Crucial few days ahead for Auckland’s City Rail Link

Monday, 2 December 2024

A mistakenly released report revealed there are concerns about the progress of the City Rail Link.

The report is part of the notes for an Audit and Risk Committee meeting on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Auckland Transport and KiwiRail will give updates on how the network is getting ready for the opening.

A big week looms for Auckland’s City Rail Link, with two council meetings set to reveal whether the infrastructure around it will be ready for a 2026 opening.

Last week, a report from City Rail Link Ltd (CRL) revealed a lack of confidence in CRL’s builders, the Link Alliance, which is being led by French contractor Vinci Construction Grand Projets.

It also said there was a 50% chance the delivery date for the project of November 2025 will be achieved. Once it is delivered, it will take several months for Auckland Transport to have it operational.

This report from CRL will be discussed at Auckland Council’s Audit and Risk Committee meeting on Tuesday. The report was mistakenly published online along with the meeting’s agenda and subsequently taken down.

The public and media are barred from attending this part of the meeting on the grounds of ongoing commercial negotiations, but the report’s inadvertent release has raised fresh concerns over whether there will be another delay to the $5.5 billion project.

Councillor John Watson is deputy chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and said there had been mixed messages about whether the project was on target.

“There is contradictory information coming through,” Watson said.

“On the one hand, you have a number of personnel either engaged with council or CRL saying the projects are still predicted to be on time and on budget.

“But also concerns are being expressed that there are reviews and there’s the French company flying over.”

Watson said councillors had been informed that this final stage of the City Rail Link project, where there is testing and integration into the rest of the network, would be the most challenging.

Although senior executives from Vinci are arriving from France on December 12, CRL said there is nothing exceptional about this and Watson hasn’t seen any evidence to suggest that the project is in trouble.

“My reading of it is that these reviews and meetings seem to be ongoing, and as yet, I haven’t seen anything concrete to suggest that things might be off track, pardon the pun,” he said.

“At the same time, you’ve got to look at the backdrop to the project, which has been one of pretty dramatically escalating costs at various stages, certainly from when it first started, to where we are now. From $2.4 billion to $5.5 billion.

“So it’s an uncertain time, but I’m just going on what some of the key personnel are saying.”

On Thursday at a Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meeting, Auckland Transport and KiwiRail will give updates on how the network is getting ready for CRL.

Councillor Andy Baker is chair of that committee and said he expects a clear direction will be given to those involved to make sure the CRL project is on target.

“I would expect in that meeting there is a fairly firm instruction given to CRL and those involved, that they need to get things on track and if that requires a stepping up of the game, in terms of what they’re doing and when they're doing it, they’re going to get it done,” Baker said.

Baker acknowledged the CRL is reaching a pivotal stage, but said any further delays or extra costs won’t go down well.

“Obviously, if there’s any cost and time blow out, that’s not ideal,” he said.

“But Patrick (Brockie, CRL chief executive) has made it fairly clear that this is the danger time, in terms of the last little push to the completion.

“I’m just hoping that they are working really hard to keep costs and time online, because it’s a worry if it goes over time and too much over the budget, there will be some hell to pay I’d imagine.”

Meanwhile, Sam Warren from the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance said there should be greater transparency over what’s going on with the CRL.

“It shouldn’t take human error to keep the public informed. If this massive undertaking is in danger of blowing out further, it’s well within the public’s interest to know,” Warren said.

“We’re calling for greater transparency from City Rail Link Ltd to release any and all critical information surrounding setbacks, delays and cost overruns, so that officials and contractors involved can be held accountable.”

When contacted on Monday, City Rail Link Ltd said they had nothing to add from their statement to Stuff at the weekend, where they said this latest report was standard procedure from them.

“City Rail Link Ltd regularly assesses and reports on project-related risk to its sponsors as the funders and future owners of the City Rail Link,” the statement said.

“This is standard practice on projects of this nature and consistent with good governance.”