Train passenger numbers jump 38% on first weekday of Auckland's City Rail Link

Mon, 14th Sep 2026 (Today)

Auckland's City Rail Link has had its first full weekday in operation on Monday after a busy Sunday opening, and some businesses are already gearing up for opening an extra day in anticipation of more customers.

Auckland Transport estimates 32,000 people took the train as of Monday 11am - about 38 percent up from the previous Monday.

AT said the opening day on 13 September was the busiest Sunday on the rail network on record.

On Beresford Square outside the new Karanga-a-Hape Station, some were having a coffee at the nearest cafe, and others took a moment to stop and join a Waiata group singing Purea Nei and celebrating Te wiki o Te Reo Maori.

Bo Meng from the nearby bakery PieFee said in the past they didn't open on Sundays, but they opened yesterday to coincide with the CRL opening to the public.

He said Monday was also busier than usual.

"I've seen heaps of people walking around, and new faces, so yea pretty good," said Meng.

His colleague added that they're considering opening on future Sundays as they expect to get more customers coming through.

Bo Meng outside Piefee.

Charlotte Ryan from the Karangahape Road Business Association said she's seen lots of new faces over the past few days, particularly on Sunday.

"I think I expected lots of our friends or lots of the K'rd community to come out, and they were, but it was actually majority people that I don't think have been here in 10 or 15 years or even longer,

"People were commenting where they thought old buildings were, it was really really interesting to see that people had returned."

Ryan said she's optimistic about the future, but added that some businesses are still waiting to see how many customers they'd get before they make decisions around staffing.

Charlotte Ryan outside the Karanga-a-Hape station.

"Do you bring on those extra staff, how quickly are people going to start using this as a thoroughfare, you know it's like a social experiment," she said.

Karanga-a-Hape Station is an interchange station, with a bus connection to Westgate, and a transit point for people hopping from the West-East line to the South City line.

Ryan said she expects people might be open to having a wander around Karangahape Road, or getting a drink in between transits.

Meanwhile, the mid-city Te Waihorotiu station was touted to become New Zealand's busiest train station, but Shobhana Ranchhodji from Roma Blooms - which is mere metres from the Victoria St West entrance - said she's barely noticed any change in the amount of foot traffic.

Shop owner Shobhana Ranchhodji is facing severe disruption from the City Rail Link works on Albert St.

"Nothing's changed, no more people than what it was last Monday ... I say give us a month, it is what it is," she said.

Commuters cut down on travel times, concerns over app for some

Key features of the new network include the Eastern and Western lines merging into one, as well as faster trains.

On the 5.27am East West train from Swanson, Craig said he's glad he no longer needs to wait for 5-10 minutes at the New Market Station as he did in the past.

He estimates that he can save about 15-20 minutes on his journey into town.

Johnny Waititi used to take the train to Britomart from Ōtāhuhu, then bus to Symonds Street to the kura where he works as deputy principal.

Johnny Waititi used to take the train to Britomart from Otahuhu, then bus to Symonds Street to the Kura where he works as deputy principal. He says he's now able to take the train directly to Karanga-a-Hape station then walk to work - saving about 20 minutes on each trip. Waititi says it was an overall good experience this morning, but he says the service he'd originally planned to take did get cancelled - although he said he was able to quickly find out in advance through the Auckland Transport App. He says he is worried for older people who don't have the app and won't be able to get timely updates on cancellations.

He said he's now able to take the train directly to Karanga-a-Hape station then walk to work - saving about 20 minutes on each trip.

Waititi said overall, it was a good experience this morning, but he said the service he'd originally planned to take did get cancelled - although he said he was able to quickly find out in advance through the Auckland Transport app.

Waititi said he is worried for older people who don't have the app and won't be able to get timely updates on cancellations.

Auckland Transport told Morning Report there was one train fault this morning which has caused a few cancellations.

Another worker who was travelling on the East-West line, trying to get to Auckland City Hospital, said she's disappointed her train got cancelled and she's having to take a bus to get to Grafton.

A family living on Vincent Street in the CBD, whose two children go to school in New Lynn, are stoked to be saving time on their daily school runs.

CRL Karanga-a-Hape Station on open day, 15 August, 2026.

The family doesn't own a car, and mum of two Arrenda Maryzona used to spend four hours on the bus each day, with each return trip to the school taking two hours.

Now, she said it's just a three minute walk to the Karanga-a-Hape station, and she's saving about 15 minutes on each trip - adding up to an hour saved.