By 1News Reporters

Auckland’s entire train network is being redrawn on Sunday when the $5.5 billion City Rail Link, or CRL, opens to passengers for the first time. Here’s what to know about opening day and beyond.

There will be a special timetable running on September 13 with extra trains on top of the normal Sunday service, including additional runs early in the morning.

The very first train to arrive at a new CRL station will be a South-City line service at Karanga-A-Hape station at 5.22am, departing Ōtāhuhu at 4.57am. Other early services are also running on the South-City and East-West lines around 5am.

Until 3pm, there’ll be extra trains running across all lines, but there are also usual services running at least every 15 minutes from all suburban stations as per a normal weekend.

Auckland’s new Karanga-a-Hape Station has been brought to life by performers from the community above it, ahead of the City Rail Link opening next month.

Demand for trains throughout the day is expected to be high.

“We know many people will be keen to be on one of the first services, and we encourage people to start their first journey from their local station,” said Auckland Transport (AT) chief executive Stacey van der Putten.

“Trains from right across the network will be travelling through the CRL from early that morning, so there will be plenty of opportunities to be part of this historic day.” 

Until now, every train into central Auckland has terminated at Britomart, an end-of-the-line downtown station that capped how many services the network could run.

From Sunday, Britomart becomes a through-station, renamed Waitematā, and trains carry on beneath the city and out the other side.

It’s worth noting that the CRL is not a separate new railway.

The underground link is a 3.5km tunnel under the CBD that joins the suburban train lines already running through Auckland’s existing stations.

If an Aucklander lives near a suburban train station, the same trains that stop there now will travel through the new tunnel — except for the Onehunga line.

No booking or online ticket is required, and there is no assigned service to reserve.

Passengers go to their nearest train station, “tag on” at a ticket reader, check the platform screen for the next train heading their way, and board. Timetables for exact departure times are available on the AT Mobile or Google Maps apps.

Most train stations do not have a parking lot, and AT advises people to take connecting bus services to get to a station.

Leaked announcement, flubbed lines, as officials finally schedule the long-awaited rail network’s first services. 

These connecting buses are usually included in your ride cost depending on where a person starts a trip.

How do I pay for my trip?

To pay, most people tap an AT HOP prepaid card on the reader at the platform when they board and tap it again when they get off.

Paywave cards and phone payments using Apple or Google Pay are also accepted on the same readers.

Children under 13 travel free and SuperGold card holders ride free outside peak hours. However, both groups need to use pre-registered HOP cards.

Cash tickets can be bought from machines on train station platforms, but these can cost significantly more than using Paywave or a HOP card.

What else do I need to know about trains?

Trains are accessible for prams, and the new city centre stations have both escalators and elevators. Bikes and scooters are also allowed on board services.

Trains run every 15 minutes on suburban lines until 8pm on Sundays and every half-hour after that. Full timetables are available on the AT website.

Stations across Auckland are expected to be staffed on opening day, and there are customer facilities available at the new underground stations.

Will the trains actually run on time?

The network opens on a reduced “transitional” timetable, after congestion at rail junctions during testing in January forced officials to rework their original day-one plans.

Most suburban stations will keep six trains an hour at peak, rather than the eight tested earlier in the year, with gaps between services stretching to as long as 15 minutes.

Beneath the city centre, where the lines combine, a train will run through the tunnel around every four minutes at peak.

AT has committed to building up to a full timetable “within six months” of opening.

Train commuters are being forced onto replacement buses during the testing.

KiwiRail has said the new tunnel is in strong enough shape that no major maintenance closures are expected for at least three years, a welcome promise after several years of weekend shutdowns and bus replacements for Auckland commuters.

What to know about the CRL project

The CRL is the largest infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history, and its two new stations – Te Waihorotiu in midtown near the Sky Tower and Karanga-a-Hape off Karangahape Rd – are the country’s first major underground railway stations.

Construction on the project began with early preparatory works in 2016, with major works on the tunnels and new stations beginning in 2019.

CRL Ltd chairperson John Bridgman defended the project’s record at Parliament’s transport select committee in May, describing it as “the biggest transport transformation in Auckland since the Harbour Bridge.”

“Everyone says this project is late. Yes, we’re not up to the projected timelines, but we’re only six months late in a nine-year project,” Bridgman said.

The build had been due to finish in 2024 before delays attributed to Covid-19 pushed it back two years, and the budget grew from about $2.9 billion when early works began to $4.4 billion in 2019 and then $5.5 billion.

