Tomorrow the Mayor and government ministers will find out just how much more the City Rail Link will cost and how much longer it will take to deliver. While they’re discovering that, it would pay for them to cast their minds to what impacts the factors behind those changes will have on Auckland’s *other* big rail project – light rail – and whether now is the time to change course for a cheaper and better alternative.
For example, City Rail Link noted last week that there has been severe price escalation since 2020 and I wonder how much, if at all that’s been factored into Light Rail’s costs. From what I can tell, they assume a 2 per cent annual inflation rate, yet we’re currently running at over 7 per cent.
Mayor Wayne Brown has already been fairly critical of the light rail project so far, but it does seem he’s open if it can be shown to be sensible.
