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Works Update

15 February 2021

Kia ora neighbours,

We hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well as New Zealand enters another - hopefully brief - Covid-19 lockdown period. Please note that construction work continues on site throughout Level 3, with all staff following strict health and safety protocols.

This update provides an overview of the key work activities across our Karangahape Station construction sites for the coming weeks, as well as an overview of progress to date.

D-wall construction, which has been a major focus of the project since mid-July 2020 has now finished. We have completed all 26 D-wall panels in Mercury Lane and the last of the 30 D-wall panels in Beresford Square was poured on Saturday (13 February). D-walls are the actual station walls.

The D-wall panels at Mercury Lane range in depth from 15 -31 metres and in total 2700m3 of concrete was used to create the station box (the perimeter walls), with an average of 104m3 per panel.

In Beresford Square the panels range from 22 – 40 metres, with 1200m3 of concrete used in total.

The diagrams below shows the layout of the station boxes.

Beresford Square

Mercury Lane

With the completion of the D-walls at both sites our focus will soon move underground, following the pour of the station's ‘L0’ slabs – these are the ground floors of the stations.

Our normal work hours are from 7am to 10pm Monday to Friday, and 7am to 7pm Saturday. On occasion we will work on Sundays (emergencies and available resources), but we will provide plenty of notice in advance.

We continue to welcome your comments, feedback and questions. If you wish to get in touch, please feel free to email the team.

Kind regards,

The Karangahape Station Team

Progress in Mercury Lane

From January to March, work focuses on pouring 1,300m3 of concrete for the L0 slab, which is the street-level floor of the station.

The concrete is poured in four stages and is the first step of the ‘top down’ construction method.

The next levels (B1 and B2) are also constructed in this method. We then excavate all the way down to B7, before building the remainder of the levels on the way back up, using what’s called ‘bottom up’ construction.

From the end of February to the end of March the excavation of the first level of the station will get underway. 9000m3 of spoil will be removed, which is the equivalent to 3.5 Olympic sized swimming pools filled to the brim.

Tunnel progress

Work on the mined tunnel beneath the noise enclosure is making excellent progress with the ‘Jean Batten’ road header currently making her way north under Mercury Lane.

In June 2021 the first tunnel will reach beneath Beresford Square, which involves 278 metres of excavation with 23,000m3 of spoil removed and 2,700m3 of shotcrete sprayed onto the walls of the tunnel as part of the temporary supports.

Tunneling activities create dust, so a massive scrubber unit inside the noise enclosure – essentially a large vacuum cleaner – sucks dirty air away from the working face. The scrubber unit is shown below.

A series of filters then removes the dust before the clean air is discharged outside. At full capacity the unit can process 60 cubic metres of air per second.

Tunnel safety

Safety is our number one priority. Systems and training are in place to ensure that all practicable steps are taken to keep our workers safe. Training is provided to all staff on roles and responsibilities, mitigation and processes.

In case of an emergency, every person working in the tunnels is outfitted with a rebreather, which provides 30-minutes of breathable air, allowing time to exit from underground or get into an Emergency Refuge Chamber.

Beresford Square progress

Much like Mercury Lane, Beresford Square is also undergoing a massive transformation above and below ground.

We have begun construction on the L0 slab, the street-level floor of the underground station.

As part of these works the crew are removing the concrete guide walls, used to provide temporary support for the D-wall's massive steel cages and to ensure the D-walls are aligned correctly.

To minimise the noise from this activity we are saw-cutting the guide walls into large blocks and removing them offsite to be broken up. There will however, be some locations where rock-breaking is required.

Site offices in lower Beresford Square

The site offices on the corner of Beresford Square and Hopetoun Street are now fully operational and host over 100 staff. These temporary offices have meeting rooms, showers, lockers and a lunch hall.

The facilities allow the crew to gather on site prior to work starting for daily safety meetings.

We also maintain similar site facilities at Mercury Lane, as well as our offices on Karangahape Road.

Currently we have 160 staff and will continue to grow until we reach our anticipated number of 400.

Heading underground

The next stage of works in Beresford Square involves the construction of the station’s floors and excavation of the rock beneath. This stage of work will take approximately one year and includes the pouring of the L0 slab, crane movements on the slab and multiple truck movements to deliver concrete and remove spoil.

In Beresford, over 2000m3 of backfill will be excavated from February to April and 1200m3 of concrete poured for the L0 slab.

The bentonite plant is on the move

The bentonite plant and its iconic big red silos will be removed in February, with this area becoming a one-way traffic system for equipment deliveries and trucks removing spoil.

Building a deck

In April, a temporary deck will be constructed to allow trucks and cranes to move east and west over a large central station opening in the L0 slab. The deck will be located on the northern side of the Square and will be 23m long x 9m wide.

The diagram below shows the indicative design and location of the deck.

Where can I go for more information?

If you have any questions or concerns about these works, please email us at karangahape@linkalliance.co.nz or phone 0800 CRL TALK and press option 4 for Karangahape Station works.

Information and updates are also available online at www.CityRailLink.co.nz including a page dedicated to Karangahape Station works www.cityraillink.co.nz/karangahape-station-works.

You can also follow the CRL project on social media with Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

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Karangahape Works Update - 15 Feb 2021