City Rail Link review reveals NZ’s expertise shortage

In an interim review looking at lessons learned from the project, the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, found the issue was illustrated by how the governance and oversight of the project needed to continually evolve and develop “workarounds” for the structures originally agreed.

“This was time consuming and created additional pressure on teams that needed to be focused on delivery,” said Te Waihanga delivery general manager Blake Lepper.

The review, led by Graeme Joyce and Peter Spies, also queried why more than NZ$1bn of essential upgrades were omitted from the business case and recommended future business cases be reviewed when expectations, scope or costs changed. It also emphasised the need for stronger procurement planning, in light of the challenges involved in working with local and international contractors.

“It is important to reflect on what we have learnt so far from this project, particularly around business case processes, as we contemplate a significant number of new major transport investments,” said Lepper.

“There is no doubt the City Rail Link will be a tremendous asset for Auckland City, delivering significant travel time, safety and urban intensification benefits. However, it is projected to cost more than double what was estimated in 2015, with many billions more to be spent across the Auckland rail network in years to come to realise the full design capacity of the project.”

The need to build the capability of major project leaders was a recommendation in the New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy released in 2022 and Te Waihanga is working on a programme to address the issue.

CRL is New Zealand’s biggest infrastructure investment to date and the country’s first large-scale integrated transport-urban development project. It comprises a 3.45km twin tunnel underground rail link up to 42m below Auckland city centre.

Link Alliance, a consortium of City Rail Link Ltd, Vinci Construction Grands Projets, Downer NZ, Soletanche Bachy International NZ, WSP NZ, Aecom New Zealand, and Tonkin + Taylor, is using three tunnelling methods on the project. The TBM made the final breakthrough on the twin tunnels in September last year, and these connect to nearly 1km of cut and cover tunnels. The SCL mined section was completed in June.