<\/p>\n
\nThe Karanga-a-Hape underground station will house the longest escalator in New Zealand, at 40 metres long
\nPhoto: Supplied: CRL\n<\/p>\n
Those in charge of the country’s most expensive transport infrastructure are confident the new timetable for opening will stick – but they won’t name a date. <\/p>\n
Auckland’s $5.5 billion City Rail Link has to undergo thousands of tests including crowd emergency evacuations before it can open in the second half of next year.<\/p>\n
Today The Detail goes to the deepest point of the new project inside Karanga-a-Hape station for a glimpse of the country’s longest escalator, and the tracks running more than three kilometres under the city, connecting the two brand new stations (Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu) and two extensively modified ones (Maungawhau and Waitemat\u0101).<\/p>\n
It was originally planned to open this year but it has been pushed back by several months, to the second half of 2026.<\/p>\n
More than 13,000 tests have to be completed before City Rail Link Limited hands it over to Auckland Transport, says Alan Trestour, head of CRL delivery for Auckland Transport.<\/p>\n
He says there is much more to it than ensuring the trains run every four minutes at peak time.<\/p>\n
“It’s about making sure the stations are also delivering the system performance that we’re asking them to,” Trestour says.<\/p>\n
Intense and complex testing has been carried out in the last four months and will continue until June 30.<\/p>\n
“You run into glitches all the time,” says CRL chief executive Pat Brockie. “But nothing that’s a showstopper at the moment.”<\/p>\n
A ‘showstopper’ would set back the June 30 target date, he says.<\/p>\n
In the station control room, filled with screens which monitor fire panels and safety system, Russell McMullan explains the role of a large red button with a sign saying ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ on it.<\/p>\n
“In the event of something really bad happening, should it occur in the very unlikely event, that button can be used by staff to send a signal to all of the train drivers that there’s a major incident and that they need to stop the trains wherever they are,” says McMullan, CRL’s general manager of assurance and integration.<\/p>\n
Passenger modelling simulations have already been carried out and more real life emergency tests will be organised next year involving staff and families, as well as disability groups.<\/p>\n
What’s the hold-up?<\/p>\n
Several issues contributed to delays but Covid-19 had the greatest impact, he says, with lockdowns and severe restrictions on bringing in workers from overseas.<\/p>\n
It also contributed to the budget blowout. It was first estimated to cost $2.8 to $3.4 billion. It was pushed out to $4.4b 2019, then $5.5b in 2023.<\/p>\n
For McMullan, who’s worked on the project from the start nearly 10 years ago, the CRL holdups are a hot topic around the barbecue.<\/p>\n
“The analogy I give to family and friends and people at barbecues is if you’ve ever built a house and the builder gives you a date and you work towards a date any little things can trip you up and cause that date to move and you cater for that.<\/p>\n
“But the CRL is about a thousand times more complicated than a house and it’s about a thousand times the size of your general house so you can generally expect things, when they catch you out can just add to the time that it takes.”<\/p>\n
Transport expert Trestour, an Australian who has worked on Sydney and Melbourne rail projects, says the involvement of many agencies has added to the complexity of the architecture.<\/p>\n
Auckland Council and the Crown have gone half and half to fund it; a number of other agencies such as construction partner the Link Alliance are on board, iwi groups have had a huge part in the planning and design, Auckland Transport will take over and run it when it’s finished; and KiwiRail has a role integrating it with existing tracks.<\/p>\n
But Trestour says it is the incorporation of the M\u0101ori design and artworks that set it apart.<\/p>\n
“What I find is beautiful on this project is the snapshot to cultural heritage. There’s been high level collaboration to get there with iwi being part of that process,” he says.<\/p>\n
“These are pieces of infrastructure that are going to keep a legacy to Aucklanders and I think it’s really important that they represent the local cultural values that are enshrined in the life of Aucklanders.”<\/p>\n
Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook<\/a> or following us on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Karanga-a-Hape underground station will house the longest escalator in New Zealand, at 40 metres long Photo: Supplied:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-168143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}