Sector : Local Authorities

The City Rail Link (CRL) is a passenger railway that runs under the Auckland central city. The link was opened to the public in September 2026, to public acclaim and great excitement! It has removed the bottleneck in the rail system at Waitemata Station and by providing new stations within the city centre, has opened up the potential for significant increases in the use of rail in Auckland.

Flow had been assisting Auckland Transport with the planning phase of the CRL since 2012.  Our transport assessments considered both the long term (beneficial) effects of the project, and the short term (adverse) effects during construction.  The long term effects included identifying the ability to dedicate more space within the Auckland City centre streets for walking and cycling, and for people to travel to/from and within the city centre by public transport.  The CRL has enabled some of the projects proposed by the City Centre Masterplan to be implemented.  These have included turning Quay Street into a “boulevard” with less space for general traffic, and turning Victoria Street into a “linear park”.

The assessment of the short term (adverse) effects during the construction phase identified that greater bus priority would be needed to allow accessibility to be maintained.  We also identified where essential local access for pedestrians and vehicles needed to be retained, next to temporary construction works.

Flow presented traffic and transport evidence to various Council Hearings between 2013 and 2015, and to the Environment Court Hearings in 2015 and 2017.  We continued to work on various matters along the route, right through to 2023.