Aucklanders have continued to make the most of the city’s new rail network this morning as commuters and students travelled on through the City Rail Link to work, school or university for the first time.
Early data shows Aucklanders have travelled onboard Auckland Transport’s trains 25% more already today than by this time last Monday. By 9am, sensors onboard AT’s trains had picked up about 24,000 people getting onboard, compared with 19,000 last Monday.
Train services have been running smoothly this morning. The first train service was a South-City Line train which departed Pukekohe at 5.06am and arrived at Karanga-a-Hape at 6.15am.
So far today our trains have run at a punctuality rate of 99%, which measures how many trains arrive at their destination within five minutes of the scheduled time.
To help Aucklanders get used to their new train network, Auckland Transport has had teams based at stations across the network, with a particular focus on Karanga-a-Hape and Maungawhau stations to support passengers transferring from the East-West to the South-City or Onehunga-West lines.
Sunday 13 September: the day Aucklanders rode the train
Early estimates suggest yesterday was the busiest ever Sunday on Auckland’s rail network. about 70,000 people were recorded stepping through the doors of Auckland’s trains throughout the day – at least three times more than the previous Sunday.
This data suggests there were a lot of Aucklanders getting on and off trains to experience the City Rail Link and new stations, rather than travelling from A to B. It was great to see so many people on the network.
Karanga-a-Hape was the busiest new train station, followed by Te Waihorotiu and Maungawhau. Waitematā Station was also busy throughout the day and was a popular point for people to start and finish their train adventures.
Next media standup at 3pm
AT, KiwiRail and Auckland One Rail spokespeople will be available to provide an update on the day’s train services and to answer your questions at 3pm today. The stand-up will take place inside Te Waihorotiu Station at the Victoria Street end.
