Government pulls the pin on multi-billion dollar Auckland light rail project

Sunday, 14 January 2024

How Queen St may look if proposals to put in light rail and pedestrianise the street go ahead.

Auckland’s light rail has officially been tossed on the scrap heap by the National-led coalition government.

Transport minister Simeon Brown put the final nail in the coffin of the multi-billion dollar project on Sunday after a stop work notice was issued to the project last year after the government came to power.

“Scrapping the expensive project is part of the coalition agreements and we have taken swift action,” Brown said.

The project, which was expected to take up to 14,500 vehicles off the road, was intended to link a light rail system between the city centre and Māngere and Auckland Airport.

Work has begun on the Auckland light rail project, with the first bore hole dug.

It was first floated nearly a decade ago by Auckland Council and it was initially believed work could start by 2016.

But in 2017, the incoming Labour-led Government took over the project from the council, and left office two terms later with even the route and format not publicly revealed.

No more will be done on the project and Crown-owned Auckland Light Rail Limited has been instructed to immediately cease work on the project, and take the necessary steps to wind up the company, Brown said.

The project had caused much debate over the path it should take, especially in the south where both councillors and residents advocated the track should go through Māngere Town Centre to boost business and improve the area.

It was also posed as a possibility to be part of the most recent Labour government’s harbour crossing proposal.

“The previous government committed to building light rail to Mt Roskill within four years of being elected,” he said.

“After six years and over $228 million spent on the project, not a single metre of track has been delivered and congestion has only worsened in the city.”