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2024 News Releases
Essential Mercury Lane works as CRL prepares for the future
09 April 2024
Maximising the benefits that a completed Karanga-a-Hape Station will bring to the city centre when City Rail Link (CRL) opens will require a temporary closure of sections of Mercury Lane for necessary works to safeguard the neighbourhood’s future power supplies.
The initial closure starts next Monday, 15 April, at the southern end of the lane, from the southern corner of Cross Street / Mercury Lane, to just above the Wilson parking building entry / exit on Mercury Lane. This section of work is expected to take two weeks.
The other sections of work are at the Cross Street / Mercury Lane intersection and at the northern section of Mercury Lane, from Cross Street to Karangahape Road. The temporary closures are expected to continue until late-June.
Clearly signposted routes will be in place to ensure drivers continued access to the car park building and local apartments and businesses. Pedestrian access is not affected. Cyclists are asked to walk their wheels.
The closure will allow CRL’s main contractor, Link Alliance, to dig a 150-metre-long trench that will be used by electricity suppliers to futureproof power supplies.
“It’s a great opportunity to combine our present work in the area with wider needs and avoid the need for more road works and disruption in the future,” says Link Alliance Project Director Francois Dudouit.
The trench is 1.2 metres deep and 1.2 metres wide.
Full details of the work, including access routes, are available here.
“Our priority is to minimise the impact of the closure, and keep road users safe while we complete essential work,” Mr Dudouit says. “We will have diversions in place to maintain access. Drivers who usually access Mercury Lane from Pitt Street or the Ponsonby end of Karangahape Road, in particular, should plan for more time to get to their destinations safely.”
‘Tearful story’ reflects unique City Rail Link project
21 March 2024
Aucklanders already know the City Rail Link (CRL) project is delivering a world-class railway and now they can see first-hand that it is one unique to their city as well.
The last of 80 distinctive blue panels have now been fitted onto the upper levels of CRL’s Maungawhau Station to complete what is known as the station’s sky element – panels that serve both a modern day function while acknowledging the cultural heritage of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
The sky element panels, which wrap around the ventilation and air intake systems on top of the new station, are designed also to tell the Māori story of creation. The striking pattern of shingles and blue triangles represent the tears of Ranginui (sky father) after being separated from Papatūānuku (Earth Mother).
“New railways are under construction all over the world but what makes CRL stand out from the rest is our rewarding partnership with mana whenua which has resulted in culturally significant station designs that people will not see anywhere else on the planet,” says Dr Sean Sweeney, City Rail Link Ltd’s Chief Executive.
“We are so proud of our partnership with mana whenua and to have world-class project that is distinctly Tāmaki Makaurau,” he says.
The panels have been designed by iwi artist Tessa Harris (Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki) whose work embedding the narratives of Tāmaki Makaurau is visible right across the project – at Te Komititanga, the square in downtown Auckland, Porters Avenue Bridge and the Maungawhau Station building.
“It has been a privilege to bring the mana whenua narrative to Maungawhau Station,” Tessa says. “The collaboration design process has brought stunning architecture that combines culture and functionality, in a way that is uniquely Aotearoa. When you view the shingles in different light, it is an ever-changing reflection like the shimmer of tears.”
Crews from CRL’s main contractor, Link Alliance, used a crane and elevated working platforms to lift the 80 panels into place, piecing them together like a puzzle. Each panel varies in size and weight, ranging from 2250cm – 307cm in width, 2.5m – 3m in height, and 40kg – 90kg in weight.
The sky element feature is one of four separate elements that will tell the design kōrero (story) of a completed Maungawhau Station building and its ties to the surrounding landscape.
Each of the four elements reflects te ao (the Māori world view) and the station’s cultural relationships with the nearby Maungawhau (Mt Eden) volcano and Matāoho, the atua or diety of Tamaki Makaurau’s volcanic field.
The partnership with iwi through the project’s Manu Whenua Forum is further reflected in the traditional and cultural designs that enhance CRL’s two new midtown stations, Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu.
CRL completes tunnel track laying – green light for train testing
21 February 2024
Auckland’s City Rail Link project has completed installation of the second and final railway line below the central city.
