The chair of Auckland's transport agency admits speeding up travel to the city's airport will not happen as soon as some people would like - estimating it will take at least a decade.
An Auckland Transport train heading to Onehunga. Photo: RNZ / Todd Niall
The agency has ruled out a commuter rail link to the airport, saying a light rail or tram system is likely.
Its chair, Lester Levy, told Morning Report heavy rail would cost about $2.4 billion, while light rail would cost half that.
He said he understood there was unlikely to be a solution as quickly as people would like.
"You just cannot build this infrastructure in a very short period of time, so realistically this will not be ... in this next decade." he said.
Mr Levy said they were trying to catch up with a significant infrastructure deficit, but there were plans to develop a viable rapid transit system in Auckland.
