While Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel officially opened yesterday, our own rail tunnel just got a little further away.
For some time now, it has been said that the City Rail Link (CRL) will open sometime in 2026, and there was a lot of hope that it could be early in 2026 given we’re already seeing Auckland Transport running timetable testing and that the construction part of the project was due for completion now.
- Construction of the stations and supporting rail infrastructure is now expected to be completed by our construction partners, the Link Alliance, by December 2025.
That hope was dashed on Friday, with an announcement the opening now won’t be till the second half of the year.
The upgraded Auckland public transport network with City Rail Link (CRL) at its heart will open to passengers in the second half of 2026.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson confirmed the project is on track to open in 2026, but that significant important work still needs to happen to ensure a safe, reliable service at opening.
“The finish line for the City Rail Link is getting closer,” Minister Bishop says.
“CRL is a massive multi-billion-dollar investment for the Government and Auckland Council. New Zealand can look forward to the benefits this project will deliver next year.
“World-class new stations have taken shape, while streets and public spaces affected by construction are now reopening to Aucklanders. Work is moving from construction to systems testing and commissioning.
“Aucklanders continue to show patience and understanding as this massive construction project begins to see light at the end of the tunnel, and we want to thank them for that. It won’t be too much longer.
“Opening an underground rail line is complex. There is a thorough programme of tests to make sure the CRL is safe, and that the new train timetable is reliable from day one.”
“This announcement gives Aucklanders confidence that the City Rail Link is firmly on track to open in 2026. This is the largest transport infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history,” Minister Brown says.
“CRL is going to bring thousands more people into the city every day – supporting businesses, growing the economy, and ensuring Auckland is a world-class city.”
“The good news is Aucklanders and visitors will finally be able to use the CRL in the second half of 2026. We know this is by far the most complex project undertaken in New Zealand and it takes time to get things right,” says Mayor Brown.
“As an engineer, I appreciate there are more than 16,000 tests across every part of the project to prepare for handover and gain the safety approvals needed to open to the public.
“Every part of the station buildings and each piece of technology in them need to work as planned. This is crucial to deliver a good experience for passengers and for safety in the event of emergencies.
“What’s positive is the streets are more open with less cones, Albert St is reopening over the weekend and works around the stations will be completed early next year, bringing people back into the city.”
“The City Rail Link completion is in sight and our city centre is being rejuvenated into a greener, more vibrant and better-connected place. With other projects being finished, and new businesses and residents moving into town, the city is getting its sparkle back” says Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson.
Being ready to open involves a significant, integrated programme of work across City Rail Link Ltd, Auckland Transport and KiwiRail. City Rail Link Ltd, created to oversee building of the CRL tunnels and new and upgraded stations, expects to complete construction and testing by the end of June 2026. This will enable Auckland Transport and KiwiRail to complete preparations to open in the second half of the year.
The organisations involved are working closely together up to handover. After City Rail Link Ltd completes its work, Auckland Transport, KiwiRail and operators will need some time for the final steps to be ready for passengers, including final notifications to crews and staff whose rosters will change.
It is very politician-speak to talk about how the opening is getting closer while effectively announcing a delay. As noted above, completion was previously due around now – but has now been pushed out to the end of June 2026.
Is the testing just taking longer than expected, or has it been a matter of finding issues that need longer to resolve?
Auckland Transport’s Rapid Transit map for once the CRL opens
Assuming the end of June 2026 completion date holds, as noted in the last line of the media release there will then be a period of time needed to update staff rosters, etc. My understanding is this is about a six-week process – meaning it’ll likely be sometime in August or even September before the trains are running for passengers.
Notably, this would push completion closer to the election, and the opening is bound to be a massive sugar hit of good news for the government – though the opposite would happen if any further delays occur. But I also wonder what it might to do election policies.
The closer the CRL gets to opening, I feel the more the question becomes “what next?” – and polling has previously shown strong support for more investment in public transport. So, hopefully political parties connect the dots and we don’t just get a transport policy of more roads.
Between now and opening there is still a heap of work to do on the rail network, including the huge four-week full network closure after Christmas, and likely more closures after that – for example, AT want to expand their testing to cover the entire network.
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Call me Mr cynical but isn’t there a general election end of this year? Would be good to have some good news later in the year and maybe even have some political capital for a project the current governments party tried many times to kill off.
Or it could just be natural delays due to a complex change to an already active railway.
Who knows?
Yes, big changes like this usually have a few gremlins when they start so I doubt they would want to run the risk of negative headlines.
This is disappointing. Any chance they can open Maungawhau station early for the existing Western Line?
Yes, please. As seen from passing trains it looks complete.
