Overview

In June 2026, Link Alliance and City Rail Link Limited achieved practical completion of the City Rail Link (CRL) project, handing over the completed infrastructure to Auckland Transport and KiwiRail for operations. The CRL was officially opened on 11 September 2026, with passenger services commencing on 13 September 2026.

The City Rail Link is New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project and has transformed Auckland’s rail network by converting Britomart (Waitematā Station) from a terminus into a through-station, significantly improving network capacity, connectivity, and travel times.

The project includes:

• Twin 3.45 km rail tunnels constructed up to 42 m below ground between Waitematā and Maungawhau Stations.
•  Two new underground stations: Te Waihorotiu Station in midtown Auckland and Karanga-a-Hape Station, with entrances at Mercury Lane and Beresford Square.
• Redevelopment of Waitematā Station into a two-way through station.
• Redevelopment of Maungawhau Station, including the new CRL connection and a modern station building.
• Wider rail network upgrades, including improvements at The Strand, Ōtāhuhu, Henderson, and Newmarket.
• Provision for longer nine-car electric trains.
• Creation of enhanced public spaces and improved urban amenity throughout the city centre.
• All the railway and station systems, testing and commissioning.

Join us for an insightful presentation covering both the design and construction of this landmark underground rail project.  Industry experts from AECOM and Vinci Construction Grands Projets will share the key technical challenges, innovations, lessons learned, and success stories that contributed to the delivery of one of New Zealand’s most significant tunnelling and infrastructure projects.

This session will conclude with a Q&A discussion, providing attendees with the opportunity to engage directly with project leaders involved in the design and construction of the CRL.

In addition to the technical presentation, this event will include the Australian Tunnelling Society (ATS) NSW Chapter Annual General Meeting, where members will reflect on the chapter’s activities throughout 2026 and discuss priorities and plans for 2027.

This event is produced by Australian Tunneling Society.

Who should attend?

This is suited to engineers interested in the design of tunnels and delivery of major underground infrastructure projects.

Learning outcomes

In this presentation, you will learn:

• How key geotechnical, structural and construction challenges were identified and addressed during delivery of the City Rail Link.
• How multidisciplinary design and construction teams integrated technical requirements across a complex underground rail project.
• How tunnelling and construction methodologies were applied to minimise impacts within a dense urban environment.
• How lessons learned from the City Rail Link can inform future tunnelling and underground infrastructure projects.

Program

In-person:

5.30 pm AEDT – Welcome

6.00 pm AEDT – ATS NSW Annual General Meeting Presentation

6.10 pm AEDT – Technical Presentation

7.00 pm AEDT – Q&A

7.15 pm AEDT – Networking

8.00 pm AEDT- Event concludes

Speakers

Francois Dudouit

Project Director, Vinci Construction Grands Projets

Francois is a Project Director with VINCI Construction Grands Projets, bringing more than 40 years of international construction experience, primarily in the delivery of major underground rail infrastructure projects. His career spans major projects in France (Villejust Tunnels), Denmark (Storebælt Fixed Link), Hong Kong, the Netherlands (Betuweroute), Sweden, and New Zealand. Between 2003 and 2018, Francois held senior leadership roles on complex tunnelling projects. He was initially responsible for construction delivery on the Hallandsås Tunnel Project in Sweden, before leading the SCL1103 and SCL1122 contracts for the Shatin to Central Link, a major extension of Hong Kong’s MTR network. Then he served as Project Director for the Link Alliance, delivering the turnkey Auckland’s City Rail Link.

Geoff Charlesworth

Industry Director – Ground Engineering & Tunnelling, AECOM Australia

Geoff has over forty years of experience in mining and civil engineering in Australasia, Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East. He is AECOM’s ANZ Technical Practice Leader for Tunnels, and has successfully completed leadership and design roles for schemes involving metro-rail, high-speed rail, highway, water conveyance, cable tunnels, pumped storage, mining infrastructure, bridges and building works.

 

Arun Sarathchandran

Principal Technical Engineer – Ground Engineering & Tunnelling, AECOM Australia

Arun is a Geotechnical and Tunnel Engineer with over 16 years of experience in tunnel design, numerical modelling, geotechnical analysis, and construction support. He has worked on major tunnelling and infrastructure projects in Sydney and internationally, specialising in tunnel support design and underground works. He is an expert user of Plaxis and Rocscience packages to develop tunnel support design solutions.

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