Auckland Underground Railway Opens as City Rail Link Starts Service

Auckland’s City Rail Link has officially opened, giving New Zealand its first underground railway. City Rail Link Ltd handed the finished tunnels and stations to Auckland Transport and KiwiRail, opened the line on 11 September 2026 and began carrying passengers on Sunday 13 September 2026.

What the Auckland underground railway adds

The project reportedly cost NZ$5.493bn (2.36bn pounds). It links the existing rail network through two 3.45km twin tunnels running up to 42m below ground between Waitemata Station in downtown Auckland and Maungawhau Station in Mount Eden, alongside major upgrades to two existing underground stations and two entirely new ones.

The new stations are Te Waihorotiu in midtown and Karanga-a-Hape, which has entrances at Mercury Lane and Beresford Square. Waitemata Station has been rebuilt as a two way through station rather than a terminus, and Maungawhau Station has been reworked to take the new connection.

A decade of engineering behind the Auckland underground railway

UK engineering and development consultancy Mott MacDonald has worked on the scheme since 2012, providing technical leadership through concept and reference design, consenting, procurement and delivery. As principal technical advisor the firm coordinated a multidisciplinary team covering rail systems, stations, civil, structural, utilities and safety disciplines, and it also helped Auckland Transport and KiwiRail with asset readiness and handover, moving ownership across from Link Alliance and City Rail Link Limited to the organisations that will run the railway.

“City Rail Link is a once in a generation investment that changes how Auckland moves, grows and connects,” said Mott MacDonald technical director for major projects Peter Taylor. “The opening marks the culmination of more than a decade of involvement in one of New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure projects.”

The consultancy says it drew on its work on comparable underground rail systems, including London’s Elizabeth Line and Australia’s Sydney Metro and Melbourne Metro Tunnel, to deliver the job.

“We are proud to have supported the project from its earliest stages through to opening day, bringing specialist underground rail expertise to New Zealand and supporting the delivery of a rail system that will benefit Aucklanders for generations,” Taylor added.