Kia ora and welcome to our regular roundup of stories that caught our eye this week. Today’s header image, by Jolisa, shows Sky Tower at sunset as seen from Albert Park.

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CHECK YOUR ENROLMENT DETAILS HERE. And remind friends and family to check, too – young people/ first time voters especially, as they are less likely to be on the electoral roll. You’ll be doing democracy a favour!

This Week in Greater Auckland

Greater Auckland in the news

The East-West Link – a zombie project if ever there was one – lurched back into the news this week, with a billboard in Onehunga calling to revive the most expensive road in the world per kilometre. Jonathan Killick of Stuff spoke to Connor Sharp:

Greater Auckland’s Connor Sharp argues 80% of the benefits could be achieved by improving interchanges on Neilson St at a fraction of the cost.

“One of the reasons why road projects have exploded in costs is because we’ve stopped focusing on the problems and we’ve started just looking at building monuments,” he said.

Greater Auckland’s research and advocacy is powered by hundreds of hours of work each month, and your support helps keep us going! We warmly welcome your donations, and are always open to offers of guest posts, practical help, and pro-bono expertise.

Another great way to support the kaupapa is by purchasing and wearing our Greater Auckland merch. Allow a week for delivery – and remember these are print-on-demand (no returns), so double-check your sizing before ordering!

Holiday trains are back on the menu!

Exciting news for everyone who takes advantage of public holidays to explore our cool little city. Auckland Transport and KiwiRail have announced “a significant milestone following years of network rebuild work and infrastructure upgrades to prepare for the now open City Rail Link”:

Aucklanders can catch a train this Labour Weekend for the first time in five years and look forward to rail services on New Year’s Eve.

With the majority of the rail network open on New Year’s Eve, it will give people the option of using trains to get into the city for the first time since 2019. People will also be able to travel by train right across the network on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.


And here’s the fine print for the rest of the year…

November partial rail closures

The next daytime closures will take place over two weekends in November, partially affecting some sections of lines. It will allow KiwiRail to prepare rail foundations and signaling infrastructure for upgrades planned during the summer.

This work cannot be completed within the regular overnight maintenance window, requiring extended track access and around-the-clock work to ensure it is delivered safely and efficiently.

  • Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November: the South City Line will be closed between Puhinui and Pukekohe.
  • Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November: the East West Line will be closed between Kingsland and Swanson, and the Onehunga West Line will be closed between Maungawhau and Henderson.

Rail replacement buses will operate on the affected sections. Customers should plan their journey ahead of time and check the AT Mobile app before travelling.

Most of the network open during Christmas and New Year

Train travel will be possible right across the network on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, making it easier to get to work, events, family gatherings, and everything else that comes with the festive season.

On New Years Eve the majority of the rail network will also be open.

“We are pleased that train services will be mostly running across the New Year and Summer period, allowing Aucklanders and visitors to the city to make good use of the rail network,” says KiwiRail Chief Metro Officer Bevan Assink.

“We have our teams working five nights a week to keep up regular maintenance, but where more intensive work is required, there are times when larger sections of the network have to be closed. This is critical to ensuing the network runs smoothly and passengers get the dependable rail service they expect.”

  • Sunday 27 December 2026 to Sunday 10 January 2027: South City Line will be closed between Pukekohe and Puhinui.
  • Saturday 2 January 2027 to Sunday 10 January 2027: East West Line closed between Swanson and Kingsland. Onehunga West Line closed between Henderson and Maungawhau.
  • Friday 29 January 2027 to Monday 1 February 2027: South City Line closed between Ōtāhuhu and Te Waihorotiu. Onehunga West Line closed between Henderson and Onehunga.
  • Friday 5 February 2027 to Monday 8 February 2027: South City Line closed between Ōtāhuhu and Te Waihorotiu. Onehunga West Line closed between Henderson and Maungawhau.

Please note these planned works can be subject to change.

Stationed at the keyboard

A lovely story from RNZ about the public piano at Waitematā Station, “a little slice of beauty in your busy commute”:

“Everybody is set on completing their trip, looking at phones, looking at our displays to see where they’re going,” [says Bella Donnachie, who works in customer service for Auckland One Rail].

Then someone lifts the lid of the station’s public piano.

They could play the opening bars to a Beethoven concerto or maybe a Bruno Mars cover.

Something in the building changes.

“When the piano is being played, there’s almost this moment of people dragging their feet a little bit or stopping to kind of take in the atmosphere,” Donnachie says

Auckland Council community climate action grants now open

Auckland Council’s climate action grants are open for applications, reports Our Auckland:

The fund is part of Te Ara Urutau, Auckland Council’s flagship community resilience programme, which backs local projects that help communities respond to climate change and prepare for future challenges.