Officials said earlier this year they did not expect further cost increases.

Thousands of Tongan Americans could potentially benefit from an extraordinary election pledge by President Donald Trump to pay US$5,000 to every American adult if Republicans retain control of both chambers of Congress in November.

Trump announced the proposed payment, which he called the “Trump Dividend”, during the opening night of the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

The proposal would potentially apply to adult U.S. citizens of Tongan heritage alongside millions of other Americans if it were approved and implemented.

The United States has a substantial Tongan population, particularly in California, Utah and Hawaiʻi. Pew Research Center estimates that about 84,600 people identifying as Tongan lived in the United States in 2024.

Salt Lake County, Utah, has one of the country’s largest concentrations of Tongans, with U.S. Census data previously identifying more than 12,800 people of Tongan identity there.

Trump told supporters that if Republicans won, Americans would receive US$5,000 under the proposed dividend.

However, there are major questions over whether the pledge can actually be implemented.

AP reported that paying US$5,000 to every American adult would likely cost more than US$1 trillion and require approval from Congress.

Trump did not provide detailed information during his announcement about exactly how the programme would be funded.

Vice President JD Vance later suggested wealthy Americans might not receive the payment, potentially narrowing the number of people eligible.

The announcement came as Republicans face a difficult battle to retain their congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections.

Trump used his lengthy convention speech to urge Republican supporters to vote as though he himself were on the ballot, while attacking Democrats and defending his administration’s continuing war against Iran.

The proposed payment would be considerably larger than the direct stimulus payments many Americans received during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Tongan-American families, however, the announcement remains only a campaign pledge at this stage. No US$5,000 payment has been approved by Congress, and eligibility requirements have not been established.

It also remains unclear whether lawful permanent residents and other non-citizen residents would qualify, meaning Tongans living in the United States should not assume they would be eligible simply because they are U.S. residents.

Source: Associated Press

A male pedestrian has died after being struck by a train in Auckland’s Mt Albert yesterday afternoon.

Emergency services were called to Baldwin Ave railway station after a train struck a pedestrian at about 3.30pm on Wednesday.

Late last night, Auckland Shift Commander Inspector Kerry Watson said a male pedestrian died at the scene.

“We have been working to notify his next of kin, and the community will appreciate that this will be devasting news for them,” Watson said.

Police have spoken with a number of high school students that were on the platform at the time of the incident.

A cordon was in place, but was lifted at 9.30pm.

“Anyone who may have witnessed what happened, and who hasn’t spoken to police, are asked to make contact.”

Anyone with information is asked to make a report online, or call 105.

‘Check before travelling’ – AT

Auckland Transport (AT) urged Western Line customers to check before travelling this morning, as there may be some ongoing disruption to services.

“Some train service cancellations are expected on the Western Line on Thursday morning, and services that do resume may be at reduced capacity,” a spokesperson said.

“Before heading out for your morning commute, please check the AT Journey Planner or the AT mobile app for the latest information to plan your journey.”

All train commuters were urged to check before they travel, as the network was still recovering from yesterday’s disruption.

Yesterday, a student who was aboard the train told 1News he felt a bump just before reaching the station, jolting him and other passengers forward in their seats.

Passengers were asked to stay put and remained on the train for what felt like 40 minutes before they were able to leave.

Mt Albert Grammar School staff were also seen at the scene.

By Indira Stewart, 1News In-depth Multimedia Reporter, and is republished with permission

As fans here and overseas unite to watch the new doco about New Zealand’s greatest rugby legend Jonah Lomu, back home there still remains the deeply divided family he left behind. In an exclusive interview with TVNZ, Lomu’s mother Hepi reveals she hasn’t had contact with the late All Black’s children Brayley and Dhyreille in years.

“I haven’t seen them,” says Hepi Lomu of the two boys, now in their mid- to late teens. “Maybe a long time ago after Jonah died [his wife Nadene Lomu] bring the boys here, but that’s all. I pray God is going to touch those two and one day, we can meet.”

LOMU, currently screening nationwide, premiered at Auckland’s Civic Theatre last month. It was reported as an emotional event attended by hundreds but, Hepi says, her grandsons weren’t present.

“They were invited to the premiere but I don’t know why they not come, but it doesn’t matter to me. I’m happy whether they watch or don’t watch. That’s their decision,” she says.

The film touches on Lomu’s three marriages, including his last to his widow Nadene, but did not disclose the strained relationship between Lomu’s family and Nadene.

