The City Rail Link (CRL) completes a “missing link” in Auckland’s transport system and is the key project in Auckland Transport’s development of an integrated transport network to keep Auckland moving as the city grows by more than 700,000 people over the next 30 years.

Twin 3.4 kilometre-long tunnels up to 33 metres below the city centre are proposed, linking Britomart to the existing rail line near Eden Terrace. The proposed route runs below city streets as much as possible to reduce effects on property owners and city heritage buildings during construction and operation.

The construction of two new city centre stations (Aotea and Karangahape Rd), and a redeveloped station at Mt Eden, will give easier access to more parts of the city centre and major employment areas and will also double the number of people living within 30 minutes train travel of a city station.

Resolve Group was involved in the procurement of the Principal’s Technical Advisor commission. Construction is forecast to commence in 2015/16, although it remains unfunded, with opening currently forecast for 2020/21.

A range of options is being investigated by the New Zealand Transport Agency and Auckland Transport to deal with transport problems in the area between Onehunga, East Tamaki, Mangere, Otahuhu and the Airport; the second largest employment area after the city centre and a major freight hub. All options being considered are Multi-Modal and, as well as roading improvements, include investment in public transport and walking and cycling facilities. The programme seeks to improve journey times and journey reliability across the programme area in order to enhance business connectivity and support increased economic activity in the area. Still in its early stages, current work is on looking to develop options for improving connections into and out of the Onehunga-Penrose industrial area and improve bus journey time reliability between Mangere, Otahuhu, and Sylvia Park.

Michael Kwok acted as Project Controls Manager and assisted with providing the procurement strategy and scope. This role was subsequently enlarged to help develop the scope and tender documentation for a Professional Services Consultant to progress the development of Indicative and Detailed Business Cases for the responses required to address the immediate issues in the study area. In his role as advisor of the procurement process, Michael has produced Statement of Interest (SIA) documentation for shortlisting, been a member of the SIA Tender Evaluation Team (TET), produced Request for Proposal (RFP) documentation, and was a member of the RFP TET, including attendance at the tenderer interactive meetings. The evaluation process is now complete, with all tenderers having submitted in June, 2014.