Coronavirus: Auckland City Rail Link construction to restart in alert level 3
Wednesday, 22 April 2020
Construction for Auckland's City Rail Link will start up again in alert level three, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
A total of 200 workers will go back to work at a number of sites across the city on Tuesday.
Ardern's comments follow an announcement by CRL on Tuesday that construction workers were 'champing at the bit' to get back to work.
CRL chief executive Sean Sweeney said work would be done on sites at Britomart, Lower Queen St, Albert St, Aotea, Karangahape Rd, Mt Eden and on the southern line in Ōtāhuhu.
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'Ever since the lockdown began four weeks ago there has been a lot of desk-top planning for a quick re-start and we're well prepared to come out of the starting blocks fast - we're champing at the bit and ready to get cracking asap,' Sweeney said.
'We're already inspecting all CRL sites and making them ready for a safe return to work next week.
'Because of our size we're aware of the big role we have in quickly getting the economy moving again, supporting the contracting and infrastructure industries and seeing our workers safely back on the job.'
Sweeney said it was too early to tell how Covid-19 has affected the project's costs or construction timetables.
'It may be months before we know that once the economy has settled down a bit and we have a clearer picture on the availability of workers, and what sort of shape some of our suppliers both here and overseas are in.'
Some workers were even stuck in France because they are unable to get a flight.
'A big plus for the project was the ability of CRL and our Link Alliance contractors to be able to keep working on construction and design programmes during the lockdown – time wasn't wasted and that's been a big boost for our re-start,' he said.