A year of resilience and momentum
City Rail Link 2022 Annual Report is out now.
The report highlights milestones achieved under difficult circumstances, for the July 2021 - June 2022 financial year.
One highlight was completing the bulk of tunnel boring, paving the way for the
completion of all project tunnelling in September 2022. These twin 3.45km-long tunnels are the cornerstone of the country’s first rapid transit rail network and will enable a transformational change in Tāmaki Makaurau. They were completed in the face of multiple lockdowns, restricted Covid-working conditions and multiple resource and labour constraints.
The tunnel boring machine (TBM) Dame Whina Cooper travelled more than 3.2km, placed 2,118 concrete lining segment rings and removed 260,000 tonnes of spoil during boring. Construction teams are now working to connect the bored tunnels with the cut-and-cover tunnels built up Albert Street from Britomart during the project’s earlier stages [completed post June 2022].
In conjunction with the Mana Whenua Forum, representing eight Auckland iwi, new names for each of the CRL’s four stations were unveiled. The names are now with the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB), to complete a public consultation and decide whether to formally adopt Waitematā Station, Te Waihorotiu Station, Karanga-a-Hape Station and Maungawhau/Mount Eden Station next year.
The new names illustrate the exemplary relationship forged between Mana Whenua, CRL and the Link Alliance, which includes the ongoing contribution of Māori mātauranga and sharing of cultural values to the project. This in turn helps shape and enhance the delivery of better sustainability, environmental, social and health and safety outcomes across the project.
This financial year saw CRL receive award recognition for this work – including the Infrastructure Sustainability Council ‘Excellent As Built’ rating for its C2 Albert St construction and the Waitematā Station (Britomart) works ‘Leading As Built’ rating - an independent verification of the project’s outstanding sustainability outcomes.
More than 50 per cent of the project is now complete and these significant milestones were achieved despite four lockdowns (lasting 9.5 months), 280 days of restricted working conditions, 3.2 million hours lost through illness (year to June 2021) and more than 800 workers infected with Covid.