{"id":522075,"date":"2026-07-12T08:29:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/522075\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T08:29:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:29:15","slug":"auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-expresses-mixed-feelings-about-city-rail-link-opening-questions-future-proofing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/522075\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown expresses mixed feelings about City Rail Link opening, questions future-proofing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The underground Karanga-a-hape and Te Waihorotiu stations are the only brand-new additions to the network and are expected to drive significant foot traffic into Auckland\u2019s uptown and midtown CBD.<\/p>\n

But Brown dismissed the concept of future-proofing major infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuture-proofing is a stupid word. I hate hearing that. Future-proofing is an excuse for wasting money now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed to the Auckland Harbour Bridge as an example of staged construction, noting it was initially built with four lanes before four \u201cNippon clip-on\u201d lanes were added a decade later. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey [initially] built four lanes because that\u2019s all they could afford but they allowed for foundations so that, when they could afford it, they put another four lanes on. That\u2019s sensible. Build it stage by stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clip-ons have since required extensive maintenance and are approaching the end of their design life.<\/p>\n

Design elements throughout both stations draw on the area\u2019s cultural and natural history, with mana whenua helping shape the stations\u2019 cultural narrative and M\u0101ori artists contributing key artworks.<\/p>\n

The ceiling of Te Waihorotiu Station\u2019s Wellesley St entrance features more than 4000 suspended golden aluminium rods<\/a> inspired by the reeds of the former Te Waihorotiu Stream, surrounding a central kauri carving representing the taniwha Horotiu.<\/p>\n

\"TeTe Waihorotiu Railway Station, in midtown Auckland CBD, is set to be opened later this year. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n

Karanga-a-Hape Station features large sculptural kauri snails suspended from the ceiling<\/a>, with the design drawing on the area\u2019s history as a kauri forest.<\/p>\n

Brown described the fittings and artworks as \u201cvery excessive\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are ceilings in those. Nobody puts a ceiling in a supermarket. We don\u2019t put curved walls inside supermarkets, just paint them black like anybody else does.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s way too expensive and it took too long, if they hadn\u2019t done that the rates would have not gone up so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

His criticisms echoed comments made earlier this year by former CRL chief executive Sean Sweeney who told the Herald the stations had been over-designed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer CRL boss Sean Sweeney. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we could have delivered this for half the cost, but it would have looked different,\u201d Sweeney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stations would have looked quite industrial, and they would have been smaller, they wouldn\u2019t have had anywhere near the extra facilities in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Nothing but good\u2019 from India deal<\/p>\n

Brown also touched on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s whirlwind visit to Auckland this weekend, describing him as \u201ca superstar\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although he said he missed meeting Modi because arrangements were \u201cdone so secretly\u201d, he said stronger ties with India could only benefit Auckland.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing but good can come from that so I totally support what the Government are trying to do there,\u201d he told Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Government House in Auckland. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Brown said trade was increasingly driven by city-to-city relationships rather than national governments, pointing to Auckland\u2019s links with Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Indians are the third biggest population in Auckland, good citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The underground Karanga-a-hape and Te Waihorotiu stations are the only brand-new additions to the network and are expected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,4496,51,6256,2199,10712,16395,158797,100698,118976,67195,167145,29812,58,10934,12235,111,43,139,69,10521,3263,17146,207,312,3542],"class_list":["post-522075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-attempt","tag-auckland","tag-brown","tag-city","tag-claiming","tag-concept","tag-expresses","tag-feelings","tag-flawed","tag-futureproof","tag-futureproofing","tag-imminent","tag-link","tag-mayor","tag-mixed","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opening","tag-project","tag-questions","tag-rail","tag-says","tag-wayne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522075","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=522075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}