Auckland city centre rail tunnel
| City Rail Link | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Commuter rail |
| Status | Under construction |
| Locale | Central Auckland, New Zealand |
| Termini |
Britomart Transport Centre Mount Eden Railway Station |
| Stations | 4 (incl. termini) |
| Operation | |
| Character | Underground tunnel |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) |
| Number of tracks | Double |
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) |
| Electrification | 25 kV AC overhead |
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The City Rail Link (CRL) is a rail project in Auckland, New Zealand. The project consists of an electrified, double-track rail tunnel underneath Auckland's city centre, running for approximately 3.5 km between Britomart Transport Centre and the Western Line, connecting just to the west of Mount Eden Railway Station.
Two underground stations will be provided in Auckland's CBD: Aotea Station (located near Aotea Square) and Karangahape Station (located in the vicinity of Karangahape Road). Due to the significant costs and difficulties associated with a project of this size, its planning and funding has been highly controversial.
The current project is an adapted version of previous proposals to improve rail access to Auckland's city centre since the 1920s. The CRL was highlighted as the number one transport project in the 2012 Auckland Spatial Plan and has enjoyed strong public support in a number of polls. In June 2013 the central government announced its support for the project, albeit with a later construction commencement date of 2020, compared to Auckland Council's preferred start date of 2016. The Prime Minister announced in January 2016 that central government funding for main works had been confirmed, allowing Auckland Council to start construction of the main works from 2018, with central funds guaranteed to flow from 2020.
The key benefits of the City Rail Link are intended to be:
Serious planning schemes occurred as early as the 1920s. The tunnel was initially estimated at 1.75 miles (2.82 km) length and at £0.6 million. In the 1930s, the Minister of Railways argued that the scheme - then known as the 'Morningside Tunnel' or the 'Morningside Deviation', after the proposed southern portal location - would cost approximately £1 million, with another £1 million required for the electrification of the network. He expressed doubts that the tunnel would ever pay purely from a rail point of view, though he acknowledged that there might be other benefits and wider aspects to take into account.
The 1970s plans envisaged the loop connecting with Newmarket as part of a major rapid transit scheme proposed by Dove-Myer Robinson, mayor of Auckland City at the time. Two main stations were proposed: one downtown in the vicinity of the Queen St/Shortland Street intersection, and a second midtown between Queen St and Mayoral Drive, about halfway between Aotea Square and Albert Park. A third city station was to be built at Karangahape Rd, but this would have been a stop on the western line only. The plan was undermined by Council staff, criticised by academics and opposed by the New Zealand Town Planning Institute, before finally being rejected in 1976 by the Muldoon National government, which considered it to be too costly.
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