What’s in Store for 2021

Welcome back! We’re delighted to introduce you to what is going to be a very different but exciting year for City Rail Link (CRL). According to the traditional Chinese calendar, 2021 is the Year of the Ox, so it’s only fitting that this next stage for the project embodies similar qualities - hardworking and determined, forever forging ahead.

Having now completed most of our preparation works, project momentum is shifting to our heavy infrastructure programme – the time when CRL will really start to take shape. Most notably, this year will see the Dame Whina Cooper Tunnel Boring Machine’s maiden voyage deep beneath Auckland’s feet. It will also see our brand-new underground railway stations materialise. We’ll say goodbye to our work at the historic 109-year-old Chief Post Office building as our construction crews complete one of CRL’s significant early contracts, C1 in Britomart. C1 will then join C2 (lower Albert Street), C8 (Ōtāhuhu Station and Parnell) and C6 (Mt Eden stormwater main) in the list of completed CRL contracts.

Let’s take a look at what a busy 2021 has in store for CRL.

The TBM’s first drive

The Dame Whina Cooper Tunnel Boring Machine is due to be launched from the Mt Eden tunnel portal in April. It will spend the rest of the year digging the first of two 1.6km rail tunnels - its route is almost due north from Mt Eden, diving under Spaghetti Junction viaduct then on to Karangahape Station, before arriving at Aotea Station in central Auckland in December. Once launched, we’ll switch on a live tracker so you can find the TBM’s exact location in real time. After completing the first of its two journeys the TBM will be pulled out of the ground at Aotea and relaunched from Mt Eden on its second drive around March 2022. These tunnels will connect up with the cut-and-cover tunnels already created by contracts 1 and 2 under the Chief Post Office Building and up Albert Street.

For more information on the TBM please click here.

Te Manawa Opening

Te Manawa will act as a information centre for people to find out more about the project, among other things.

An all-in-one facility that will serve at a central focal point of the project - called Te Manawa – will open to the public this summer. Literally translating to “The Heart”, Te Manawa contains a public information centre, a state-of-the-art training and induction facility, and will also be home base for our Mt Eden Station construction team.

Contract 1 completion - Britomart

The Chief Post Office in Lower Queen Street is home to Britomart Station.

Five years of innovative construction is due to be completed this year. The technically challenging C1 contract included creating tunnels underneath the century-old heritage building; the Chief Post Office (CPO).

To do this, the team had to excavate Lower Queen Street, transfer the building's load from its old foundations to temporary underpinning beams, dig beneath the CPO, construct the new tunnels, and carefully transfer the load back on to the final foundations. The CPO building will resume its role as home to Britomart Station on its reopening in April.

To find out more about our C1 works, please click here.

Victoria Street / Wellesley Street switch

Very important intersection changes in central Auckland will take place mid this year to allow for the next stage of Aotea Station construction. The switch will involve reopening Wellesley Street West and Albert Street intersection, and then temporarily closing the Victoria Street and Albert Street intersection to vehicles. During these changes to vehicle access, the intersections will always remain open to pedestrians. The Victoria Street and Albert Street intersection will be closed to vehicles until mid-2023.

For more information on the switch, please click here.