First week of Auckland’s City Rail Link busiest on record, Warriors match first test

Auckland trains had their busiest week in the first seven days of the City Rail Link’s operations, leaping 62% compared to the previous week.

There were 528,007 train boardings between September 13-19, beating the previous seven-day record of 504,380 set in March 2019 by more than 23,000.

“The CRL is one of the most significant transport investments in New Zealand’s history, and it’s fantastic to see Aucklanders getting on board in such huge numbers after waiting years for its arrival,” Transport Minister Chris Bishop said.

“The week before the CRL opened, Auckland’s rail network recorded 325,203 boardings. One week later, patronage was up by around 62%.”

He said people were eager to try the new network on opening day with early risers taking the first train at 4.57am from Ōtāhuhu.

“By the end of opening day, 56,757 train boardings had been recorded.”