A cost blowout on the disruptive rebuilding of track foundations under Auckland’s rail network has required extra funding, and left open questions about how and when the final stages will be done.
Waka Kotahi has had to top-up by $75 million, the $330 million Rail Network Rebuild, but that still won’t be enough to complete the final stages due over the next two years.
KiwiRail said the extra funding will allow it to go beyond completing on time stage 2, in which the track foundations under the closed Eastern Line are being replaced.
The impact of more frequent services from 2026 triggered the three-year project to replace the rock foundations up to a metre below the tracks themselves, across the entire network, prompting a second round of lengthy closures which began in 2020.
