{"id":291779,"date":"2026-02-19T14:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/291779\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T14:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T14:04:12","slug":"hamilton-to-auckland-train-te-huia-trial-extended-to-june-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/291779\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton-to-Auckland train Te Huia trial extended to June 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

\nTe 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.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Gill Bonnett\n<\/p>\n

The Hamilton-to-Auckland train, Te Huia, has been given an extra year to prove itself.<\/p>\n

The train provides an interregional passenger rail service between the regions of Waikato and Auckland.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Te Huia was launched in April 2021 for a five-year trial which was due to end in June 2026<\/a>. It will now continue until the end of June 2027 with government funding steady at a 60 percent funding assistance rate.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Waikato Regional Council chairperson Warren Maher thanked the NZTA board for its decision.<\/p>\n

“I also note the support we received from local councils, as well as champions of Te Huia.”<\/p>\n

In December, letters of support from Auckland, Hamilton City, Waip\u0101 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero, a daily newsletter<\/a> curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Te Huia was launched in April 2021 for a five-year trial which was due to end in June…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-291779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}