“These closures will be disruptive but will enable Aucklanders to realise the substantial benefits of City Rail Link the day it opens, with faster and more frequent services, and means the Rail Network Rebuild will be completed prior to the City Rail Link opening, not afterwards which would be the alternative,” Brown said.
“This will remove temporary speed restrictions from the network to deliver increased reliability and enable more frequent and faster trains when the CRL opens.”
Describing the rebuild as “one last push”, Brown said his expectations of KiwiRail and Auckland Transport were for disruptions to be minimised and for work to be undertaken “around the clock to make the most of every single hour the network is closed”.
Simpson said the disruption was an “unavoidable necessity” if CRL was to be effective when it opened in 2026.
She added her expectation that Aucklanders were given “ample notice of any changes to services” as well as explanations of the improvements being made and what alternative public transport options were available.
When will the trains be closed?
The longest closures occur across the two summer holiday periods, according to a calendar released by Brown.
The network will be closed from December 27 this year until January 27. As a contingency, the six days after January 27 could see the network partially closed.
About two weeks of full closure would occur over the Easter break. The network would be closed during public holiday weekends in May and June too.
It would be partially closed for five weekends between July and September and closed over Labour Weekend. Four further weeks had been identified for partial closure.
The second long full closure would begin on Boxing Day, 2025, and finish on January 26, 2026.
What upgrades are being made?
The Rail Network Rebuild has been underway since January 2023 and has already made improvements to the Southern Line from Penrose to Newmarket, the Eastern Line from a rail junction just south of Sylvia Park Station and the Western Line from Newmarket to New Lynn.
It was currently in its fourth phase, focusing on lines between Papakura and Pukekohe. KiwiRail has estimated this phase will be completed in early February.
Information released by Brown today showed the work would include “replacing ageing track foundations, including in the busiest part of the network in South Auckland; making the network more resilient to weather by improving drainage and culverts; replacing worn rail and sleepers, improvements to bridges and a tunnel, and upgrades to critical track infrastructure, signals and power supplies”.
Brown specified replacement work and drainage improvements would take place on the Western Line between New Lynn and Swanson, the Southern Line between Newmarket and Britomart and between Ōtāhuhu and Papakura.
Ageing sleepers on bridges around Newmarket, Parnell and near Tamaki Drive would be replaced. Work would continue on the Parnell Tunnel, while old track infrastructure would be replaced to allow trains to switch between tracks at Kingsland, Tamaki and Quay Park.
“I think Aucklanders are feeling a sense of frustration with the constant delays. However, this work must happen,” Brown said, citing the improvements CRL would provide.
“Auckland is in a state of transformation. This is one last push as we get ready for that.”
He said it wasn’t yet confirmed when the CRL would finish but the project was now entering one of its “most complex phases”.
Early last month, KiwiRail said it would cut delays from five-and-a-half minutes to a maximum 45-second delay on the Western Line, 30 seconds on the Southern Line and 1 minute 20 seconds on the Eastern Line.
With the 3.4km CRL project between Britomart and Mt Eden nearing completion, KiwiRail is working to complete a $550m Auckland Rail Rebuild – replacement of railway foundations, tracks and sleepers over the existing network – before the CRL opens.
When the CRL finally opens, it will offer faster journeys across the city. For example, the journey from the central city to Mt Eden, via Karangahape Rd, will take about six minutes.
A further spinoff will be the 10-hectare site at Mt Eden where trains will emerge from the tunnels to a new station, Maungawhau.
The land has been levelled and sold in parcels for apartments and commercial development, along the masterplan lines at Wynyard Quarter.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
