Karanga-a-Hape railway station is an underground railway station under construction in Auckland, New Zealand. It is scheduled to open in 2026 as part of the City Rail Link project.[2] It will serve the Karangahape Road area with entrances on Beresford Square and Mercury Lane.[3][4][5] When it opens, Karanga-a-hape will be the deepest train station in New Zealand,[6] reaching 33 metres down[7] and featuring 150 metre long platforms. Auckland Council estimates up to 1,400 people an hour will use the station at peak times.
History
Proposals for a link between downtown Auckland and central suburb train routes have been around since the 1920s, but the first proposal involving a station on Karangahape Road came in 2003.[8] Auckland Council proposed an underground line running between Britomart and Maungawhau-Mount Eden station, including three new stations at Aotea Square, Karangahape Road, and the top of Symonds Street.
Demolition work for the Mercury Lane site began on 4 November 2019, taking out the prominent Mercury Plaza foodcourt and some surrounding buildings. Tunneling from Mount Eden station to Karanga-a-hape station began on 26 April 2022, with the Dame Whina Cooper Herrenknecht TBM breaking through on 15 July 2022.[9]
In March 2023, the station was officially renamed from Karangahape station to Karanga-a-Hape station, after the four City Rail Link stations were gifted te reo Maori names by the project's Mana Whenua Forum.[10]
In November 2023, Auckland Transport announced it would be pedestrianising the upper portion of Mercury Lane in order to improve accessibility.[11]
^Lowrie, Matt (26 October 2022). "A visit to Karanga-a-hape". Greater Auckland. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
