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Karanga-a-Hape Station's 'Construction Choir' in front of the Pitt Street Methodist Church's 100-year-old pipe organ.
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Kia Ora
Another year draws to a close at Karanga-a-Hape Station and what a year it’s been. There have been many achievements in both the Beresford Square and Mercury Lane station boxes, as well as the mined tunnels. Read on further for more on our construction achievements this year.
It’s been a huge 2022 for the project as a whole, with milestones scattered throughout the year, most notably the final breakthroughs of our Dame Whina Cooper Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) through to Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu (Aotea) in July and September respectively.
Please enjoy the video below from the City Rail Link highlighting the project’s achievements over the past 12 months.
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City Rail Link 2022 highlights
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Our construction teams at Karanga-a-Hape Station will take a well-deserved break over the festive period from Friday 23 December, returning on Wednesday 4 January. No works will be taking place during this period but some personnel and security will be keeping an eye on our sites.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us. During the break, call us on 0800 CRL TALK (275 8255) and press option 4 to go directly to security or email us at Karangahape@linkalliance.co.nz and we will respond once we return on 4 January. Please email us if you like to receive one of our weekly works updates for either Beresford Square or Mercury Lane when we return in January.
We wish you a very happy holiday season and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year!
The Karanga-a-Hape Station (Karangahape) team.
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Enjoy a Christmas Hymn in hi-vis
In last year’s December newsletter, we shared a Christmas medley with you beautifully performed by a member of our team, Wesley Stellenberg. This year, Wesley returns to the Methodist Church on Pitt Street but this time he’s brought along a few friends.
For this year’s festive video, members of our Mercury station box have come together to perform a stunning version of ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’.
Click on the video above to enjoy our 2022 Christmas musical message from our ‘Karanga-a-Hape Construction Choir’ in both Tongan and English.
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Our latest stakeholder survey results are in
It’s time to share results we have received from the Q4 2022 Stakeholder Satisfaction Report and we're happy to report that Karanga-a-Hape Station received a 73% overall satisfaction rate.
We’d like to highlight a couple of requests we have addressed:
- Tours/info sessions are during working hours
- Inclusion and reminders of 0800 CRL Talk contact number
- Late night site noise.
We’d like to thank everyone who provided their invaluable feedback on what you feel is going well at our station and the areas we can improve, so please continue to share your thoughts and feedback with us. You can reach us via email at Karangahape@linkalliance.co.nz or call us on 0800 CRL TALK (275 8255) and press option 4.'
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Works updates - December 2022
At Karanga-a-Hape Station our staff made impressive progress in the Mercury Lane, Beresford Square and the mined tunnels.
Below is a selection of progress photos and highlights from across Karanga-a-Hape Station in 2022.
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Beresford Square
2022 Quantities
Reinforcing steel: 490 Tonnes
Concrete: 2,500 m3
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At the beginning of 2022 excavation was approximately 60% complete. By June the last bucket (above) was lifted out of Beresford Square. In total 33,000m3 of spoil was removed in 14 months – enough to fill 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
2022 was a year of connection and breakthroughs with three from the Beresford Square station box into the mined tunnels, 26-metres below street level.
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You can watch footage of two of the three breakthroughs on YouTube: here and here.
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With excavation complete the team started building upwards and working on the upper levels, installing floors and walls as shown below.
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They also had to install drainage and pour the deepest floor of the station box – the B7 base slab, as shown in the pictures below.
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With the arrival of the TBM in July, the team had to have key pieces of infrastructure built before the pass-through. The images above show the preparation of the train track and platform area in time for the TBM’s arrival.
The story for the remainder of the year at Beresford was one of walls, floors and columns as the station took shape.
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The image above shows the launch point for a 40-metre escalator on B2 that will take commuters to the platforms. The image below shows the landing point for the escalator on B7 with a peak of natural light in the centre of the image. The escalator will be installed here in mid-2023.
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Mined Tunnels
2022 quantities
Reinforcing steel: 760 Tonnes
Concrete: 9,700 m3
At the start of 2022 the big focus of work in the mined tunnels was ensuring the northbound tunnel was ready for the arrival of the TBM in July. The three images below show the transformation of the breakthrough area in the first half of 2022.
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The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) breakthrough in July was a huge milestone. The 800-metre journey from Maungawhau / Mt Eden Station to Karanga-a-Hape took the TBM just three months, two months quicker than the 2021 lockdown affected journey.
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The TBM broke through into the northbound tunnel in July. Click on the picture below to relive the breakthrough action.
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Dame Whina Cooper breaks through into Karanga-a-Hape Station
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Once the TBM passed through the station after a few short weeks of maintenance, the team were able to focus on installing waterproof layers and the permanent tunnel lining of the northbound tunnel.
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Once the tunnels were fully lined the crew began work on under-track drainage and over-track ventilation as shown below.
