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Maungawhau Station Newsletter

Maungawhau Station Newsletter
Maungawhau Station Newsletter - December 2025
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17 December 2025
Looking back, the tunnel boring machine ‘Dame Whina Cooper’, at the 32-metre deep tunnel portal, getting ready for her first journey underground in 2022. 

Kia ora neighbour,

It is with excitement and a sense of nostalgia that we wish you the best for the holidays, the new year and indeed, for always. As we celebrate the success of the years’ past, we also close the construction chapter of the project. As we say good-bye, we invite you to continue the journey with Auckland Transport, who will take the reins of the community aspects of the project into its operational future.  

2025 has been an incredible one for us here at the station. Focused on urban realm completion and testing and commissioning the multitude of parts that have been built into the project, each piecing together, interlocking like cogs on a wheel and meshing into bigger and bigger cogs and systems. This work caps the incredible innovation and construction of the project overall.  

Our relationships in the community give us reason to be joyful this season, and to be thankful. This week we celebrated with our Community Liaison Group. This group of community representatives has guided us for the past six years. They have helped to shape the project and they have held us to account. We could not have asked to work with a more dedicated and engaged group of people. 

In this last newsletter, we salute our readers too. We have received an amazing amount of feedback over the years. We will miss our devoted train buffs, our fearless critics and everyone who has taken the time to read our stories. Thank you for being on board the CRL through construction. Ka kite friends and neighbours.

With our Link Alliance newsletters now coming to a close, Auckland Transport will be providing ongoing project updates to station communities and Aucklanders via their channels. Use the link below to signup to AT’s Rail network update newsletter, and follow @Auckland Transport on social media for future updates about the City Rail Link.  (Note you will need to sign-in or create a new AT account).  

https://at.govt.nz/myat/communication-preferences 
Ngā mihi,   
The Maungawhau Station team.
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2025 in pictures
Ruru Lane was completed running adjacent to the western line tracks from the station to Mt Eden Road.
Major landscape works across the Maungawhau Station site were completed this year making the site ready for future development.
53 glass lava triangles representing the 53 volcanic cones of Tamaki Makaurau are installed on the spectacular waterwall.
The Maungawhau mural is decommissioned on Mt Eden Rd and the old life church site is cleared to make space for future development.
Inside the station 'back-of-house' rooms are readied for operations that will have oversight of the train network and security. 
Concrete is poured in patterns on the plaza, and along Ruru Lane. These landscaping design features create a stunning entrance to the equally impressive station building. Seats sit under the canopies creating spaces for people to rest and relax.
The CRL platforms were completed in 2025 with fences removed in October to enable full testing of trains in a future use environment. Passengers will soon transform this image. 
Directional and information signage is installed throughout the buidlings and on the platforms in preparation for station opening.  Real-time information displays are active throughout the station. The stairs and walkways remain covered and protected for opening day.
Fences remain in place on the completed platform until it is no longer deemed a construction site. Western line trains continue to run through the station giving passengers a first hand view of the new platforms. 
Flower and Shaddock were the final streets to be paved in the urban realm following utility relocations and upgrades, including the movement of the massive Huia 2 watermain.
Looking at the western grade separation, down into the trench, and towards the scissors from the Fenton Street bridge, we see trains running above and below ground (in the trench) as test trains make ready systems and crew for full operations, and the western line operates as usual.
Planting Pohutakawas trees marked the final step in the urban realm at the station, complementing wooden benches, concrete patterns and the basalt on and around the station. Many of the basalt features above ground were taken from below the earth at this very site during earthworks. 
Join us in celebrating the achievements across all of our stations in 2025 - in video too!   .
The year past heralded the end of the physical construction of the station and station facilities. One final extraordinary year of construction capping off equally awe-inspiring years’ past. Let's look back over the years that have led to this incredible point in time.

