Greens promise $2.5 billion to remove Western Line level crossings
The Green Party would spend $2.5 billion from the National Land Transport Fund to remove level crossings on Auckland's Western Line.
The announcement was made on 4 October at the Morningside level crossing, according to RNZ. Co-leaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson fronted the event alongside Mt Albert candidate Ricardo Menéndez March.
During the event, a driver crossed at Morningside as a train approached. Swarbrick described it as a very near miss. No one was hurt.
The party said the policy is a safety response. It cited just under 70 crashes and hundreds of near misses in Auckland between 2013 and 2023. The Greens said that record justified full separation of road and rail on the Western Line, so cars and trains no longer cross at the same level.
The party also pointed to train numbers. It said removal would allow more than 12 trains per hour on the Western Line. It would also allow the City Rail Link, the new underground line through central Auckland, to run at its full capacity of 48 trains per hour. The party said level-crossing barriers are down about 30 percent of the time during peak traffic.
The Greens said the work is not currently funded. Their commitment would draw the $2.5 billion from the National Land Transport Fund, the shared pool of fuel tax and road charges that pays for maintenance, public transport, state highways and local roads. A $2.5 billion commitment would sit alongside other calls on the same revenue.
On 9 September 2026, trains were cancelled after a transport incident at Baldwin Ave station in Auckland, 1News reported. A level crossing in Mt Albert was shut while emergency services responded to an incident involving a westbound train.
Auckland Transport has said it plans to remove or replace all level crossings in Auckland in the next 10-30 years to allow more trains on the tracks, according to Auckland Transport. The Greens' commitment would bring forward and fully fund the Western Line part of that programme.
The detail sits inside the party's wider transport platform. The Green Party hosts its Connect Aotearoa transport policy at greens.org.nz/connect_aotearoa_policy under the title 'Fast, frequent, affordable'. The page lists 'Level crossing removal in West Auckland' with a figure of $2,500, and lists a total figure of $7,420. The page also proposes restoring $50 million in funding to support councils with procurement.
The broader context here is electoral as well as operational. Mt Albert is a key Auckland seat, and the Western Line runs through electorates where rail reliability, barrier downtime and CRL readiness affect commuters daily. The questions to weigh are timing, sequencing with CRL services, and how a ring-fenced NLTF allocation of this size interacts with other approved projects. The Greens have set the price and the funding source. Scrutiny will now fall on delivery phasing and cost risk.