As cyncical I am of the Government, I don’t think they a) have control over when it opens b) Wayne Brown would be willing to annoy Aucklanders to appease the Government c) Having it open and people enjoying it prior to the election would be far more benefitial.
We move at snail pace in NZ with everything, this is no different
Man I forgot how awful those line names are. The S-C line? Why not just call it the red line, I doubt Auckland will ever have enough lines to run out of colours!
“ow!” and “ew(ww)” are great though 😀
It’s even worse than that. You’ll have the S-C AC (south city anti-clockwise; and
S-C CW (south city clockwise.
So much of a mess to get a teardrop line when we could have had three straight lines easy as
Does it run both ways? Surely not!
Yes, it does run both ways. 8tph all up with 4 going clockwise and 4 going anticlockwise.
That will be really hard to comprehend!
What is the three straight line option?
It has to run both ways, otherwise they might have saved money and only built one tunnel and saving money is heresy to these people.
@miffy: No need for that, I would expect the east-west line goes both ways, too.
Kind of the same as abbreviations used in Singapore (e.g. EWL) and Malaysia (SBK), signifying geographic travel directions (East-West Line) or starting/ending locations (Sungei Buloh to Kajang Line).
Although I thought O-W was going to be the “Crosstown Line”?
Why not use a simple word like “one” or “red” rather than letters? Something easy to say and remember.
I thought sports personalities would have been a good idea. Take the McCaw to Waitemata and change to the Hadlee.
T1, T2 etc….I like it
X for busways (NX, WX, EX)
But colour differences as well. T1 (red), T2 (Green) T3 (Blue)…
I wonder where and when the next line in Auckland will ever be. To the airport, the north shore or to the NW. There are several proposals for roads but wouldn’t it be nice if there was a plan and an agreed first choice. It must be where it will make the biggest impact and the best benefit to cost.
I was just thinking this as I heard about Melbourne’s CBD link opening, following the new line in Sydney and in 4yrs time, the Brisbane cross-river tunnel. You can’t help feeling we are just stagnant or worse, falling behind even by not building at a scale more suited to our size.
We don’t seem to really have any idea if our rail network will grow at all. Avondale-Southdown always gets mentioned but never with any degree of confidence.
I guess there is a bit more clarity around busways with the NW, completion of the Eastern to Botany and then the link with the Airport express at Puhinui. I think we should be talking and planning about the next busway (SH20, Avondale to Onehunga and on to the airport?) because rail doesn’t really have a champion in the two major parties.
Avondale-Southdown is on this government’s list of fast track projects.
It might be fasttracked for approval and consents, but its not funded and Kiwirail only have it down for being completed after 2050.
The chances of Avondale -Southdown being built in the next 20 years is zero…..
Kiwirail have taken nearly 10 years to progress the Marsden point rail link, and other than a bunch of land purchases they have little to show for it,,
In 2018 we were told
““The business case will …….l also investigate whether the upgrade could include a new spur line to Marsden Point to support Northport’s growth,” Phil Twyford said.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/plan-unlock-rail%E2%80%99s-potential-northland
Yet 7 years later, we’re still at “the business case”
“In July 2025 KiwiRail submitted a detailed business case to the Government for building the spur line”
https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/our-network/our-regions/northland-rail-rejuvenation/
In fairness most of those examples in Australia are similar (but bigger scale) to CRL in that they add capacity and stations in the central part of their networks.
Only Sydney has actually added a new line.
Thats true for Sydney and also Perth with its new Ellenbrook line. Melbourne has the upcoming SRL East which is an orbital line in the south eastern suburbs but that wont finish till the early 2030s… (maybe we will get the airport rail before that but who knows)
I would love to hear some parties come up with a response to the fast tracked Rorts of National Significance – even if it was just saying we will relook at these to ensure they are the best options for people and place.
Northwest busway
Another extension south to Pokeno, services running express through the inner southern line.
The next line in AKL will be duplicate like the recently added third main.
Ideally quad on the NIMT Westfield to Papakura (at least Wiri)
A third or sections of third on the E-NIMT (eastern line)
Capacity, reliability, de-interlining, expresses, intercities, freight.
But first there’s level crossings to eliminate, south and west.
Elsewhere ->
Marsden Link
Electrification Puke to Te Rapa and Ruakura
Would love to see Whangamarino duplication, (but KR think they can get by without it) and at least new stations at Te Kauwhata, Pokeno… Te Huia securely funded.
Duplication of the north-south junction and line to Pukerua, wires to Palmy…
ETCS Welly
Through running new elevated line to Welly hospital (though no more money for Welly)?!
Christchurch satellite town services incl city station (again!)