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Meanwhile, in the southbound tunnel, remarkable progress was also made with the installation of waterproof layers, reinforcing steel and the final concrete layer. You can see these different stages in the images below.
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The image below shows some of the complexity of the concrete pours. This area in the southbound tunnel has three different profile types, which required three sperate formwork modifications.
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As mentioned in previous updates, the junction areas within the mined tunnels were complex, requiring months of intricate steelwork before any concrete pours. The images below show key areas of transformation at the northern end of the southbound tunnel and at the junction that leads to the Mercury Lane station box.
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Mercury Lane
2022 quantities
Reinforcing: 1,100 Tonnes
Concrete: 3,700 m3
Reaching grade (full depth) in February marked an end to the ‘top down’ construction approach inside the Mercury Lane station box. The team then changed to ‘bottom up’ mode, building columns, floors and walls. The pictures below show construction of the B7 level, 26-metres under Mercury Lane.
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Construction of two ‘stadium columns’ situated the central area of the station box was a highlight at Mercury Lane. The stadium columns, along with the other 14 columns in the station box, extend 27 metres from the lowest point of the station box (B7) to the street level slab (L0).
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The area known as the ‘southern arch’ (above) was a big focus in mid-2022. This is where the station box and northbound mined tunnel intersect, and as with other parts of the station, this needed to be complete before the arrival of the TBM.
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The picture above shows scaffolding inside the station box with the mined tunnels on either side.
As the team built upwards, new floors were constructed. The images below show the construction of the B4 level.
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The images below illustrate the impressive progress from May to December with a completed B4 slab, and stadium columns with steel fixing underway. Note that the space gets smaller as the lower floors are constructed.
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Mercury Lane superstructure
Commencing in mid-June, the framing for the Mercury Lane superstructure is 95% complete and with two of the concrete slabs cast. Click on the image blow to watch a timelapse video of its erection throughout the second half of 2022.
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Karanga-a-Hape Station superstructure timelapse
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During the first half of 2023 the cladding for the superstructure will be installed.
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A huge congratulations to one of our team
The end of the calendar year brings many occasions to reflect on achievements from the past year and we’re proud to share the recognition of one of our tunnel engineers.
The New Civil Engineer Tunnelling Festival shortlisted Dheeraj Gogawale, Site Engineer Mined Tunnels, in the Young Tunneller of the Year category for the 2022 Tunnelling Awards. The Awards were held in London earlier this month which Dheeraj attended.
Dheeraj, who has worked on the City Rail Link project for the past two and a half years, has accomplished a wide range of tunnel excavation methods during many long shifts at the face of the tunnels. He has been involved in all elements of primary and secondary lining of the mined tunnels and is now responsible for the assembly of the major formwork (used to construct the tunnel lining) on the project.
As well as the above achievements, our Health & Safety team has previously recognised Dheeraj for his continued improvement of health and safety procedures on the project which led to a charter champion award by the project.
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Tamariki in the tunnels
On 8 December five lucky tamariki and their guardians were allowed onto site and were among the first ever people to walk the entire length of the City Rail Link Tunnels!
The five children were selected after they submitted their answers for a competition asking, ‘where would you build Auckland’s next railway and why?’.
You can watch some of their answers on the Seven Sharp piece which documented their adventure here.
Or follow their journey underground with the City Rail Link video here.
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Meet a member of the choir…Beveridd Mokalei, Carpenter, Mercury Lane
What does your job at the Link Alliance entail?
My job description is construction hand. So, I basically have quite a lot to do. Breaking out couplers, drilling and installing divi bars for steelwork, water blasting, formwork and concrete pours and finishing of concrete.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in the beautiful tropical island of Niue. The rock of Polynesia.
Where were you working prior to this?
I was working at a precast company in Papakura, Wilco Precast Ltd.
What do you do when you are not working?
I love spending time with my family and just relaxing at home. But, if any chance I get to, I will always go out to do some fishing.
Do you have any Christmas traditions?
A Christmas tradition for my family is to always do the cooking and share the food along with presents with my family and friends.
Another tradition is going to church and singing with everyone in the service.
Any fun facts about yourself you want to share?
I’ve got way too many fun facts, but I’ll stick to the simple ones:
- I love fishing
- I’m probably a jack of all trades
- I’ve been an electrician and a bartender at a resort in Niue.
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History of transport in Karangahape
Take a stroll over to East Street to discover the new hoarding artwork. Stretching 70-metres along the street, this outdoor exhibition follows the journey of how Karangahape and its transport system have changed from the 1800s to the present.
With historical photographs, maps and paintings from throughout the last two centuries a fascinating and visually intriguing story arises.
A fun way of engaging with it is trying to figure out where along Karangahape Road many of the photographs were taken! Key buildings from Beresford Square and Karangahape Road can be spotted in a number of the photographs!
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