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Speaker 1: Auckland rail users are set are in for a whole

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Speaker 1: lot more disruption next year. The entire rail network in

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Speaker 1: the biggest city will close for ninety six days in

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Speaker 1: total in the next thirteen months to upgrade the network,

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Speaker 1: which is basically, when you think about it, one in

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Speaker 1: every four days. It's going to start this Christmas is

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Speaker 1: going to carry on until the end of January twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty six and Transport Minister Simeon.

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Speaker 2: Brown is with us.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Simean, good evening.

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Speaker 2: Does this shock you that this is necessary?

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Speaker 3: Well, it is necessary because we need to make sure

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Speaker 3: we don't have ongoing works following the CRL opening. But

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Speaker 3: ultimately this rebuilt has been fully funded by the government

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Speaker 3: so that once the CRL is open, we can maximize

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Speaker 3: its benefit and actually make sure we can get more

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Speaker 3: people onto public transport and as it transforms public transport

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Speaker 3: in our city. So I get this is going to

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Speaker 3: be incredibly frustrating for rail users, but we have worked

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Speaker 3: very closely to make sure that the disruption is minimized

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Speaker 3: around the Christmas, New Year blocks, Easter blocks, long weekends

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Speaker 3: and school holidays, rather than during those other times when

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Speaker 3: traffic far worse on our road so we have done

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Speaker 3: everything we can to minimize the disruption, but totally acknowledge

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Speaker 3: very frustrating.

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Speaker 2: Is it not possible to do it overnight?

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Speaker 3: There we work we round twenty four seven around the clock.

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Speaker 3: So the idea here is having the closures for four

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Speaker 3: weeks over Christmas New Year's twenty four to seven work,

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Speaker 3: get in there.

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Speaker 1: I understand some mean so they're doing blocks and then

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Speaker 1: they're doing it twenty four seven, But would it not

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Speaker 1: be better to leave the tracks open during the day

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Speaker 1: when people are using them, and then shut them down

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Speaker 1: every single one work.

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Speaker 3: You can get about thirty percent more efficiency by actually

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Speaker 3: having a full closure and getting in there, because otherwise

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Speaker 3: you've got to set up that takes time. Overnight, you've

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Speaker 3: got to pack down again all your gear, make sure

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Speaker 3: the railway is safe again, and then get back into

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Speaker 3: the work. So it's about maximizing efficiency whilst minimizing disruption.

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Speaker 3: It's finally balanced. I appreciate the frustration that many Aucklanders

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Speaker 3: will be facing with this, but we have to get

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Speaker 3: this work done before the city rail link opens. Aucklanders

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Speaker 3: will not tolerate if this work is ongoing and there's

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Speaker 3: a continued line closures once the city rail link is open.

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Speaker 2: Is it only going to take ninety six days?

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Speaker 3: That is, there's contingency built in around around some of

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Speaker 3: these dates as well, So ultimately that's the amount of

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Speaker 3: time that's there. We've made our expectations incredibly clear to

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Speaker 3: Key Raw they have to work around the clock, get

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Speaker 3: the work done.

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Speaker 2: Promise you though, have they said? It's only made.

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Speaker 3: Commitments to me, and we will be holding them very

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Speaker 3: clearly to account.

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Speaker 2: What happens if it takes longer than ninety six days.

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Speaker 3: Well, look, there are well in terms of the time,

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Speaker 3: and there is no more time other than what has

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Speaker 3: been provided, as you'll see in terms of the calendar

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Speaker 3: that's been published. So there's the ninety six days of

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Speaker 3: full closures, there's a number of days of single line closures,

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Speaker 3: and there are some single line contingency closures which have

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Speaker 3: been built in. So they have built contingency into this

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Speaker 3: program that's been published. But what we've done is we've

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Speaker 3: been very clear about what the program is, people can

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Speaker 3: plan around it. We've taken major events into account as well,

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Speaker 3: and by putting that other disruption into those school holidays,

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Speaker 3: it means that the buses that would otherwise be available,

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Speaker 3: would be required for school A bus routes are available

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Speaker 3: to make sure that there is alternatives to keep people

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Speaker 3: when the trains are closed. So it has been well

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Speaker 3: thought through. I get the frustration. Nose is very challenging.

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Speaker 3: We have to get the work done though before the

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Speaker 3: City rail Link opens.

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Speaker 2: Cool man. Hey, best of luck with it, Sime, and

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Speaker 2: thanks Simon Brown, the Transport Minister. For more from Hither

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