Jack Tame: Love a bit of subterranean mass-transit

When I first moved to New York, I spent my first year living in a railroad apartment above an Ecuadorian fruit shop on Second Avenue.  

It was a character-building experience. I went weeks without heating or hot water in winter, and my windows had almost no effect whatsoever in keeping out the ceaseless sound of trucks thundering past my bedroom enroute to restock the city.   

When I arrived they’d just start construction on the Second Ave subway, a few blocks from my home. The project was hitting a few speedbumps. Bedrock turned out to be deeper than anticipated, a worker nearly died after being stuck in waste-deep slop on site, and what was supposed to be a controlled explosion sent rocks flying all over a busy Manhattan intersection. 

Curiously, the Second Ave subway route was first proposed in the 1920s, which Wikipedia tells was about the same time that planners first mused over the possibility of the Morningside Deviation, a train tunnel in central Auckland.   

Stage One of the Second Avenue subway was a 3.2km tunnel. The Central Rail Link is 3.5km.  

Second Ave ended up costing more than $7 Billion. The Central Rail Link blew out however many times but at last check was $5.5 Billion.   

The weird thing about a big underground tunnel development is that most of us never fully appreciate the scale of the work. It’s obvious I suppose, but even if you live and work in the city, while you get used to a few cones and traffic delays up above the ground, you have no real perspective about the extraordinary activities happening somewhere beneath your feet. 

Auckland Transport has this week released its updated transit map with the CRL stations. Apparently they’ve done 1600 test runs so far. They’ve run trains more than 5000km – Kaitaia to Bluff two-and-a-half times. They’ve been driving trains at 70kmph directly underneath Auckland’s CBD and at no point have I felt so much of a rumble or a shudder. I reckon the vast majority of us up top have been absolutely none-the-wiser. The kid in me who briefly considered becoming an engineer (and even volunteered to spend a school holiday touring the Lyttelton Tunnel) can’t help but think that’s pretty cool.  

After riding along on a VIP tour yesterday with all the politicians and movers-and-shakers, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was in vintage form.   

How was it? He was asked.  

“It was a ride in a train.” He said.   

“We don’t want excitement.”  

Well, maybe not. But guilty as charged.   

Maybe it’s the engineering. Maybe it’s the people-watching. Maybe it’s the broader sense of momentum and life, but whether it’s a tube, an underground, or a subway, I love a bit of subterranean mass-transit.    

You know you’re a nerd when you’re less excited about the opening of New Zealand’s first IKEA than the transport connection you’ll take to get there.  

After years of construction, the Second Ave subway opened two weeks before I moved back home. One of the last things I did on my last few days in New York was ride a loop. Not because I had somewhere to be but because I wanted to see what all that fuss and money and effort had created, out of sight, underneath my feet.   

I can’t wait to do the same thing here. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
So years ago when I first moved to New York,
I think, what was it like twenty started twenty twelve,
When the end of twenty eleven started twenty twelve, I
spent my first year living in a railroad apartment above
an Ecuadorian fruit shop on Second Avenue right, And to
be honest, it was a It was a character building experience.

(00:35):
I went weeks without heating or hot water in winter,
and my windows had almost no effect whatsoever, and keeping
out the ceaseless sound of trucks thundering past my bedroom
en route to restock the city. And when I first arrived,
they had just started construction on the Second av subway

(00:57):
a few blocks from my home, and the project at
the time was hitting a few speed bumps. Bedrock turned
out to be a whole lot deeper than anticipated, so
they needed to send the tunnel a whole lot deeper
than anticipated. A worker nearly died after being stuck in
waist deep slop on site, and what was supposed to
be a controlled explosion sent rocks flying all over a

(01:21):
busy Manhattan intersection. Curiously The second AB subway in New
York was first proposed in the nineteen twenties, which Wikipedia
no doubt reliably tells me was about the same time
that planers first mused over the possibility of the morning
side deviation a train tunnel in central Auckland. Stage one

(01:44):
of the Second AV subway was a three point two
kilometer tunnel. The Central rail Link is three point five
k Second AV ended up costing more than seven billion dollars.
The Central rail Link blew out, however, many times, but
at last check was just under six billion. The weird
thing about a big underground tunnel to our is that

(02:08):
most of us never fully appreciate the scale of the work.
It's obvious, I suppose, but even if you live and
work in the city, while you get used to a
few cones and traffic delays up above the ground, you
have no real perspective about the extraordinary activities happening somewhere
beneath your feet. It's different to a big stadium, or

(02:31):
a skyscraper or even a road. It all happens underground.
Organ Transport has this week released its updated transit map
with the CRLs stations. Apparently they've done sixteen hundred test
runs on the new Central Rail Link so far. So
they've run trains more than five thousand kilometers kai tires

(02:52):
are bluff two and a half times. They've been driving
trains at seventy kilometers an hour directly underneath Auckland CBD,
and at no point have I felt so much as
a rumble or a shudder. I reckon. Actually, the vast
majority of us up top have been absolutely none. The
wiser and the kid and me, who briefly considered becoming

(03:13):
an engineer and even volunteered to spend a school holiday
touring the Littleton Tunnel, can't help but think that is
pretty cool. After riding along on a VIP tour yesterday
with all of the politicians and the movers and shakers,
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was in vintage Wayne Brown form.
How was it? The mayor was asked it was a

(03:36):
ride in a train? He said, we don't want excitement.
Well maybe not, but look, guilty is charged. Maybe it's
the engineering, Maybe it's the people watching. Maybe it's the
broader sense of you know, this kind of sense of
momentum and life. But whether it's a tube in underground
or a subway. I love a bit of subterranean mass transit.

(03:58):
You know you are a nerd when you're less excited
about the opening of New Zealand's first ikea than the
transport connection that you're going to take to get there.
It's funny. After years of construction, the second day of
subway opened in New York two weeks before I moved
back home, and one of the very last things I
did on my last few days living in New York

(04:20):
City was ride a loop. Not because I had somewhere
to be, but because I just wanted to see what
all of the fuss and money and effort had created
out of sight underneath my feet. Let me tell you
I cannot wait to do the same thing here soon.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
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