By WARREN GAMBLE
The tunnel designed to bring rail passengers back to downtown Auckland is on schedule to be finished next month - but it is still unclear when trains will be using it.
Contractors building the 420m tunnel from the old Auckland Railway Station to Britomart Place are beginning to roof over the $16 million link.
The Auckland City Council said yesterday that the tunnel was on target for its March 31 completion.
But it will then be closed off with gates at each end awaiting council decisions.
The two lines of tracks will be laid in a separate contract.
Concept plans to replace the Britomart transport terminal abandoned last November provide for the tunnel to be connected to a station two floors beneath the former Chief Post Office.
The council's Waitemata development group project manager, Mark Kunath, said public feedback on those plans was being sought.
An officers' report would go to the council in early March.
Among decisions for councillors was whether to make an early start to the railway station.
The project would still require planning consent, which could take up to two years depending on objections.
Mr Kunath was reluctant to give a best-case forecast. But, 70 years after trains last delivered passengers to the bottom of Queen St, it is likely Aucklanders will have to wait at least another year.
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