{"id":18482,"date":"2026-09-11T04:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18482"},"modified":"2026-09-11T04:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:44:16","slug":"what-will-and-wont-change-with-the-crl-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18482","title":{"rendered":"What will and won’t change with the CRL opening"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Auckland is days away from its brand-new train network, but what exactly will that mean for fares, timetables and train lines?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The\u00a0opening of the City Rail Link<\/a>\u00a0on 13 September has been a long time coming for the city, and will bring with it changes to current train lines and timetables.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But not everything is changing with fares and zones that help determine the cost of all public transport trips, remaining the same.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"The<\/div>
The new lines as part of the CRL opening.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A revamp of the train lines<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Aside from the three new underground stations in the CBD, one of the biggest changes will be that current lines will be merged or extended.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

What we now know as the Eastern and Western lines will become one, forming the East-West (E-W) line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"The<\/div>
The new East-West line.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This will span from Manukau to Swanson and stop at Waitemata as well as the three new stations,\u00a0Karanga-a-hape<\/a>, Te Waihorotiu and\u00a0Maungawhau.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Southern line will soon become the South City (S-C) line, running from Pukekoe to the CBD.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This line will do a loop around central Auckland, passing through Newmarket, Grafton, Karanga-a-hape, Te Waihorotiu and Waitemata before finishing in Newmarket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"The<\/div>
The new South-City line.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Onehunga line will no longer end in Newmarket and will instead be extended to Henderson, becoming the Onehunga West (O-W) line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This line doesn’t go through central Auckland like the other two lines, but has several transfer stations including Newmarket and Maungawhau.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"The<\/div>
The new Onehunga-West line.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

What will this mean for timetables?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Timetables will change for each new line and frequency will be different for peak and off-peak times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The South City line will run from every ten minutes during peak times and every 15 minutes during off-peak.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

According to the AT website peak hours are set to be between 7am to 9am and 4pm to 7pm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

It also stated that during peak hours some trains on the South City line would finish the journey at Waitemat\u0101 Station instead of Newmarket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Other lines might also end the trip at a different line, so passengers were advised to check what platform the next train departs from upon arriving at the station.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The East-West line is scheduled every 10 minutes during peak hours and every 20 minutes during off-peak hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Onehunga West line is the only one set to always arrive every 30 minutes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

However, the entire line from Onehunga to Henderson will only run between 9am to 3pm and after 7pm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Outside these hours, trains will run between Onehunga and Maungawhau only.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

What will I pay and how long will my trips be?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Essentially fares are all still the same.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This means overall cost for bus and train trips will be measured by the nine fare zones across Auckland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Auckland<\/div>
Auckland Transport bus and train fare zones.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The amount you pay will still be determined by where you are starting and ending your trip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Auckland<\/div>
Auckland Transport bus and train fares will remain the same.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The biggest differences will be in trip lengths and options.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

According to AT’s Journey Planner, going from New Lynn station to Waitemata at around 8am on a weekday will still be $4.90 but will be a 27-minute ride on the E-W line instead of 38-minutes on the West line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

An AT spokesperson noted that timings are rounded up by the Journey Planner app and some journeys may have an extra minute allotted as more trains could mean more congestion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/div>
A trip from New Lynn to Waitemata station before and after the CRL opens.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Having three new stations in the city fare zone which include Te Waihorotiu, Karanga-a-Hape and Maungawhau, will also mean a variation in trip lengths and less bus transfers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Going from New Lynn to Te Waihorotiu station, for example, will still cost $4.90 but will be a 24 minute ride on the East-West line instead of 40 minutes on the West line with a transfer to the 209 bus at Kingsland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/div>
A trip from New Lynn to Te Waihoroutiu station before and after the CRL opens.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

A trip from Panmure to the new Karanga-a-Hape station on a weekday morning would have been a 37-minute ride on the East line then a transfer to the 18 bus near Britomart, with a total of $4.90.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

From Sunday it will cost the same but take 25 minutes on the East-West line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/div>
A trip from Panmure to Karanga-a-Hape station before and after the CRL opens.<\/p>\n

Auckland Transport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But not all trips will be technically faster, with the ride from Panmure to Waitemata gaining around three minutes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Taking the East line from Panmure station to Waitemata at around 8:30am currently takes 16 minutes but will take 19 minutes with the East-West Line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Panmure<\/div>
Panmure to Waitemata before and after the CRL opening.<\/p>\n

AT\/Screenshot<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

An AT spokesperson said this can be explained by several factors including the “dwell time” at Waitemat\u0101 before it continues to Te Waihorotiu and beyond, which is not a factor in the pre-CRL lines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

“Some journeys at busy times have one extra minute timetabled to allow for increased congestion as there will be more trains operating than there are today,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

“Customers will have a similar journey from eastern train stations to Waitemat\u0101, with more frequent trains.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The new city zone stations will also mean less reliance on buses to get around the central regions, meaning you’re also not at the mercy of traffic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Getting from Waitemata to Karanga-a-Hape stations at 8:30am on a weekday is currently a 14-minute trip on the 18 or 11w buses, costing $3. It will soon cost the same but take 10 minutes on the East-West or South-City line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

rnz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Auckland is days away from its brand-new train network, but what exactly will that mean for fares, timetables and train lines? The\u00a0opening of the City Rail Link\u00a0on 13 September has been a long time coming for the city, and will bring with it changes to current train lines and timetables. But not everything is changing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18484,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18482\/revisions\/18484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}