Auckland's $5.5 billion City Rail Link carried its first fare-paying passengers today, capping years of construction and cost blowouts, only for a small electrical fire at Waitematā Station to disrupt services for a short period.
Trains now run through two brand-new underground stations, Te Waihorotiu and Karanga-a-Hape, and a rebuilt Maungawhau, before continuing out the other side of the city centre rather than terminating at the renamed Waitematā (formerly Britomart) station.
After more than 100 years of talk, preparatory works began in 2016, with major construction starting in 2019. The project's budget grew from about $2.9 billion in its early stages to $5.5 billion, with Covid-19 disruption pushing its original 2024 completion date back two years.
In an update at 3pm, Auckland Transport said nearly 40,000 had used the brand-new stations since opening.
Crowds gathered before dawn to ride the 4.57am inaugural service, which departed Ōtāhuhu station to a packed carriage and applause as underground rail reached Auckland's city centre for the first time.
One rail enthusiast said he had arrived at the station in the middle of the night to be first in line.
"I got here at about 3.40 this morning. I woke up at 2 o'clock in the morning," he said.
As the train entered the tunnel beneath the city, passengers broke into chants of "tunnel, tunnel, tunnel", with cheers and applause erupting as it pulled into Te Waihorotiu station.
At around 6am, Auckland Transport suspended trains through the CRL tunnels after smoke and a small fire were discovered in a lighting cable above a platform at Waitematā station.
Passengers were evacuated from Waitematā and Te Waihorotiu stations, and services on all lines faced delays and diversions for some of the morning.
Auckland Transport said Fire and Emergency NZ crews extinguished the blaze within an hour and that it was unrelated to any of the CRL's systems.
Trains were back running within the hour, though the flow-on delays continued into the morning. By about 9am, the South-City and East-West lines had returned to their usual 15-minute frequency, with the Onehunga-West line running every 30 minutes
Auckland Transport chief executive Stacey van der Putten fronted media at the scene and said the network had responded well under pressure.
"These things happen. It's an active railway - you can't predict these things," she said.
"What we're really impressed with is how the system responded, and it responded quickly."
She said the incident, while unwelcome, had shown the value of pre-opening testing.
"It shows the testing that we did went to good use today."
Faster commutes, new business hope
For many commuters, the appeal was practical. One passenger who caught the new East-West line from Henderson said the trip into the city had taken him under half an hour.
"I spent much longer in a car," he said.
Auckland Transport figures show the time savings will be felt across the network. A trip from Henderson to the downtown area is expected to take just over half an hour, about 10 minutes faster than before, while travel from Ellerslie to Karangahape Rd will be cut by 19 minutes, and a journey from Glen Innes to the Sky Tower area will take 10 minutes less than it used to.
Businesses near the new city centre stations are hoping the opening finally delivers the foot traffic they were promised. Record store Real Groovy relocated to a site near Te Waihorotiu station in 2023, partly because of the CRL.
"Finding out that the CRL was across the road was like a huge reason for us to move to our location," a spokesperson for the shop said.
"It's going to be epic for us. It opens directly onto our front door, so it's super important for our foot traffic."
Roma Blooms owner Shobhana Ranchodji said years of construction had devastated trade on her street.
"It took away 99% of business away from all of us. We lived opening up our savings accounts. We helped each other," she said.
"I'm absolutely excited that it's finished, that the disruption's finished, that the dust is not flying about."
Shakespeare Hotel and Brewery owner Sunny Kaushal said his business had lost millions of dollars over the course of the build, and several long-standing neighbours had not survived.
"Albert Street has paid the ultimate price," he said.
"It was supposed to deliver benefits within a few years, and here we are now, nearly nine years, and finally we are open."
Auckland Chamber of Commerce's Simon Bridges said the CRL's impact on the central city went beyond the rail line itself.
"It's really important in a city-shaping sense - bringing people, urban development, the shops, the restaurants," Bridges said, adding that businesses which hadn't survived the disruption would eventually be replaced by new ones.
"A phoenix will rise from the ashes. New businesses will grow."
Politicians mark milestone
Transport Minister Chris Bishop rode one of the first services through the tunnel this morning and, speaking to 1News, said the moment was overdue.
"Auckland has waited 100, maybe 150 years for this, so it's awesome," Bishop said.
"It's big for the city. It's big for the country. I think Aucklanders will discover we're like a modern city now."
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown, who officially opened the project, offered a more measured assessment, saying CRL would transform the city despite years of overruns.
"The City Rail Link is a game changer. It connects underground rail with our wider public transport network and creates an opportunity to build a more efficient, connected city around it," Brown said.
"Getting here has taken too long and cost too much. I won't pretend otherwise," he said, adding that future infrastructure projects needed "a clear purpose, disciplined scope and an honest assessment of the value they will deliver".
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the project would deliver a significant economic boost to the city.
"We think it'll be a huge boon. I think it's about $12 billion that we expect of extra economic activity to be added into Auckland as a function of that CRL investment, which is fantastic."
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