The newly laid 3.4 kilometres of track will carry trains underground north from Maungawhau Station at Eden Terrace and connect with the two new central city ones – Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu – and downtown’s Waitematā Station (Britomart). CRL’s southbound line was installed last year.
“There’s plenty to celebrate for our project teams, and for Aucklanders,” says Dr Sean Sweeney, Chief Executive for City Rail Link Ltd. “Completing the two tracks brings us one big step closer to the next phase of the project - testing trains inside the tunnels mid-year, and from there handing CRL over next year to Auckland Transport and KiwiRail, who will operate and maintain it.”
CRL Ltd’s main contractor, Link Alliance, and railway infrastructure company, Martinus New Zealand, installed the track on what is one of the steepest sections of railway in New Zealand. From Maungawhau the line drops 70 metres to Waitematā, which sits below sea level. At its deepest point, CRL runs 42 metres underneath Auckland’s busy Central Motorway Junction.
The final section of the northbound line was installed near Te Waihorotiu Station.
The project’s tunnel boring machine, named in honour of Māori rights activist Dame Whina Cooper, excavated most of the tunnels to clear the way for track laying. Other sections of tunnel, near Waitematā Station, were built by first digging trenches and then covering them over.
Link Alliance Project Director, Francois Dudouit, says conditions under Auckland were challenging with tight curves, a steep gradient and no room for heavy machinery to pass.
“We became New Zealand’s first construction organisation to gain a Rail Operators and Rail Access Provider licence under the Railways Act – an innovation that gave us the flexibility we needed to plan the job and get it done to the highest standard.”
The focus for 2024 shifts to train testing and the fit out of the stations and tunnels, alongside landscaping and urban realm enhancements. The fit-out programme includes the installation of lifts, escalators, security systems, CCTV, electricity, signalling and communications.
All track laying across the project’s three sites is now complete. Altogether, New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project laid 11 kilometres of line. In addition to the underground lines, new tracks were laid at Maungawhau to connect CRL and the Western/North Auckland Line, and a short section of track was laid at the eastern end of Waitematā (Britomart) Station.
Over three years, CRL’s project-wide track laying programme used more than 1100 tonnes of steel, poured almost 11,000 tonnes of concrete, laid 4,000 sleepers and completed hundreds of rail welds, which smooth out the ‘clickety-clack’ joins where track sections meet, to give Aucklanders a smoother ride.
CRL’s “green light” to clear temporary station building
30 January 2024
Rail commuters returning to work from their well-earned summer break will notice a significant change around Waitematā (Britomart) Station this month: the start of work to remove the temporary building at the rear of the station on Commerce Street.
The building was erected in 2017, originally as the main station entrance while City Rail Link project works restored the station inside the venerable Chief Post Office building and constructed the twin tunnels in its basement.
With the completion of these works in 2021, the building was used as a base for CRL’s main Link Alliance contractor, enabling it to deliver a range of works that included construction of the "back of house" facilities, the installation of smoke protection systems, and raising the station concourse.
Last month, Link Alliance vacated the temporary building to allow Auckland Transport to prepare the site for CRL sub-contractors, Martinus, to start deconstruction from 22 January.
Removal will take approximately two months and is not expected to cause any significant disruption to commuters.
City Rail Link Ltd's Chief Executive, Dr Sean Sweeney, says the temporary building’s removal marks another significant step forward for a project already transforming Auckland.
“The land where the building stood will be turned into a vibrant people-friendly open space for all Aucklanders to enjoy – a plaza behind Waitematā Station between Tyler and Galway Streets,” Dr Sweeney says.
"Working in the heart of New Zealand's busiest city presents many unique challenges, but as we begin the removal of the temporary station building, I want to extend my gratitude to the commuters and Britomart community for their patience. Any large-scale infrastructure project is only possible with the backing of the community and its patience."
Dr Sweeney also extended CRL’s thanks to all its contractors, Auckland Council and Auckland Transport.
"These works represent another stage in what has been a colossal, complex and innovative team effort over many years at Waitematā as we worked together to keep our city moving and reshape the spaces around the station.”
Following the temporary building’s removal, Auckland Council will lead the construction of the plaza. Work on the plaza is planned to start this autumn. You can learn more about the design here.