OIA2023-27
Alex Daniels
Via FYI.Org
Dear Alex
I refer to your request dated 18 March 2023, pursuant to the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act), asking:
I wish to know the exact cost of the “Gifted” Māori names for both the new and
existing railway stations in Auckland and the wider areas for the new city rail link
including all meetings and discussions for the whole process of consultation thru to
official announcements and naming including those with councils Auckland transport,
kiwi rail, and all vested interest parties.
Please be advised your request is declined under Section 18(e) of the Act. That is the
information you requested does not exist.
To explain, there are two Auckland railway stations that are being renamed
(Waitematā and Mangawhau).
The other stations are new City Rail Link/Southern stations and the naming of these
is a standard process led by the New Zealand Geographic Board.
KiwiRail managed its input into the naming of the Southern Stations alongside
Auckland Transport (AT) and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). Members of the
KiwiRail project team and associated representatives engaged with iwi throughout
the project, not only on preparing the names to be submitted to LINZ, but also on
cultural engagement, design development, and various environmental issues
through management plans.
As naming of the stations is a small but core part of the project, this cost is not
separated out. We can confirm no external consultants were employed or used for
the naming process.
We cannot provide a specific number as hours spent are not attributed to each
specific task and the engagement facilitated discussion about the entire project with
iwi, of which naming was one agenda item.
However, the estimated time associated to identifying and submitting names is in the
tens of thousands and is a low number relative to the $495 million project value.
Future costs
When discussing future costs, AT updates timetables, maps, AT Mobile, and the AT
website, as part of its standard business operations.
From time to time, new routes are added or existing routes are changed, timetables
also change over time.
Therefore, all AT assets need to be changed on an ongoing basis as part of its
standard operational costs. The new station names will be incorporated into the
maps as these assets are updated, as noted above these are new stations being
added, so these maps would need to be updated to incorporate the new station
names anyway once the CRL/Southern Stations are incorporated into the network.
Signage at Waitematā Station wil need to be updated, and there wil be an
associate cost for the physical works. As yet AT does not have an estimated cost.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review of this response by the
Ombudsman, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. The relevant details can be
found on the Ombudsman’s website:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. Yours sincerely
Dave Allard
Senior Government Relations Advisor, KiwiRail
