The Eastern Line becomes part of a new line to west Auckland, and passengers will have to check where each train is going.
Trains from Panmure will run right through central Auckland and out to the west from Sunday 13 September, when the city’s new rail tunnels open.
The Eastern Line name goes the same weekend. Auckland Transport says the last Eastern Line trains run on Saturday 12 September.
From the Sunday the Eastern and Western lines join up as one line, the East West Line, running from Manukau to Swanson. Panmure and Sylvia Park are both on it.
“It will be possible to get a direct train from Panmure to Kingsland to go to Eden Park,” Auckland Councillor Andy Baker, who chairs the Council’s Transport and Infrastructure Delivery Committee, said.
Trains from Panmure and Sylvia Park will still stop at Waitemata Station, the downtown station formerly called Britomart. Auckland Transport says they will no longer finish there.
They will carry on through the new City Rail Link tunnel and out to the west.
Auckland Transport’s preview timetable shows how that works. A train leaves Panmure at 8.10am.
It reaches Te Waihorotiu, the new station in the city centre, at 8.30am. It gets to Kingsland at 8.41am with no change of trains.
For most Howick and Botany passengers the trip will still begin on a bus to Panmure. Auckland Transport says the busway from Botany is not due until 2027.
There is one new habit to learn. Not every train will run the full way from Manukau to Swanson, and trains will not always leave from the same platform.
Auckland Transport says people should read the sign on the front of the train to check where it is going.
Trains will also come more often. Outside the busy times they will run every 15 minutes instead of every 20.
At the busiest times, Auckland Transport says extra trains will start at Sylvia Park and run as far as Kingsland.
Before any of that happens, emergency crews will run the last of their practice drills inside the tunnels this week.
Auckland Transport and City Rail Link Ltd said on Monday that Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Police and Hato Hone St John would take part. Working with train and station staff, they will act out a fire on a train near Te Waihorotiu Station.
“The City Rail Link is unlike anything else in New Zealand’s rail network, so it has been vital for everyone involved to practise how we would respond in a range of different situations,” said Mark Lambert, Auckland Transport’s general manager of rail services.
The drills follow a testing programme that finished in July. City Rail Link Ltd said 15 live exercises were run, using more than 1,400 volunteer passengers, about 200 emergency staff and more than 50 vehicles.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown confirmed the 13 September opening date earlier this month.
