It’s been a while but the Gold Coast Light Rail extension to Burleigh Heads opened today. Just wondering if the Palm Beach nimbys who successfully opposed a further extension will have non-buyers remorse.

The just upgraded Shorncliffe Station is the 13th South East Queensland train station to have had an accessibility upgrade in the past two years, with a further 9 stations set to get accessibility upgrades from the Logan and Gold Coast faster rail projects over the next few years.

Kirikiriroa/ Hamilton folks. It would be great to have a strong show of support for Te Huia this Sunday 2pm at Hamilton Frankton Station. A key decision is coming up in a couple of weeks on extending the trial by another year and your support could help get this across the line.

This is the first time in 24 years that a scheduled passenger train has stopped at Invercargill Station. The station itself is in rough shape but nothing a bit of tender loving care can’t fix.

Just about to board the sold-out first scheduled passenger train between Ōtepoti/ Southerner and Waihopai/ Invercargill since the demise of the Southerner in 2002. Hoping this becomes a regular thing and not just occasional one-offs.

A sadly all too rare experience of a passenger train at Timaru. I’m on the inaugural Mainlander train journey from Ōtautahi/ Christchurch to Ōtepoti/ Dunedin.

Great to see Gold Coast light rail stage 3 really starting to take shape with 60+% of the track and overhead catenary in place and many of the stations well under construction. Should be fully open from Broadbeach South to Burleigh Heads by mid next year.

At the just opened Pimpama Station on SE Queensland’s fast growing Northern Gold Coast. This is the first of three new Gold Coast Line stations to open, to be followed by Hope Island and Merrimac in 2026.

In Brisbane developments, a pic of the beginning of the installation of the Cross River Rail Albert Street Station canopy. When I moved to Brisbane nearly two years ago, the station was still below ground level so it’s great to see it getting close to its final form.

Pictured are the mid to late evening country train departures from Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station. Something we can only dream about in Aotearoa with our apparent obsession with covering our beautiful country with asphalt.

I love seeing a scheduled passenger train at Dunedin Railway Station for the four-day trial of a revived Southerner train. But this should be a daily occurrence, not once in a blue moon. #thefutureisrail

This is the first time a passenger train has stopped at Timaru Station since the Southerner stopped in 2002. I’m on the short-term revival of the Southerner but really wish it were permanent. #thefutureisrail

Fun public transport facts on Airport to city PT city centre connections (weekday interpeak with smart card): Christchurch - 3, 8, 29 bus, 8 per hr, $2 Auckland - bus/ train, 6 per hr, $6.25 Queenstown - 1 bus, 4 per hr, $2 Wellington - AX, 4 per hr, $8.76 Brisbane - train, 2 per hr, $22.30

Pretty impressive to see how effective the bi-articulated buses known as Brisbane Metro are at quickly absorbing big surges in demand, such as lecture finish times at the University of Queensland.

In Brisbane, the Cross River Rail Roma Street Station is getting its roof installed. It looks like Auckland’s City Rail Link, where the stations are nearly complete, will open in 2026 well ahead of Cross River Rail.

Great to see work on Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland’s Third Main Line (& associated Middlemore Station upgrade) is looking closer to completion. Photo looking north from Puhinui Station.

Yes, things are tough for sustainable transport in Aotearoa/ NZ at present. So more important than ever to celebrate the wins, such as the launch of electric train services from Pukekohe & accompanying local bus service improvements. As @urbanistfromwhk.bsky.social says, “better things are possible”

From back in the day (until the late 1960s) when Meanjin/ Brisbane had a comprehensive tram network.

A reminder that Brisbane got rid of its trams a lot later, in 1969, than many other anglosphere cities. But like other cities, it reallocated the space for trams to cars.

Spotted in Ōtepoti/ Dunedin are the former Capital Connection carriages, presumably bought by Dunedin Railways. Of course, it required a rail enabled ferry to get them between the islands. Just another reason why rail enabled ferries are vital to keeping Aotearoa/ NZ’s rail network together.

Ōtepoti/ Dunedin is very well set up for revived rail. Back in the day, you could get from Port Chalmers or Mosgiel (on the express train) to the city centre in 20 minutes. The gorgeous main station has just been restored, the city owns a railway company and some of the former stations still exist.

Great to see good progress on Tāmaki Makaurau’s Third Main & Middlemore Station and a big shout out to all the hard mahi that will take place in the next six weeks on the Auckland & Wellington rail networks while most of us are on holiday. Meri kirihimete ki a koutou katoa/ Merry Christmas to all.

Life in Aotearoa/ NZ. The last regional train of the year for the entire country will leave Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland at 5:35pm today 24th December. The Capital Connection from Palmerston North resumes 13 January and Te Huia not until 28 January with no bus replacements on either service.

Heading from Melbourne to Geelong. On a Sunday like today, Geelong trains run every 20 minutes. Victoria really does do the best regional rail in Australia (and New South Wales isn’t bad either, just not as good as Victoria).

Parramatta light rail just opened yesterday between Westmead and Carlingford, joining Melbourne (with the world’s longest tram network), Adelaide, Canberra, Gold Coast, Newcastle and other parts of Sydney in having light rail.

The Newcastle/ Hunter Valley region of NSW has 500,000 people, light rail, heavy rail and a ferry as well as buses. Christchurch, NZ has 500,00 people, the bones of a good bus system, a ferry to Diamond Harbour and zip, zero, nada rail. What a difference being on the other side of the Tasman makes.

Hard to imagine such a sign in Aotearoa at present. While there’s regular Newcastle to Sydney trains, they’re hardly fast running on tracks largely unchanged since the 19th century. High Speed Rail would a game changer for Newcastle and the Central Coast.

An early start today to get the 5:20am train to the city of Newcastle, 120 kilometres away. This is the 3rd Newcastle train of the day. NSW and Victoria do vastly better regional trains than NZ with its grand total of 2 regional trains (3 if you count Wairarapa).

One of Meanjin/ Brisbane’s great features is the large number of green bridges. The Kangaroo Point green bridge, opened today, is just the latest. Quite the contrast to Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland where you can’t walk or cycle across the Waitematā Harbour.

Good to see the roof on the Roma Street Station in Brisbane but clear that Cross River Rail is running far behind Auckland’s City Rail Link whose stations are ~90-95% complete.