Auckland One Rail’s group of test train officers have been part of a brand new below-ground experience – preparing to operate trains safely through the City Rail Link (CRL) tunnels.

“CRL is a whole new scenario for the test train officers,” says Dr Sean Sweeney, Chief Executive of City Rail Link Ltd (CRL Ltd).

“We are building New Zealand’s first underground railway. CRL trains will use one of the steepest rail grades in New Zealand and construction includes infrastructure and new operations and maintenance requirements not seen in this country before. There is much to learn.”

The test train officers are tenured drivers with extensive experience. They will operate the first trains to be tested in the tunnels later this year.

Locomotive Engineer (train driver) Charmaine Fitton says looking behind the scenes underground is an exciting opportunity to get ready for the big changes coming when CRL opens in 2026.

“When you drive outside everything is pretty and you have these landmarks that you can use as reference points but in a tunnel, you’re closed in and have to judge braking distances and things like that, so I think that’ll be the most challenging part of the training,” Charmaine says.

CRL is New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project and one of the most complex. The 3.45-kilometre-long tunnels below the city centre connect the current Waitematā (Britomart) terminus station with Maungawhau Station on the North Auckland/Western Line. Two underground stations – Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu – are under construction along the route.

A programme as big as this one requires a team effort. CRL Ltd, its Link Alliance contractors, Auckland Transport, KiwiRail and Auckland One Rail, which operates the city’s trains, are working together to ensure drivers, station staff network controllers and rail maintenance staff will be ready from day one.

AT’s Director of Public Transport and Active Modes, Stacey van der Putten, says more than 260 train drivers, in addition to 200 train managers and station staff, will all need to be trained for the big changes ahead, before opening

“There’s a lot of preparation involved to make sure we’re ready to operate an entirely new route that will give Aucklanders quicker and easier access to inner-city destinations.”

To support the practical aspects of the training, special equipment, track mock-ups and updated train driver simulator programmes have been developed.

KiwiRail Chief Infrastructure Officer Andre Lovatt says connecting a new railway to an existing network is complex and requires a wide range of staff all working together to integrate systems while keeping trains running safely.

“We’ve worked hard to bring cohesion and consistency to learning and handover for all the staff that’ll be working across everything from train & station operations, train driving, signalling, rail maintenance and electrical infrastructure.

“In fact, the training programme goes beyond just CRL. It prepares people working on Auckland’s rail to manage all of the new upgraded assets across the wider network and to operate the new services coming with City Rail Link,” says Mr Lovatt.

The training and testing programme is contributing to CRL’s commitment to hand over the project in November 2025 to Auckland Transport and KiwiRail. It will be a City Rail Link with completed and tested infrastructure that meets the highest standards of safety. AT and KiwiRail will then carry out the final work that’s essential to be ready for customers on trains, including trial running to practice operating CRL and validate the reliability of all systems.

Note: 

City Rail Link Ltd, Auckland Transport and KiwiRail are working together to deliver the better-connected network with faster, more frequent, and reliable trains that City Rail Link will bring as quickly as possible.

City Rail Link Benefits

• More reliable trains
• A better-connected rail network and better connections to other modes of transport
• Improved access across the region, but especially the city centre.
• Double the number of people within 30 minutes of NZ’s biggest employment hub.
• An attractive alternative to travelling by car, which means less congestion for people who need the roads.
• Better health and environmental outcomes.
• Significant commercial and residential opportunities around the stations.

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