Karanga-a-Hape railway station

Karanga-a-Hape railway station, also known as Karangahape station or K Road 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. It will serve the Karangahape Road area with entrances on Beresford Square and Mercury Lane. When it opens, Karanga-a-Hape will be the deepest train station in New Zealand, reaching 33 metres down and featuring 203 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. Auckland Council proposed an underground line running between Britomart and Maungawhau-Mount Eden station, including two new stations at Aotea Square and Karangahape Road.
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.
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.
In November 2023, Auckland Transport announced it would be pedestrianising the upper portion of Mercury Lane in order to improve accessibility.