Last year alone, more than 70 projects across Auckland received support, tackling everything from emergency preparedness and climate adaptation planning to innovative emissions-reduction initiatives.

The deadline is Monday 16 November, so get in quick! Full details here. There’s also information on previously funded projects, to give you an idea of what’s possible. “Ride & Rail” is one example:

Supported through previous council climate funding, the project teamed up Counties Manukau Sport and Bike Pukekohe to help South Aucklanders aged 60-plus swap some car trips for a combination of trains and e-bikes.

Over eight weeks, participants learned how to confidently navigate Auckland’s rail network and cycleways, discovering that getting around without a car could be easier, healthier and more enjoyable than they expected.

The result? More than 150 people embraced bike-and-train travel for everyday errands, appointments and visits with friends and family. New riding groups formed, confidence grew, and plenty of kilometres that may have been driven ended up being pedalled instead.

A new link for Henderson

The Auckland Urban Design Office (formerly Eke Pānuku) has been working on a walking and cycling link in Henderson. You can keep tabs on the project here.

We’re working closely with the local board to fill a gap in the cycling network and improve the walking journey between Tui Glen Reserve and Vitasovich Avenue. And good news!  We’ve now been granted resource consent and have started detailed design work for the project.

The future new cycleway and improved walkway will make local destinations like West Wave, Falls Park, Pioneer Park and WestCity Waitākere much easier to reach by cycling or walking.

The gap it’s filling is shown below.

Crowd-sourcing better streets (Pōneke edition)

Our favourite Welly climate nerd, Kasey McDonnell (aka WellyClimateNerd) has set up a clever group project. The idea? “Explore ideas that others have for our streets, support the ones you like, or even suggest your own.” Check out Better Streets Pōneke here.

What do you reckon, could Auckland do with one of these? We have thoughts…

Quick, good, cheap – two out of three, what’ll it be?

The Prime Minister did some back-seat driving on a campaign stop in Waikato this week, urging Waka Kotahi, the New Zealand Transit Agency, to build big roads faster.

On Monday Christopher Luxon visited the site of what will be a new interchange on the 16km four-lane Cambridge to Piarere Expressway – a Road of National Significance in Waikato.

It’s set to take five years to build and cost $1.8 billion, which Luxon questioned considering it would be a “bog standard” road.

…

“If we’ve got lizards and stuff we need to deal with, we ain’t gonna take five years to deal with that,” he said. “I don’t understand, for a standard road like this … how do I not get this job finished in 18 months?”

Our take: aside from the ongoing budget blowouts of these overscoped projects, there’s really no such thing as a bog-standard road anymore. All the easy ones are done, and those remaining require significant earthworks to cut though hills and fill in gullies or build bridges. And that takes time, as well as money.

Surprise: emissions fall as fuel costs rise

As the cost of fuel continues to rise due to Trump’s war in Iran, the overall emissions by New Zealand households have decreased by more than five per cent. As RNZ reports:

Stats NZ has released data for the April to June quarter, showing that emissions across the economy fell by 2.9 percent, and by 5.3 percent for households alone.

It is the first full quarter of data to capture the effect that soaring fuel prices have had on the country’s climate emissions.

“The decrease in greenhouse gas emissions over the June 2026 quarter was mainly driven by decreases in emissions from the manufacturing industry and households,” environment statistics spokesperson Tehseen Islam said.

Road transport emissions were down 5.7 percent for households and were lower for almost all industries, in line with reduced fuel sales.

Overall, gross emissions fell by 550,000 tonnes and were now lower than they were during the first Covid lockdown.

We’ve also seen greater uptake of public transport and cycling, as Matt reported on in June. Stay tuned for more insight into winter and spring cycling stats.

Good times ahead

What are you doing over the long weekend?

  • Once again, the Spinoff’s “Nocturnalist” series has the scoop on good times after dark – this time featuring Jack Young, who runs No 7 on Beresford Square, a primo location for CRL adventure tie-ins.
  • For families (and infrastructure fans), keep an eye out for Watercare’s Wonder Wai Discovery Centre in a neighbourhood near you – including at MOTAT over Labour Weekend.
  • And Our Auckland has a great list of staycation ideas, for treating the city we live in like a holiday destination any day of the week.

Videos to check out

Auckland Council’s play streets programme is helping neighbourhoods become more friendly for kids:

And Auckland Transport has hopped aboard the merch train, with some cute giveaways of a limited run of CRL gear.

(Missed out? Check out our own print-on-demand merch, pretty much unlimited amounts in any colour you fancy!)

That’s us for the week – enjoy your long weekend, remember to check you’re enrolled to vote, and see you next week!

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