Officials said a test train had made its first trip through the full length of Auckland’s City Rail Link (CRL) tunnels.
The 3.45-kilometre inaugural journey ran south from Waitematā Station (Britomart) under central Auckland, past the new underground stations at Te Waihorotiu and Karanga-a-Hape, to Maungawhau Station on the Western/North Auckland Line.
The three-carriage train left Waitematā station on time at 9 p.m. and took two-and-a-half hours to complete its first journey. The speed was deliberately slow – around five kilometres an hour, allowing technicians to complete their first round of underground checks and balances relating to tunnel clearance, power supply and signalling.
The train completed five trips during the night.
Officials said summer rail upgrades have brought Auckland closer to City Rail Link readiness. A four-week closure allowed KiwiRail to blitz the network while trains weren’t running, keeping the program on track for CRL readiness and the faster, more frequent services it would bring.
This summer, more than 1,350 workers descended on the network across 110+ sites, working 24/7 wherever possible. KiwiRail Chief Infrastructure Officer André Lovatt said they made more progress than planned in many areas.
“Having a full four weeks with no passenger trains and therefore no energised powerlines meant we were able to deliver a massive amount of work without having to fit around trains,” Lovatt said in a release. “We know it’s a big ask for passengers.”
“We are operating in a complex environment as we upgrade the network, integrating new systems with old, and sometimes this comes with teething issues, despite rigorous testing, but we hope the scale of what we’ve achieved will provide some confidence that it’s worth the inconvenience when so much progress has been made,” Lovatt added.
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