City Rail Link

The City Rail Link (CRL) is a pair of 3.45-kilometre-long (2.14 mi) tunnels underneath Auckland's city centre, extending the North Island Main Trunk railway line from its former terminus at Waitematā Station to a junction with the North Auckland Line at Maungawhau Station. Planned since 2013, construction began in 2018 and included two underground stations serving the city centre: Te Waihorotiu near Aotea Square and Karanga-a-Hape near Karangahape Road. Waitematā Station was converted from a terminus station into a through station, and Mount Eden station was replaced by Maungawhau Station, a station with four platforms to serve as an interchange between the CRL line and the Western Line. The CRL is an adapted version of previous proposals to improve rail access to Auckland's city centre with the first proposals dating back to the 1920s. The increase in rail patronage in Auckland during the early 21st century, particularly after the opening of Britomart Transport Centre in 2003, led to renewed interest in the scheme. The 2012 Auckland Spatial Plan highlighted the CRL as the most important transport investment for Auckland and the project has enjoyed strong public support. Its planning and funding have also been the subject of controversy. In June 2013, the central government announced its support for the project with a construction commencement date of 2020, four years la

Tunnel data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).