![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4JX16HG_20251118_PP_Karangahape_Station_2073_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nThe 203m long platform at Auckland’s City Rail Link Karangahape Station.
\nPhoto: Supplied: CRL\n<\/p>\n
Infrastructure minister Chris Bishop has committed to a review of Auckland’s multibillion-dollar City Rail Link project, saying he’s unhappy with the price tag.<\/p>\n
It comes after the New Zealand Herald reported the project’s former boss, Dr Sean Sweeney, said it could have been done at half the cost – about $2 billion cheaper if design changes were made earlier.<\/p>\n
Sweeney left the chief executive role<\/a> in 2024 after six years.<\/p>\n Work began on the $5.5b CRL in 2017. It was initially expected<\/a> to cost between $2.8b and $3.4b.<\/p>\n It’s the country’s largest infrastructure project, expected to nearly double Auckland’s rail capacity when it opens later this year.<\/p>\n Bishop said he, “like everyone”, was unhappy with the project’s cost.<\/p>\n \nInfrastructure minister Chris Bishop. “I have a lot of respect for Mr Sweeney so I take what he says seriously,” he said.<\/p>\n “The focus at the moment is on completing the project and getting it open. However, I am determined to do a post-completion full review of the project, which is something not often done in New Zealand.”<\/p>\n The review would be carried out by the Infrastructure Commission and consider the project’s history, business cases and costs, Bishop said.<\/p>\n “It also needs to look at missed opportunities. I’ve been open about how CRL was only really ever envisaged as a transport project when it is so much more than that.”<\/p>\n CRL chief executive Patrick Brockie said he welcomed a review, and was already planning an independent “lessons learned review” given the project’s size and complexity.<\/p>\n “Independent reviews of any major infrastructure project are an important part of a process to identify opportunities to improve future projects in New Zealand,” he said.<\/p>\n CRL was focused on finishing the project in the coming months, which Aucklanders could rely on “for decades to come”, Brockie said.<\/p>\n “It’s also important to note that the overall cost of the CRL reflects a wide range of factors beyond architecture alone, including the complexity of building a major underground rail project in the city centre, market and supply-chain conditions, and the impacts of Covid-19 and associated disruptions over the life of the programme.”<\/p>\n In 2019 a design change increased the CRL’s capacity to allow nine-car trains rather than six, which added additional cost due to extended platforms, an extra station increase and providing for future platform screen doors, Brockie said.<\/p>\n “But future-proofing for nine-car trains will mean that the CRL will be able to continue to deliver capacity as the population continues grows over the decades.”<\/p>\n The infrastructure pipeline was a common challenge facing the industry and had been well canvassed across the political spectrum, he said.<\/p>\n Last year, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown said the city’s proposed 7.9 percent rates increase<\/a> was largely due to the CRL.<\/p>\n City Rail Link has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4JPTJRG_260421_Bridge_4_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone\n<\/p>\n