New Zealand’s prime minister and Auckland’s mayor have travelled on the City Rail Link (CRL) ahead of its opening to the public next year.
Prime minister Christopher Luxon, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown, government ministers, civic leaders and project partners made the journey on what is New Zealand’s first underground railway.
The train travelled beneath Auckland’s city centre through the twin 3.45km-long tunnels, starting at the new Maungawhau Station and passing through Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu underground stations and Waitematā Station (Britomart) before returning to Maungawhau.
“The government and Auckland Council are joint funders of the NZ$5.5bn (€2.81bn) project, and we’re delighted to have been able to show off the progress we are making and offer a preview of the benefits thousands of Aucklanders will enjoy when CRL opens next year,” said City Rail Link Ltd chief executive Patrick Brockie.
He added that with heavy construction complete, work was focused on commissioning and testing the tunnel and station systems.
“While the finish line is getting closer, there is still a lot of work to be done before the CRL can open to passengers in 2026,” he says.
Since the first test train ran in February this year, more than 1,600 individual test train journeys have taken place in the tunnels.
“We know from lessons learned overseas, this is our most challenging and complex phase and getting this right for Aucklanders is our utmost priority,” said Brockie.
Auckland Transport chief executive Dean Kimpton said the organisation was eager to show more people how transformational CRL would be for Auckland’s wider rail network.
“It allows for a rethink of our train lines, giving customers more choice in how the travel and ways get to where they’re going faster,” he said.
KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said KiwiRail was delivering significant upgrades to the metro network to support the increased services CRL will bring.
“In Auckland we are carrying out work which would normally take a decade but is being delivered in three to four years,” he said.
The Link Alliance, a consortium of City Rail Link Ltd, Vinci Construction Grands Projets, Downer NZ, Soletanche Bachy International NZ, WSP NZ, Aecom New Zealand, and Tonkin + Taylor, is delivering the tunnels, stations and rail systems for the new railway. The project featured bored, mined and cut-and-cover tunnel construction.