How about battery rail car service Port Chalmers to Dunedin airport, via city and Mosgiel!? What a little ripper that could be, existing tunnels make time super competitive.
The Southerner.
Waddayareckon?
Patrick, NZ has the highest number of motor cars per capita in the world.
This did not come about because of our wealth, or even our terrain. Australia is more dispersed. It is certainly not because of transport economic efficiency. New Zealanders have both a huge amount of assets per capita deployed, and suffer from relitively long journey times for their essential journeying
But the motoring industry likes it that way, and invests very heavily in our politics to ensure it stays that way.
We have got to this point purely because of political decisions not economic or social decisions.
The rates cap, is just another way of kneecapping councils abilities to provide public transport and micromobility alternatives to ensure private car supremacy.
So unless we substantially change our trajectory, and our government, do not expect any other then minor government transport expenditure on anything else other then providing for motorised road transport.
Right on the nail!
CRL, imho, will be the catalyst for more rail expansion with generally greater frequencies/time savings. You will see Avondale Southdown, electrifying to Buckland/Tuakau/Pokeno/Hamilton, extending rail to Kumeu (Kiwirail stated they aren’t necessarily opposed to it post CRL with funding) talked about once again.
However, the momentum needs to be used early. Chris Bishop is going to announce their preferred option around mid-2026 (almost certainly they’ll go with tunnels imo), and I don’t see any way they will announce a 2nd crossing WITHOUT RAIL. Whether it’s light rail or heavy rail is a different story. And with the election up in the air, it is really imperative that this opportunity is seized.
I have a second harbour bridge to sell you; if you’re interested …
Highly unlikely a NACT coalition will put rail on or through a second harbour crossing. The only hope might be NZF and their Minister of Rail. But I can’t see them dying in a ditch over it. So just repeating past mistakes.
On the bright side, they might relent on liberating a lane on the bridge for active modes, if they get 4 for cars on the new one.
I think there will be a number of governments of different colours before anything serious happens with the next harbour crossing.
Sounds like its being turned into an election marketing event now. Just bloody open it already, its just a tunnel.
What is this “let’s take a decade to finish a big project and open it all at once ” approach. My understanding is when NZs rail network first opened it was opened and extended in stages, as with rail networks in many other countries. What is the issue with that, I would have thought it would break the driver training component into smaller chunks and people will get on board quicker, not having to bear the disruption and wait a generation.
Might be the nature of this specific project – or are you thinking they could have done Britomart to mid-city, then mid-city to K Rd, then K Rd to Mt Eden?
There may be some good reason why that would not have worked, but I agree it would have given the public a much earlier return on investment and built momentum for the next bits.
Does anyone know if finally opening the CRL will move us from an 11-month train service to a 12-month one?
A late 2026 opening date was totally expected by me. I tend to be pessimistic with these things though and will patiently wait.
Yes could affect election policy announcements. Australia has caught onto this from the main parties as far as I remember.
This Christmas shutdown sounds like it will be the normal length rather than nearly 2 months or what ever it was last time.
Like cheese, good things take time.
“Christmas shut down will be normal?”
Really? So only one week. Fantastic.
Every dollar spent on public relations bottom-feeds is a dollar not spent on completing the CRL project.
Why not save money by simply telling us why it is taking so long?
Still, if nothing else, a good demonstration of the worthlessness of so many functions associated with the delivery of infrastructure projects.
Opening date will be 25th October 2026, give or take a day before or after. Anyone else want to take a guess?
I’d always thought a Morningside – CBD rail tunnel was first proposed in 1927 so that as long as the CRL opened next year we would be less than a century late. But according to the history section of the CRL website, the “Morningside Deviation” was first proposed in 1923 by the rail minister of the day, Gordon Coates, at an estimated cost of £400,000.
This is just mind blowing on how long this is taking to complete. The Euro Tunnel was completed in 6 years, how long do commuters have to put up with rail closures, rail replacement buses! I truly believe as a commuter that we run a 3rd world public transport system. unbelievable.
Construction proper began on the CRL in 2019, so a 2026 completion date is not unreasonable.
Yes as we had COVID in the middle of it too.
Well compared to the privately commisioned and run, Auckland Conference Centre build the CRL construction has proceeded remarkably quickly.
Please don’t say that. The Auckland Conference Centre build was majorly delayed by a fire. We don’t want a fire to delay the CRL. Can you imagine having to rebuild it now?
Do you think that there will be improvements to the Auckland Rail network from Feb – August 2026, or will they still be scrambling to upgrade more of in readiness? The network has been such a downgraded unreliable service over the past few years that will need a boost for public to use it again.