Last year, Nadene, alongside her two sons, spoke to TVNZ on the tenth anniversary of Lomu’s death about her frustrations over the way she believes Lomu continues to be exploited and her longstanding battle for the rights to his name and image.

Hepi says that interview prompted her to finally speak out, after a decade of silence. “Although the discussion was about other things it felt as if she was putting us down and putting down the people who worked with Jonah,” she says.

“Just let it be. She should have just left the children out and not exposed them. I don’t want this to become a matter of people trying to investigate who’s right or wrong.”

Nadene was involved in initial discussions with the documentary makers but chose not to be part of it and took legal action in 2023 in an attempt to block the film. The following year the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand ruled against her claims, allowing Tongan-Kiwi filmmaker Vea Mafile’o and Irish filmmaker Gavin Fitzgerald to continue production – with the aid of an $800,000 grant from the Film Commission.

That ruling also affirmed the instructions Lomu had left in his will. He gave full control over his money, trademark and properties to his long-time lawyer Chris Darlow, for the benefit of his sons Brayley and Dhyreille.

‘If there was no me, there would be no Jonah’

The film has done little to heal family rifts – in fact, quite the opposite. While Nadene told TVNZ last year that her late husband “was not public property”, he was, says Hepi, her son. “What she needs to understand is – I’m the mother. I am his mother. Sometimes, she doesn’t want us to be involved in anything. Everything of Jonah is belong to them.

“But now he die, I said – if there was no me, there would be no Jonah and none of this would be happening today.”

Lomu is often described as rugby’s first true global superstar and, at the height of his career, he was said to be worth millions. But there are no signs of that in the humble South Auckland home where he grew up and where Hepi still resides. A wall cabinet full of his trophies, awards and priceless memorabilia are all that remain of his legacy in the family’s home.

Among the treasures, hundreds of hours of never-before-seen home video footage some of which features in LOMU. Other exclusive clips are published for the first time in Hepi’s interview on TVNZ+ where she remembers how Lomu slept in her living room during some of his kidney dialysis treatment, and the last conversation she had with him before he died the next day.

“I didn’t think there would ever be a time like this where we would show these tapes again,” says Hepi of the rare home-video footage of Lomu as a young teen, which she had stored away since his death in 2015. “It is a long time [ago]. I can’t stop crying. I try to forget, I try to let go of it in my heart.

“Sometimes I can, but sometimes I cannot.”

Tonga has reached a historic milestone in higher education, with the country’s national qualifications authority evaluating what it says is the first degree programme submitted for recognition in Tonga to be written entirely in the Tongan language.

The Tonga National Qualifications and Accreditation Board (TNQAB) said its panel evaluation of the Tonga National University Bachelor of Tongan Language and Cultural Studies took place from Monday, August 31 to Saturday, September 5, 2026.

The evaluation represents the first time Tonga’s national quality-assurance standards have been applied to a degree programme presented entirely in Lea Faka-Tonga, according to TNQAB.

First of its kind

TNQAB described the programme as both “unique and nationally significant”, saying it was the first programme submitted for use and recognition in Tonga that had been written completely in Tongan.

The development represents an important step for the use of Lea Faka-Tonga not only as a subject of academic study, but as a language through which an entire university-level programme can be designed, presented and assessed against national higher-education standards.

“It is often said that a people’s culture lives within their language,” TNQAB said.

The Board said the programme presented evaluators with the significant task of determining how Tongan language, culture and academic quality are brought together within a university qualification.

Programme under detailed scrutiny

The accreditation process included an in-depth desk analysis and discussions examining the programme, its curriculum and supporting policies.

The evaluation also included a site visit to Tonga National University and its teaching sites.

The process is intended to assess the programme against Tonga’s applicable national quality-assurance requirements before its recognition.

Three-member panel

The three-member evaluation team was led by Dr Linita Manu‘atu, an Auckland-based Tongan academic and educator.

She was joined by local educators and community leaders Mrs Lasalle Halatuituia and Mr Kalafitoni Latu.

TNQAB Senior Qualifications Analyst Mrs Tupou Pasikala Fiu facilitated the evaluation.

TNQAB wished the panel success in what it described as “historic and important work”.

The significance of the assessment extends beyond the accreditation of an individual degree. If approved, the programme would mark a major development in the institutional use of Lea Faka-Tonga in higher education, demonstrating its application across the curriculum and academic quality-assurance process at bachelor’s-degree level.