September 2026 articles

The City Rail Link (CRL) is New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project ever, and after a decade it was officially opened on 11 September 2026 with services for the public beginning on Sunday 13 September 2026.

Martin Kearney was on the 4:57 from Ōtāhuhu, the first service through the City Rail Link, when wiring at Waitematā caused a small fire. The Auckland One Rail team put it out and even cleaned the platform so services could restart quickly. As a precaution, every underground station was evacuated so platforms didn’t overload with new passengers.

New Zealand spends billions of dollars on infrastructure every year. It routinely can’t say whether any of it worked. That’s the blunt finding of a new report from engineering firm WSP and the Helen Clark Foundation. The report set out to answer a simple question: does New Zealand actually check whether infrastructure spending delivers what it promises? The answer, in most cases, is no.

Standard design practices often use roughly 20–50 per cent more structural steel than is strictly necessary. That gap represents a significant opportunity to cut steel’s carbon footprint.

Ahead of the election, we invited every parliamentary party to set out their transport vision directly to our readers, in their own words. National, Labour, and the Greens took up the invitation. We’ve run their submissions unedited and side by side so you can compare where each stands on land transport funding, freight and supply chain resilience, infrastructure prioritisation, and the regulatory settings operators work under.

Swire Shipping has confirmed the closure of its Pacifica coastal service, telling customers on 9 July 2026 that it could not find a sustainable pathway to keep the service running. The Moana Chief, Pacifica’s remaining 1,740 TEU vessel, made her final coastal voyage in late July. New Zealand has lost its last New Zealand-flagged, New Zealand-crewed container ship.

A sharp eye, a speedy response, and a strong working relationship between a Timaru-based transport company, an importer and Biosecurity New Zealand helped stop a potentially significant biosecurity threat.

The 2026 CILT Annual Forum and Awards Dinner happens at the JetPark Hotel in Auckland on 20 November. Get more details and book now.