What you need to know
The Auckland Light Rail project involved a plan to expand Auckland’s mass transit system through a new light rail line from Auckland’s centre to the airport. The project was first announced in 2017 and cancelled in December 2023
Auckland Transport Alignment Project
See an overview of all Auckland Light Rail documents under 'More Information'
The work to date
Proactive release 14 June 2024
These documents were proactively released on 14 June 2024.
These documents have been proactively released by the Ministry of Transport alongside other Auckland Light Rail Business Case documents. It should be noted that the Auckland Light Rail project was cancelled and will not be progressing in any form. This cancellation occurred before the completion of the Detailed Business Case (of which this document forms a part). This document does not, therefore, represent government policy. This document must not be relied on in any way or treated as a finished product. A complete peer review process has not been undertaken of this document, and any analysis or conclusions contained in this document may contain errors and omissions. The Ministry accepts no responsibility for the consequences of this document being relied upon by any other party, or being used for any other purpose, or containing any error or omission.
Cancellation of Auckland Light Rail Limited
The Government has cancelled the Auckland Light Rail project. Cancelling the project was one of the actions in the Government’s 100-day plan released on 29 November 2023.
Read the Beehive media release.
Establishment of Auckland Light Rail Limited
Auckland Light Rail Limited (ALR Ltd) has now been established as a Crown Entity Company to deliver the detailed planning and final business case of Auckland Light Rail.
Reporting back on the detailed planning phase
Auckland Light Rail Sponsoring Ministers took a paper through Cabinet to update on progress being made in implementing the governance arragements agreed by Cabinet in December 2021, the work to initiate the next stage of business case assessment, progress in aligning ALR with other investments in Auckland, and other policy and delivery workstreams.
Government announced next steps for CC2M project
In March 2021, the Minister announced the next steps for the City Centre to Māngere (CC2M) project. This announcement followed months of collaborative work between the Ministry, the Treasury and other central and local government agencies to inform the Government’s decision.
Options for the public service delivery model being developed
In June 2020, Cabinet directed us, together with Treasury, to build on the previous work. With support from ATAP agencies, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, we are developing options for the public service delivery of CC2M that could be presented to the new Government following the 2020 general election.
Cabinet process to select preferred delivery partner for CC2M facilitated
Ministers considered advice on the selection of a preferred delivery partner for CC2M and engaged in cross-party discussions.
Proposals from Waka Kotahi and NZ Infra evaluated
Waka Kotahi and NZ Infra submitted their proposals to us on 29 November 2019. We coordinated a confidential evaluation process through which both proposals were deemed credible. In February 2020, the Secretary for Transport provided advice to the Minister of Transport on the appointment of the preferred delivery partner.
NZ Infra unsolicited bid to deliver CC2M received
Waka Kotahi was developing a business case for CC2M when in April 2018 NZ Infra, a joint venture between the New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Canadian institutional investors CDPQ Infra, submitted an unsolicited bid to deliver CC2M. This is the point at which we became involved in the project.
Coordinated a process to choose a preferred delivery partner for CC2M
In June 2019, Cabinet directed us to run a parallel process, also known as the twin-track process, with Waka Kotahi and NZ Infra so their options for developing CC2M could be evaluated against a common set of criteria and the Government could choose a preferred delivery partner.