Kia ora koutou
We hope you and your families are keeping safe and well. To help maintain momentum and productivity to deliver the City Rail Link project for Auckland in 2024, we have extended our construction working hours. Our working hours are now Monday-Friday 7am-10pm, and Saturday 7am-7pm.
If at any time you need to contact the Mt Eden Station team for any reason please phone 0800 CRL TALK and select option 5 or email MtEden@linkalliance.co.nz with any queries.
Stay safe and keep well.
The Mt Eden Station team
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Mt Eden Station to close 11 July
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Due to the recent Covid-19 restrictions, the Mt Eden Station temporary closure will now be 11 July 2020. The station will close for about four years to enable the Link Alliance to construct the new Mt Eden station and connections to the existing Western Line.
While we know it will be an inconvenience for many, closing the station is the only way to guarantee both public and working safety during construction.
The current access points to the station – the ramp to and from Mt Eden Road and the pedestrian level crossing between Fenton and Ngahura Streets - will close permanently.
The existing Western Line platform will be demolished and rebuilt to accommodate an overbridge from the new station and longer nine-carriage trains. The CRL Line will have its own platform, accessed from a different area of the station.
We have worked closely with Auckland Transport to make sure alternative public transport options are available while the station is closed.
The new 64 route will be a free and frequent service, provided by Auckland Transport. It will travel between Kingsland, Mt Eden and Newmarket at least every 15 minutes between 7am and 7pm, seven days a week. Outside of these times, buses will run at least every 30 minutes.
For more information on your public transport options visit: AT.govt.nz/BetterWay
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Consultation for Porters Avenue overbridge
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As part of the transformative changes for the development of Mt Eden Station, a new pedestrian and cycle overbridge will be built across the rail line at Porters Avenue to replace the existing level crossing across the tracks. Last month Community Liaison Group (CLG) members and project neighbours were invited to attend a meeting to view updated designs for the bridge and the surrounding streetscape and provide feedback.
The Porters Avenue overbridge will be the first of four new overbridges built across the rail corridor near Mt Eden Station. It is designed to be accessible and to cleverly conceal the full range of public utility services that it needs to carry across the rail corridor. The bridge’s design aims to strike the right balance between privacy for surrounding properties and visibility for the safety of bridge users.
City Rail Link’s Mana Whenua Forum – representing eight different iwi with an interest in the project – has gifted a cultural narrative for the four rail bridges to be built in Mt Eden. The narrative is based on the volcanic atua/deity Matāoho, who resided in the crater of Maungwhau (Mt Eden) and is associated with many of the volcanic features of Tāmaki Makaurau.
Construction of this new bridge is expected to start later this year and be completed in late 2021.
To find out more about the designs and to provide feedback, check out https://www.cityraillink.co.nz/porters-avenue-overbridge. Feedback closes at 11.59pm on 10 June 2020.
Porters Avenue level crossing closure
The level crossing at Porters Avenue has now permanently closed to all vehicles to ensure the public’s safety during and after construction of the City Rail Link.
If you drive your vehicle over the level crossing, you will need to find an alternative route, as shown below. You will always be able to use the level crossing safely on foot.
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Basalt blasting works underway at Mt Eden
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Image above shows the special blasting mats that will be placed over the charge site to minimise rising dust and prevent any small fragments flying off.
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This month we are starting a series of basalt rock-blasting activities. Starting this week, production blasting will go ahead across our construction site to excavate the two trenches that are initially required for movement of our tunnel boring machine into the tunnel portal. Ultimately these trenches will contain the new CRL tracks that will connect the new underground rail tunnels to the existing Western Line nearby.
Blasting this hard volcanic rock is the most effective way to fracture it for removal and avoids the need for prolonged and disruptive rock-breaking activities. It will be managed by a series of controlled blasts using small explosive charges (similar to that used during a previous stormwater diversion project for CRL in this area).
The biggest impact of blasting is ‘startle’ (surprise at an unexpected noise) which we will minimise by keeping to a strict blasting schedule and using an advanced warning system before each blast. If you are near our construction site, you will hear an audible siren 5 minutes, and then 30 seconds, prior to the blast occurring. Special blasting mats will be placed over the charge site to minimise rising dust and prevent any small fragments of flying rock.
To give our community more certainty, blasting will always occur at the same time each day - 10.32am and/or 2.32pm - and GPS equipment will be used to ensure timing is exact. Blasting will take place between Monday and Friday but will not occur every day initially.
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Basalt blasting will initially take place on the eastern side of the construction site (between the now-closed portion of Shaddock Street and the site of the former Life Church building) but will also need to be undertaken on the western side (between the former South Pacific Timber and 19 Ruru Street sites). We’re hoping to have completed all blasting works in this area by mid-September.
To see what blasting will look like, check out the video below taken of an earlier trial blast.
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Volcanic samples uncovered during excavation
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Last month, two researchers from the Determining Volcanic Risk in Auckland (DEVORA) group visited our site to investigate the sequence of events that occurred during the eruption of Mt Eden / Maungawhau volcano.
To conduct their research, DEVORA requires access to fresh exposures containing volcanic deposits including basalt (lava flows) and volcanic ash. Excavations such as the one we currently have on our site provide the perfect locations to take samples.
During DEVORA’s recent visit, they discovered a charcoal-rich layer covering a lava flow which will help aid the understanding of Maungawhau’s eruption sequence. We’re looking forward to working alongside DEVORA in the coming months as they continue their research post-basalt blasting to see what other secrets they can find beneath the lava flows.
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Our portal piling progress
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Concrete piling at the tunnel portal site on the corner of Nikau and Flower Streets is tracking well, with the team completing 44 of 66 of the piles required for the portal. Excavation at the portal site is now underway as the team clear the soil to expose the mouth of the portal.
Piling is a critical part of the construction process for the tunnel portal, which will first be used to launch the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) and will later become the entrance to the two permanent CRL tunnels that will connect Mt Eden with the city centre.
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Mt Eden track works over Queen’s Birthday Weekend
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Link Alliance and KiwiRail joined forces over Queen’s Birthday Weekend to alter a section of train tracks in Mt Eden to allow the connection of the CRL to the current Western Line.
During the weekend, the duo brought the current double line train services that runs through Mt Eden Station to a single line. When Mt Eden Station closes for redevelopment in July, trains will continue to run on this single line through the station with little disruption to existing timetables.
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Colourful addition to rail corridor has arrived!
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