Auckland’s City Rail Link (CRL) is now open and for the team at Auckland One Rail, it’s meant a record-breaking week as the city rushed to use the improved metro rail network. In the first seven days of the CRL opening, more than 528,000 train boardings were recorded – beating the previous record of 504,380 set in March 2019, making it the busiest week ever on the network.
Auckland One Rail CEO Martin Kearney says, “Our teams are working with smiles on their faces and are excited to see how many people are using trains and enjoying new stations. I am so proud of how our teams have adapted to make the CRL a huge success.”
But what did it take for Auckland One Rail to get to this point?
On each day across the first week, we had around 84 trains in service, and up to 200 train drivers, 150 train managers, 100+ customer service staff and ambassadors and 100+ security staff on duty to deliver a successful and widely used service.
During the week, our trains travelled just over 235,678 kms – around 61% more than before the CRL and just over half the distance to the moon.
And long before the first passenger travelled through the CRL, Auckland One Rail grew our staff by around 20%, bringing our team to more than 830 people. Around 280 drivers, 215 train managers and more than 100 station customer service team members completed training and readiness activities for Auckland’s transformed rail network, alongside months of operational testing and emergency exercises.
The record-breaking first week shows the planning and training that went into delivering Auckland’s transformed rail network. From growing the team to extensive operational testing, Auckland One Rail has been at the heart of the CRL launch. With more trains, more services and more Aucklanders choosing rail than ever before, the strong start signals a new era for public transport in the city and shows the vital role our teams play in keeping Auckland moving.
