We're getting electric trains in Auckland. How modern.

Though passengers who have made an effort to catch the trains, which don't go where people want and don't go often enough, will have to put up with "severe" disruption. Probably something like the orange chaos that is Queen St's rearborisation.

Regional transport chair Mark Ford thinks rather than minimising hold-ups through clever project management and buses it's about communication.

"It is going to be no easy communications exercise to keep that loyalty during that period because it is going to be extraordinarily disruptive," he said.

Ontrack chief executive David George said the company intended electrifying the network in stages, concentrating first on routes to the most popular destinations.

"We will work with Arta and rail operators Toll and Veolia to reach an accommodation on service issues," he said.

One hopes service applies to passengers and not to minimising payments to operators.

The kicker is, as it should be, at the end.

A serious development constraint is the Britomart station in downtown Auckland, which needs to be turned into a through station linked to an underground rail loop through central Auckland if it is not to reach saturation point by 2020. This will cost another $1 billion.

Look at the map on the page. Wouldn't a western loop from Onehunga that followed the new motorway to Waterview and ducked under Ponsonby to Britomart be a beautiful thing?