Future Rail Tāmaki Makaurau

City Rail Link

The City Rail Link (CRL) is New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project and a game changer for how people will travel across the city. The twin 3.45km-long tunnels, which have been built up to 42m below the Auckland city centre, will connect downtown at Waitematā Station (Britomart) with a re-developed Maungawhau Station. This will transform our rail network.

Benefits

The entire rail network will be able to double in capacity and operate more efficiently because Waitematā Station will become a 2-way, through station, connecting with Maungawhau Station through the CRL tunnel. These services will also stop at new stations in midtown (Te Waihorotiu Station) and uptown (Karanga-a-Hape Station).

Travel times will be improved, along with connections to other services.

There will be more journey options, including a line running from the West towards the East. This means for some journeys you can avoid the city centre stations if you want to.​

Trains will be able to run more often on most lines, especially in peak times. At peak times, our rail services will have the capacity to move the equivalent 16 extra traffic lanes into the city – that’s a lot of cars off our roads.​

Shorter travel times

Once the CRL is open and subject to normal operations, you will be able to travel from Waitematā (Britomart) to Maungawhau in under 10 minutes (about half the time it currently takes). As well as:

• Panmure to Karangahape Road in just 21 minutes (save 14 minutes)
• Ellerslie to Karangahape Road in 17 minutes (save 19 minutes)
• Glen Innes to Te Waihorotiu in 15 minutes (save 10 minutes)
• Henderson to Te Waihorotiu in 35 minutes (save 24 minutes).

Stations

Te Waihorotiu Station

This new and fully accessible 15m-deep, 300m-long underground midtown station is expected to be the country’s busiest train station. The station will have entrances on Victoria Street West and Wellesley Street West. It’s close to:

• the city centre universities
• Aotea Centre
• Auckland Town Hall
• Q Theatre
• Civic Theatre
• SKYCITY
• Auckland Art Gallery.

It will also provide an easy connection with buses, including to the North Shore, at a redeveloped and improved interchange on Wellesley Street West.

Karanga-a-Hape Station ​

Also a new and fully accessible station, Karanga-a-Hape Station will be 33m deep with 2 entrances: one at Mercury Lane, the other in Beresford Square. Up to 1,400 people per hour are expected to access the Karangahape neighbourhood via the Karanga-a-Hape Station during peak times.

Maungawhau Station

The former Mount Eden train platform is being enlarged and re-developed into a new station. The improved station will cover both the existing Kingsland to Grafton line and the new Maungawhau to Karanga-a-hape Station line. Trains will be able to travel through the city centre through the CRL tunnels and direct to the south of Auckland through Newmarket.

Waitematā Station​ (Britomart)

The Chief Post Office entrance to Waitematā Station (Britomart) re-opened on 6 April 2021 after being closed for 4 years. During that time, twin rail tunnels were created 14m beneath the historic Chief Post Office building and Te Komititanga.

The improved station will allow customers to access more of the city centre and improve connections between east and west Auckland.

Rail Network Rebuild

KiwiRail is rebuilding the foundations of Auckland's ageing rail network. This work is essential to making trains more reliable and making sure the network is ready for more frequent trains when the CRL opens.  

The work involves removing the existing tracks and digging down up to a metre to replace the ageing rock foundations under the tracks, replacing ballast and upgrading drainage to improve rail’s resilience to flooding. Tracks are then re-laid, realigned and balanced.

More than half of the Rail Network Rebuild is now complete, with work completed on the:

• Southern Line (Newmarket to Otāhuhu)
• Eastern Line (Waitematā to Otāhuhu)
• Western Line (Newmarket to New Lynn).

The sections of the Southern and Eastern lines that have been rebuilt are the best performing on the Auckland rail network.

The rebuild is currently being delivered between Papakura and Pukekohe and KiwiRail is finalising the timing of the next stages. This includes working with AT to balance the most efficient way to deliver the work while minimising disruption to passengers as much as possible. 

Benefits

Benefits include:

• more frequent services and quicker journey times
• more reliable trains with fewer unplanned disruptions
• raising the network to a modern metro standard so maintenance can shift from the current reactive approach to proactive, allowing fewer network shutdowns.

The third main line

KiwiRail is building a third rail track alongside the 2 existing ones in the area around Puhinui Station. This will allow freight trains to operate independently from commuter trains.

Auckland’s rail network currently has 2 sets of tracks and operates like a 2-lane road, with trains travelling in different directions on each track. The ‘third main’ is a third set of tracks that will act as a passing lane for trains through what is the busiest part of Auckland’s (and New Zealand’s) rail network, with 380 freight services and 1,500 passenger services travelling through the area each week.​

Once the third main line is built, trains will be able to ‘overtake’ each other, meaning commuter trains will not get held up by slower freight trains. There will also be new track connections so trains can move from one rail line to another.​

Related track work at Wiri and Quay Park is complete. It's anticipated that work at Middlemore Station will be completed in time for the new station to open in early 2025 and the new third main line to be in use by mid-2025.

Benefits

This work will:

• improve the resilience, capacity and efficiency of the rail network
• allow more frequent trains
• ease congestions on the rail network
• provide faster train journeys and reduce delays
• allow for anticipated growth in both freight and passenger train services.

Mission Electric

We're on a mission to reduce our carbon footprint and turn our entire fleet of buses, trains and ferries electric.

Currently, all commuter trains in Auckland are electric. Once the Pukekohe to Papakura section is reopened in 2025, there will be electric trains all the way to Pukekohe in south Auckland.

Benefits

Electric trains:

• are cleaner and better for the environment
• are significantly quieter, benefitting train users and residents
• provide a more comfortable passenger experience.

Papakura to Pukekohe

Auckland’s southern district is the focus of 2 separate projects.

Firstly, KiwiRail is redeveloping Pukekohe Station and electrifying the rail line to allow AT’s electric trains to travel between Pukekohe and Papakura.​ This will remove the need to transfer between diesel and electric trains at Papakura when it opens in January 2025.

Secondly, KiwiRail is developing 3 new stations between Papakura and Pukekohe stations. The new Drury and Paerātā stations will become operational from 2025. A new Ngākōroa station is also planned.

Each station will have a bus interchange and park and ride facilities. They will also have walking and cycle paths to connect with nearby residential areas. They will all have up to 350 parking spaces to cater for the expected demand.

Benefits

This will:

• improve passenger and freight operations​
• remove the requirement to transfer trains at Papakura
• create modern platform facilities and a better customer experience​
• improve transport connections to the south
• improve connection points for bus and train​
• improve customer information and ticketing​
• preserve local rail heritage​
• create more platform space for trains and customers​
• create modern automated rail signalling system for improved safety.

Level crossing removal

We are working with KiwiRail and NZ Transport Agency to remove all level crossings. This will improve safety and support ongoing growth on our rail network. This is a long-term programme to remove all level crossing in phases over the next 10 to 30 years.

Work is already underway to remove some level crossings before the CRL opens to the public, and to install some interim safety improvements at other level crossings across Auckland.

We are in the early stages of exploring options for removing all remaining level crossings in the future, including our busy road level crossings and level crossings connected to train stations. After the CRL is open to the public, there will be 42 remaining level crossings across the rail network.

Benefits

Safer journeys for everyone, including:

• people walking and cycling
• train drivers and passengers
• other road users. 

Removal of level crossings will help avoid traffic hold-ups, which will support better customer journeys for people driving, walking and cycling.

This will support future growth across the rail network, including more AT passenger trains, KiwiRail freight trains, and other regional services to Hamilton and Wellington.