Two new train stops in southern Auckland have cost around $300 million to build, KiwiRail says, with the wider three-station programme forecast at almost half a billion.
The new train stations are being built to serve growing "greenfield" housing developments between Papakura and Pukekohe in what's currently largely farmland.
Drury and Paerātā stations opened to passengers from early this morning, returning scheduled rail services to the two areas for the first time since 1972. Another stop at Ngākōroa remains under construction and was due to open in the first half of next year.
A KiwiRail spokesperson said the agency had only ever discussed the total cost across all the stations, which had shifted over time as the scope changed — originally covering just two stations and no access roads.
Individual station costs remained commercially sensitive, the spokesperson said, as the Drury and Paerātā contracts were not yet settled and Ngākōroa was still being built.
However, given the late stage of the project, the "forecast cost" for all three stations - including land purchase - was about $450 million, according to KiwiRail, with the combined cost of Drury and Paerātā "circa $300 million".
Around 130,000 more people are expected to move into southern Auckland over the coming decades and KiwiRail said trains will be central to supporting that growth.
A pre-construction cost estimate for the project came in at $495 million four years ago.
Rail Minister Winston Peters, who helped open the stations yesterday, said the funding had been set aside when he was part of the previous Labour-led coalition government.
"We set aside the money in 2020, and it's coming in under budget ... on time and under budget. That's great," he said.
Each station has two platforms, 350 car parks and bus connections, with weekday rush hour trains running every 10 minutes towards the city centre.
Peters said his ambition was for parts of Auckland's rail network to be quadruple tracked, saying other world cities would "not put up with two lines".
"Other countries would have us with an up main, a down main, a spare main, and a freight main. That's four, and that is what Auckland needs," he said.
"That will need to be followed by an Avondale-Southdown line in the 2040s to open the isthmus up to east-west movement with an outer loop complementing the City Rail Link."
Auckland University urban planning senior lecturer Tim Welch said building rapid public transport before housing was the right sequence for new greenfield areas.
He said the next step was making sure higher-density housing was built around stations.
"Rather than plunking down a bunch of lifestyle blocks around these communities and then hoping people can drive into the city, if we build the rail first and have that accessibility, and then create higher density housing near the stations, where people don't necessarily even have to own a car," Welch said.
But he said rail alone was not enough, and other infrastructure needed to follow so the areas did not simply become dormitory suburbs. "We need good water infrastructure. We need schools. We need healthcare. We need groceries," he said.
"All sorts of things have to go in there to make it not just a bedroom community, but an actual place that people can live and meet their needs."
City Rail Link opening date still under wraps
The new stations follow the completed electrification of the line between Papakura and Pukekohe and will later connect to the City Rail Link (CRL) once it opens.
Both ministers kept the opening date closely held.
Auckland Minister Simon Watts jokingly came close to revealing it during his speech.
"Much of the recent investment has been about preparing the network for more frequent trains that will come when the CRL opens this year," he said.
"And I'm pleased to announce— no, I'm not. I'm not going to do that. We will have to wait and see on that. There were a few people panicking in the crowd."
Peters also declined to give a date, saying the announcement would be left to the Transport Minister Chris Bishop and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown. The minister said the project would open "in the very near future" and before the election.
Voters go to the polls on November 7.
SHARE ME