Coronavirus: Auckland's City Rail Link project runs double shifts to catch up

Tuesday, 12 May 2020

Work has started on the southern-most part of the City Rail Link project at Mt Eden earlier this year, marked by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, CRL CEO Sean Sweeney and Transport Minister Phil Twyford.

Construction hours are being extended by up to five hours a day on Auckland's $4.5 billion City Rail Link project, to make up for time lost during the Covid-19 lockdown, and to boost employment.

Delays also mean some work will not be finished until early next year, missing an end-of-year deadline hoped for downtown projects to be ready for the America's Cup regatta build-up.

The joint venture company owned by Auckland Council and the Government, is also seeking political help to get 42 skilled workers into the country, where border restrictions still apply.

Work on the 3.4 kilometre twin rail tunnels through downtown Auckland resumed under Covid-19 alert level three, but CRL Limited said while design work continued, some parts may finish later than planned.

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The company said refurbishment of the former Chief Post Office building, now Britomart Train Station, due to be done by Christmas, might now take until early 2021.

The delayed arrival of the Chinese-built tunnel boring machine later this year, means tunnelling might not begin until early next year.

The pedestrian plaza in front of Britomart, and the streetscape in Albert Street between Customs and Wynyard Streets, is hoped to be ready by Christmas.

CRL construction work on Albert Street in January 2020

Double shifts meant work could extend until 10pm on weekdays, three hours longer than at present, at the Mt Eden and Karangahape Road sites, and by five hours a day to 7pm on Saturday.

“Operating two shifts on a site means more people working and more money in their pockets to go and spend locally,” said the chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney.

The company would take measures such as using more sound-deadening, and banning the use of flashing lights on machinery, to try to minimise the impact of the longer hours.

“We’re very mindful of our obligations under legally binding consent conditions and of the great support we get from our neighbours and the wider community. That hasn’t changed,' said Sweeney.

CRL Limited wanted the government to declare the project an essential service, to help get the 42 skilled staff, out of 13 foreign countries, through New Zealand's border restrictions.

“This project plays a key role in the economic recovery post-Covid-19. The scale of CRL means there is so much we can do right now and into the future to create much-needed jobs and to help get the economy pumping again,' he said.