Executive Report
CITY RAIL LINK LIMITED ANNUAL REPORT 2019 - 2020
Foreword City Rail Link Limited’s 2019-2020 Annual Report reflects a year of significant progress. Covid-19’s impact on the City Rail
This financial year the Link Alliance
sites to enable the project to regain
Link, the infrastructure industry
brought together a team of 1200
construction momentum.
and wider New Zealand should
from all over the world; obtained
not overshadow what has been a
crucial planning consents; relocated
huge and extraordinary year for New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project. Significantly, a project whose scale and complexity has not been seen in
underground utilities to clear the way for construction; and met tight deadlines for work start-ups at its three construction sites. Importantly, the transfer of key CRL Ltd staff into the Link Alliance team was completed
New Zealand demonstrated it could
successfully. The positive integration
respond with agility and flexibility to
of different working cultures will be a
the pandemic. It was able to maintain
significant contribution to meeting the
productivity and, after the lockdown,
challenges ahead.
make an immediate contribution to
All essential building blocks and
the country’s economic revival. Notwithstanding this, the pandemic
developments for a successful project were well in place before the
continues to have an ongoing impact
pandemic.
on the project - particularly due to
CRL was, like most of New Zealand’s
the current restrictions on skilled
infrastructure projects, affected
workers entering the country.
by efforts to contain Covid-19.
Additional costs and project delays
The nationwide lockdown meant all
are expected, however these cannot
CRL construction work stopped for
yet be determined.
five weeks. The lockdown did impact on
Developments since July 2019 were both rapid and agile and total project spend reached almost $1.3bn.
construction timetables but work still pushed ahead with critical tasks completed from home. This included building consents, designs, planning
CRL Ltd is making a more detailed evaluation of Covid-19’s long term impact on timings and costs. The outcome will depend on the health of the economy, how project suppliers are faring, and on international efforts to curb the virus and ongoing impacts of border restrictions. The full impacts will not be known until at least January 2021, assuming no resurgence of the virus in New Zealand. The year began positively when completion of the C6 contract for a stormwater drain diversion cleared the way for significant works at Mt Eden. The first stage of the C3 contract included removing around 30 commercial buildings and the upcoming closure of Mt Eden Station for two big pieces of work: construction of the southern portal retaining wall ahead of the project’s tunnel boring machine’s arrival later this year, and building the trench to connect CRL with the wider Auckland rail network.
City Rail Link Limited’s (CRL Ltd) new
and revision of the construction
Work is also well underway on C3’s
year began with the signing of the
programme to be delivered.
construction of the Karangahape and
Project Alliance Agreement with the
Foundations were laid for the project
Aotea Stations in central Auckland.
Link Alliance to deliver the substantive
to come out of the re-start blocks
C3 contract. The alliance will complete
quickly when the lockdown was lifted.
While the C3 programme continues
the tunnels from Mt Eden into
Even with a strong restart, the project
line is in sight for the two “foundation”
central Auckland, build the Aotea and
to accelerate, the construction finish
has needed to adapt further to meet
contracts – C1 (Britomart Station and
Karangahape underground stations,
the challenges of working in a Covid-19
Lower Queen Street) and C2 (the lower
and redevelop the existing station
environment. The Link Alliance
end of Albert Street between Customs
at Mt Eden.
introduced longer working hours at its
and Wyndham Streets).
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