Source: Radio New Zealand
Te Huia was launched in April 2021 for a five-year trial which was due to end in June 2026, but has now been extended by a year. RNZ / Gill Bonnett
The Hamilton-to-Auckland train, Te Huia, has been given an extra year to prove itself.
The train provides an interregional passenger rail service between the regions of Waikato and Auckland.
On Thursday afternoon the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) board agreed to a Waikato Regional Council request to keep government funding steady at 60 percent for a one-year extension.
The council took the step to ask for the extension in December 2025, expressing a need for certainty from NZTA before the council began its long term plan process.
The council argued that the current trial had been too heavily affected by Covid delays, being temporarily banned from operating in Auckland, and repeated line closures on the Auckland network.
Te Huia was launched in April 2021 for a five-year trial which was due to end in June 2026. It will now continue until the end of June 2027 with government funding steady at a 60 percent funding assistance rate.
Waikato Regional Council said councillors would now be asked to support continued local funding at the current rate when they meet next week to consider the budget for 2026/27.
The future of Te Huia and its funding would then be discussed with the public as part of the 2027-2037 Long Term Plan process.
Waikato Regional Council chairperson Warren Maher thanked the NZTA board for its decision.
“I also note the support we received from local councils, as well as champions of Te Huia.”
In December, letters of support from Auckland, Hamilton City, Waipā and Waikato district councils said they were committed to sustainable economic growth across the sub-region, along the Hamilton to Auckland corridor, and in the emerging economic zone centred around the north Waikato and south Auckland areas.
Also earlier this month, approximately 300 supporters attended a “Stack the Station,” event at Hamilton’s Frankton Station, calling for the permanent future of the Te Huia passenger rail service.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
