Aucklanders will have a “turn up and go” service with trains running every four to five minutes at peak times through the central city when the $5.5 billion City Rail Link opens sometime next year.
That’s the word from Auckland Transport as it announced three new train lines crossing much of the city and linking to the Northern and Northwestern busways.
AT chief executive Dean Kimpton said the reconfigured network will make it easier for Aucklanders to go to work and places they love to spend time in.
“You could be shopping at Lynn Mall and if they don’t have what you want, jump on an East-West train straight to Sylvia Park to see if they do,” he said.
Exactly when AT takes control of the CRL is unclear, with the practical completion date of November 26 pushed out to 2026.
Patrick Brockie, the CRL Ltd boss overseeing the build, is confident the formal handover will be achieved in time for passengers to ride the train next year.
He said there is still a significant amount of work CRL Ltd, AT and KiwiRail need to do before Aucklanders can ride trains through the twin 3.4km tunnels, including completing more than 16,000 tests, integrating the CRL with the existing rail network, training drivers, regulatory approvals, and more.
“The further we get through the programme of work, the more certain we will be on opening timeframes, but we are getting closer to the finish line,” Brockie said.
In anticipation of the opening next year, Auckland Council has signalled an 8% rate rise from July next year, much of which will go to help pay a $235 million annual bill to run the CRL.
The new train lines are a merger of the existing east and west lines to form the East-West Line, the existing Southern Line, and a new Onehunga-West line running from Onehunga to Henderson.
All train services, except the Onehunga-West services, will travel through the new CRL tunnels and the city centre.
The CRL with two new underground stations – Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu, a new station at Maungawahu, and work at Waitematā (Britomart), is the country’s biggest infrastructure project, taking 10 years to build.
AT is still developing the post-CRL train timetable with KiwiRail and the rail operator Auckland One Rail to provide a peak capacity of 19,000 passengers per hour through the city centre – about a 50% increase from the current 12,000 passengers per hour.
AT group manager rail services, Mark Lambert, said this would enable trains to run every four to five minutes in the city centre, giving Aucklanders a “turn up and go” service.
He said there would be big cuts in journey times, more reliable trains and easier connections, such as rail services from west to east, and simpler transfers to busways.
For someone coming in from Henderson to Wellesley St, the trip will be a single train journey to Te Waihorotiu Station and will be about 24 minutes faster than the current journey, which includes a walk or train/bus connection from Waitematā (Britomart) to Wellesley St.
Changes are being made to about 100 bus routes to better connect with the CRL stations, including reducing the number of buses coming to the city centre and reallocating them to areas not served as well by rail, said Lambert.
He expected some people to switch journeys from buses to trains, but said buses would continue to make up the majority of public transport trips in Auckland. At this stage, he could not say how the 74% (bus), 20% (rail) and 6% (ferry) mix could change post-CRL.
The new network is set to double the number of Aucklanders within a 30-minute train journey from the central city, and Housing Minister Chris Bishop has directed the council to provide for greater density of up to at least 15 storeys around some CRL stations.
A map of the new network also shows three new stations under construction near Pukekohe at Drury, Ngākōroa and Paerātā, where thousands of new homes are being built.
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