Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and other notables rode on the first passenger train on the CRL. Video / Michael Craig
History was made today when Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Cabinet ministers, Mayor Wayne Brown, and VIPs rode on the country’s first underground railway.
The train carrying passengers on Auckland’s long-awaited City Rail Link pulled up at the new Maungawhau railway station, leaving daylight behind for a round-trip journey passingtwo glistening new underground stations in the central city.
Today’s “test train experience” - the first time passengers have travelled on the CRL - comes six months after the first test train ran through the twin 3.4km tunnels on February 12.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and VIPs on the first passenger train ride through the CRL. Photo / Michael Craig
This morning’s train departed from Maungawhau Rail Station (Mt Eden) at 10.03am before entering the 3.4km tunnels and passing through two new underground stations - Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu - before continuing to Waitematā Station (Britomart) and then returning to Maungawhau.
Luxon said the project was “a major, major feat” that would spur another $12 billion of investment in other economic activity in the city.
On the return trip from Waitematā, he described the trip as a bit like Star Trek, the way the tunnels were lit, saying he had spent a lot of time on subway trains travelling to work while living in New York and London.
Train driver Vince Ah Kuoi said it was cool to be in the driver's seat for the first passenger train. Photo / Bernard Orsman
“A lot less smelly armpits here than what I observed in Tokyo and London, in particular,” he said.
Asked about his first impression, Brown said, “It’s a ride in a train. It was normal and natural, which is what we want. We don’t want excitement. We just want to know if this goes quickly? We have proved it is very quick to get from here to there. That is what it is supposed to do, and that is what it is doing.”
Finance Minister Nicola Willis was along for the ride. Photo / Michael Craig
In a speech before the train ride, Brown said the CRL was a great milestone for Auckland, long overdue and reaching this point had not been easy or cheap.
“Auckland has endured 10 years of disruptive construction...it’s been tough on the city and local businesses who have also suffered big shocks from Covid and economic downturns.”
Vince Ah Kuoi, one of two train drivers on the trip, said it was cool being asked to drive the first passenger train.
Ah Kuoi - who has been driving trains in Auckland for 18 years - said the CRL was the biggest, grandest, newest piece of rail in that time.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (left), NZ First leader Winston Peters (centre) and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown exchange greeting before an historic passenger ride this morning on the City Rail Link. Photo / Michael Craig
Pat Brockie, chief executive of City Rail Link Ltd, said that with the heavy construction work finished, work is focused on commissioning and testing all the tunnel and station systems to operate the CRL safely.
While Brockie said the finish line is getting closer and there was still a lot of work to be done before the CRL can open to passengers, he would not give any indication of when the CRL will open next year.
The City Rail Link was first planned in 2008, but construction did not begin until 2016 under a 50/50 agreement between Auckland Council and the Government.
At the time of spades in the ground, the cost was estimated at between $2.8b and $3.4b. In 2019, the cost ballooned to $4.4b, and $5.5b in 2023.
When it opens next year, trains will run every four or five minutes at peak times through the central city, with a peak capacity of 19,000 passengers per hour – about a 50% increase from the current 12,000 passengers per hour.
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