Highlights over the years 2019 to 2024 
Mined tunnels are created to connect to the bored tunnels at the portal, and train movement from east to central – tricky work while trains are still running on the western line. March 2021
The Life Church was relocated soon after this picture to its Normanby Road location. The building on the left was standing when Link Alliance staff offices were operating from it December 2020, and gone when workers returned after the holiday break. July 2020
A little further back it is easy to see how the western line tracks have been separated to allow trains from the east to enter the trench into the mined tunnel, then traverse on through the bored tunnels to the city. August 2021
Porters Ave Bridge is transported through the streets of Auckland from Otahuhu to Maungawhau. A 5-hour journey in the middle of the night with full road closures required to allow the behemoth to navigate the full width of Auckland’s avenues. March 2022 
An incredible aerial image of Maungawhau Station showing the infrastructure required to support the TBM including the shipping container belt-tower, the spoil shed and the road network for removing up to 150 trucks of spoil a day. The western line overpass is built and waiting for a station to connect with. This image is a rare view of the Ruru Bridge looking like a bridge and the iconic bentonite silos in one frame. January 2022
Looking south toward Maungawhau (Mt Eden), the spoil shed is under construction, digging under Mt Eden Rd has begun, the spoil shed is being built in preparation for the first of two tunnel drives. February 2021
Inside the tunnels, brackets are installed and so is ventilation but train tracks are still a while away. This tunnel has been bored by tunnel boring machine, laying concrete slabs along the circumference as she makes her way through the tunnel. April 2023
A closer look at the tunnel portal at peak construction, and peak ingenuity, with crews managing the complexity of building multiple structures in a small space across multiple levels going 32 metres down. July 2023
86 metre long Fenton Street Bridge was installed in a massive single lift by a 500-tonne crane, connecting Fenton and Ngahura Streets over the rail lines. In this picture, the bridge is being guided into place over the CRL platform trench. December 2023
Inside the station building with waterwall panel in place, but still a level up to build along with walls, ceiling and skylight, and front of house services still to come in the following years. January 2023
The Maungawhau Station sign is installed and sits majestically over the plaza. December 2024
Are there more highlights of these years? Literally dozens. Check out the online stories and videos of the CRL construction online. There is so much to see. Enjoy 

Update on Maungawhau Station development sites 

Auckland Council, Auckland Transport, and City Rail Link Ltd are continuing to work together to maximise opportunities for the development sites that have been enabled by the City Rail Link (CRL) project – both for the short, medium and long term. This month we are pleased to provide an update on this work, including progress on an interim activation plan. Since our last update in August, we’ve continued to work with Uptown Business Association and other key stakeholders to progress plans to ensure the site is welcoming, safe, and has a quality sense of place before the CRL station opens. Click here to read the latest update.  

Update to Uptown community - Dec 2025.pdf

Basque Park 2026 events

Basque Park was the place to be last Saturday – thanks to the first of three Basque Park Summer Series events. Petzone, bubbles, live music, artisan food and gifts were on offer – packaged up with plenty of picnic, sunshine and relaxing.  

Next up in the Basque Park Summer Series will be Sat 21 February.  

Follow on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BasqueParkSS)  and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/basque_park_ss/).   

Sign up for AT updates ahead of the CRL opening

In the lead up to the CRL officially opening in the second half of 2026, Auckland Transport and Auckland Council are working with local organisations and members within our Uptown community to develop transitional activations for the site around the new Maungawhau Station.  

To keep up to date with these plans and get involved, sign up here to receive all the Maungawhau updates, direct from the Auckland Transport team.

There’ll be a lot happening ahead of the City Rail Link opening - you won’t want to miss out on any of it!  Maungawhau Station development site - community updates >  
Speakers on posts along the western line platform. 
Every month we share a new construction word you may have heard, or not. This month we feature PAVA or Public Address and Voice Alarm System. 

PAVA has been tested at Maungawhau Station over the past month and while being successful in terms of completing tests, our neighbours will tell you it’s loud.  

For this our final jargon buster we take the opportunity to tell you about why the PAVA system has to be tested, why it has been tested loudly, and about how future testing will be more neighbourhood friendly. 

Why testing? 

The PAVA system has 2 key roles: 

  • Daily routine announcements,  
  • Life saving emergency messages. 

NZ Safety regulations and international standards define how well the system needs to perform (loudness, clarity of messages, coverage across the stations). These criteria must be achieved.  

These regulations also establish the way the PAVA system is tested to verify that it meets these technical criteria. 

Why so loud?  

  • The noise level during testing is set at 85dBA on the platform. It is loud but necessary to confirm the system is capable of such levels for special circumstances. It is not intended to be the day-to-day level. 
  • The “spooky” sound testing is specifically designed to test for clarity of speech (intelligibility). 

These two elements have been tested, and we do not expect further “loud spooky” tests at night. 

To further reduce noise in the community, the following steps have been taken: 

  1. The loudspeakers on the NAL outdoor platform are being rotated to reduce the noise projection to residential buildings. They will focus on the platform. 
  2. The number of measurements during tests is being reduced, to target a reduction by half of the time taken for testing. 
  3. Remaining “loud testing” will be undertaken during day-time.
 Happy Holidays!
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Maungawhau Station Newsletter - June 2024