoyable to use. Following a serious dip in standards in the late nineties as a result of the short-sighted privatisation of the nation's entire railway network, which has undeniably crippled people's confidence in the active passenger services, the suburban rail system at least has now re-emerged in a form that rivals even its former efficiency and splendour that it possessed in the days of steam.

When I was trialling the different modes of transport into the city at the start of the year, I came to discover rail's outright superiority to the buses -- that's not to belittle the buses too much, of course; I still think they're preferable to driving in most circumstances. However, consistently taking the train has proven to be most rewarding, despite the relatively long distance between the stations and my house. One of the most significant advantages has been the fact that the trains are so smooth and quiet in their new, refurbished forms. This obviously provides the opportunity to get some good, unabated study or last-minute readings done during the journey into town, which for me usually rounds out at about forty-five minutes from Henderson to Britomart. The trains seldom sway as furiously and disconcertingly as the buses, there is certainly a lot less revving of engines, and there are no sharp turns. In my experience, passengers tend to be a lot quieter than those on buses too. The payload is usually made up of less children and more working people. Most people who one encounters on a train are very polite and friendly, particularly the staff, who provide service with a smile and engage in conversation with passengers between stations. You won't encounter any angsty drivers on the train, which I'm sure many of you will appreciate as a considerably positive point given that you will have had the displeasure of facing the none-too-uncommon short-fused bus drivers.

Another factor that makes the trains so appealing to me is the fact that they are full of people who are forsaking the selfish confines of certain other notably uneconomical and environmentally unfriendly modes of transportation, choosing instead to travel together and place some faith in the railways. It is becoming increasingly displeasing to see the general lack of confidence in this invaluable service that is being perpetuated in Auckland's culture, with -- as per usual -- little to no thanks going to the media. Admittedly, earlier on in the year train reliability was greatly unpredictable, but that was due to the ongoing project of double-tracking the Western Line. Now that a substantial amount of that is completed, the number of trains sticking to their schedules has noticeably improved -- I myself have not been on a single significantly late train so far this semester.

Despite all this, the media continue to ridicule the prospect of an efficient Auckland suburban rail system having any chance of developing. They are able to reinforce this slanderous campaign with the help of irritating passengers who sit there sighing, looking at their watch and holding their head in their hands whenever any slight delay occurs, and who then proceed to dial the Herald and loudly submit their story over the phone. All the while they insist on engaging in a futile verbal attack on the train staff -- who are innocents responsible for clipping tickets and nothing more. I was sitting opposite one such grouchy passenger a few months ago, when a signal failure on the Western Line resulted in the trains ending up running about two hours late. Inevitably, her comments made it into a Herald article damning the railways on the subsequent weekend, much to my outrage.

Needless to say, that sort of time spent on the train is bound to spawn some discussion among the passengers, and as it turned out a considerably friendly atmosphere had been created. People had got to know each other and were passing the time with light-hearted conversation. That particular evening certainly instilled me with a reinforced sense of belief in the goodness in people, being marred only by the fanatic detractor. From what the passengers that I talked to said, I got an overall impression that there is in fact a base of faith in rail and that people are willing to persevere.

This is what people need to realise -- that perseverance is the key. It must be understood that the Rogernomics-induced selling of the Auckland suburban rail system to private commercial interests has caused it to fall into a shocking state, and that we cannot expect it to simply be up-and-running in a super-efficient manner reminiscient of the days of steam as soon as some money is thrown at it. The process of revival is undoubtedly going to take time, but by the looks of how much things have progressed within the seven months that I have been making use of the service, I would say that there is not long to go, provided that people can just have some faith. If rail is not given a chance, we may not ever see it reach its full, wonderful potential, and taking into account the approaching fuel crisis and economic slump, that would be not just a shame -- it would be a disaster.