Project Overview

Project Benefits

City Rail Link delivering significant benefits for Auckland

When it opens, the City Rail Link will provide a world class rail system to help an international city like Auckland grow further.

The CRL is a 3.45 kilometre twin-tunnel underground connection between the redeveloped Britomart and Mt Eden Stations. New inner-city stations; one underneath Albert Street with entrances at Wellesley and Victoria Streets provisionally named Aotea, and the other under Karangahape Road with entrances at Beresford Square and Mercury Plaza provisionally named Karangahape will also be constructed.

The project’s benefits are many. It will eliminate the existing and inefficient “dead-end” rail service at Britomart Station and allow through trains to run underground in central Auckland.

CRL will also double the capacity of Auckland’s rail network to carry up to 54,000 passengers an hour during morning and afternoon peaks times. To move the same number by bus or car would require another three Auckland Harbour Bridges or 16 extra traffic lanes into the city centre. Better travel choices will help to ease pressure on roads and create health benefits which includes cleaner air with more people travelling on electric trains.

There will also be significant time savings for travellers and better connections across Auckland’s train network.

Once it is built, CRL will double the number of people who live within 30 minutes travel of New Zealand’s biggest employment hub, central Auckland.

World class station designs unique to New Zealand will recognise the cultural and historic ties of Iwi to Tāmaki Makaurau.

Aotea is set to become the busiest rail station in New Zealand and will feature tiles printed with thousands of artworks from New Zealand children. The public space around CRL stations are also being designed to be community focused and visually stunning.

CRL will become a catalyst for significant development of new commercial properties and thousands of homes to be built around its stations, providing people with better access to housing and employment opportunities.

As the largest infrastructure project in New Zealand, CRL is playing a key role in the economic stimulus response to Covid-19. It is a significant procurer of goods and services and will employ and upskill thousands of people throughout its lifespan.