Rugby World Cup fans face transport chaos

Thousands of fans catching trains after the big matches of the Rugby World Cup 2011 face transport chaos, an Auckland councillor has warned.

Mark Donnelly, an independent Auckland City councillor who has lived near Eden Park for 25 years, says the council is being over-optimistic about the behaviour of post-match crowds, and their willingness to be corralled through streets in the suburb of Mt Eden, especially after the two semifinals and the final.

The council is counting on 15,000 people following a 400m road route from Eden Park to Kingsland rail station after the game. There they will be told to queue before being let on trains in groups of 1000 at a time. (Another 1500 would be expected to head to Morningside station, a kilometre to the west.)

But Donnelly warns it will be impossible to stop fans taking a shortcut using a new pedestrian lane, and then jumping the queue.

People pushing on to platforms, he says, could result in drunken fights, accidents, and hassles for police.

"Once you have crowds coming together head on, that's when you've got your crowd control issues."

All eyes will be on Eden Park when it hosts up to 60,000 fans during the cup final on October 23 next year, and both semifinals the weekend before.

The 2011 tournament is expected to pull four billion TV viewers, and bring 60,000 tourists to New Zealand. In total, 48 matches will be played at 13 venues across the country.

Donnelly said the Eden Albert Community Board - of which he is a member - had warned the council of the potential problem "but staff said 'No, they won't go that way, we'll tell them'."

Auckland Regional Transport Agency spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said the World Cup Regional Transport and Traffic Management Work-stream was "looking at ways of managing crowd movements on and off Kingsland station".

Police spokesman Jon Neilson said police had no concerns around crowd control.

Planning for the world cup would take into account "all possible scenarios". He would not say how many officers would be deployed on the ground.

But Donnelly reckoned police resources would be stretched enough, without unanticipated clashes fuelled by alcohol and team rivalry.

"If you have a drunken crowd, controlling those people being queued up becomes a major exercise."

More people are expected to travel to the match by train than any other transport mode. A consultants' report commissioned by Eden Park Redevelopment Board predicted the biggest matches would attract 16,500 rail passengers, 15,600 in private cars, 11,380 on buses, 10,000 in coaches, 3420 in taxis and 3100 on foot.

- © Fairfax NZ News