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Speaker 1: As far as conditions go before a grand opening, you

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Speaker 1: couldn't do much better than a petrol spike or a

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Speaker 1: fuel crisis for the city rail link in Auckland, could you.

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Speaker 1: Construction and testing due to be finished within three months,

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Speaker 1: then it's a handover period to the operators. They need

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Speaker 1: another three months. So we'll be using this thing apparently September.

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Speaker 1: And I'm told they will depart every four to five

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Speaker 1: minutes in the city underground in the CBD every four

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Speaker 1: to five minutes, so you walk down and within a

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Speaker 1: couple of minutes you'll be on a train. The cost

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Speaker 1: is five and a half billion dollars, half funded by

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Speaker 1: the Crown, so Gore, you've pitched in. Thank you. What's more,

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Speaker 1: Wayne Brown reckons the operational cost mean that what would

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Speaker 1: have been a zero percent rate increase this year will

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Speaker 1: instead be something like seven So it's costing us pretty

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Speaker 1: bloody important we get it right. Given the size of

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Speaker 1: the capital and the operational spend, and the size of

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Speaker 1: the current petrol bills, that people are staring down the

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Speaker 1: barrel of one quickly as possible, please two as conveniently

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Speaker 1: as possible. And on the latter transport people, train people,

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Speaker 1: are sounding some alarm bells about this. That's because AT

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Speaker 1: is taking a transitional approach, a transitional timetable for the

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Speaker 1: first six months of its operation, meaning fewer trains than

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Speaker 1: we were promised. On the Western Line, for example, the

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Speaker 1: spacing of the trains means that commuters could end up

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Speaker 1: waiting longer for their service than they do right now.

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Speaker 1: That would be a disaster. This thing needs to sing

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Speaker 1: in full voice from day dot, which is when people

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Speaker 1: will stress test it. That's what you do something new

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Speaker 1: and shiny, you go check it out first. Impressions are everything.

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Speaker 1: If you don't make a material difference from day one,

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Speaker 1: people might just write you off. So the pressure is

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Speaker 1: on to get the CRL up and running sooner I think,

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Speaker 1: and then operate quicker than the speed of sound. Frankly,

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Speaker 1: achieving the goal of transforming drivers into train riders depends

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Speaker 1: on it, and conditions have never been better. For more

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Speaker 1: from Early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News

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Speaker 1: Talks itt B from five am weekdays, or follow the

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Speaker 1: podcast on iHeartRadio.