The future of Hamilton’s Te Huia Hamilton to Auckland rail service remains uncertain, with Waikato Regional Council looking at asking for an extra year of trial time – with the same level of government funding.
Regional councillors will meet on Thursday to vote on a proposal to support, or not, sending a letter to the New Zealand Transport Agency’s (NZTA) board asking it to extend Te Huia’s five-year trial until June 30, 2027, and to maintain the NZTA’s 60% Financial Assistance Rate (FAR).
A draft letter from the council moots another year of trial, with reasons including the impact of Covid delays and repeated Auckland network closures in 2025.
The [train service](https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/124752741/the-race-to-auckland–can-a-car-beat-the-new-te-huia-train) has faced “quite a few challenges” that meant it only really got to run for three years and nine months of the five-year trial, the regional council’s internal transport committee chairperson Angela Strange said.
