What’s happening on site

February has been a busy month completing the majority of enabling works to establish our station construction site. You’ll have noticed the changing landscape with the demolition of the remaining buildings on Ruru and Shaddock Streets.

This month we’ll start to break the remaining concrete floor slabs and clearing the area.

The other big change on site is the preparation of the large tiered earth platforms at the corner of Nikau and Flower Streets and the arrival of our 100-tonne piling rig to construct the retaining wall for the CRL tunnel portal (see story below).

Porters Ave rail crossing closes at Easter

On Friday 10 April (Good Friday), the level rail crossing at Porters Avenue will close permanently to vehicles. One side of the crossing will stay open for people on foot, until a new overbridge for people opens second half of 2021.

This means that, if you drive over the crossing, you will need to find a new route for your journey from Friday 10 April. To help you find a new route, we will install detour signage for about five weeks after the crossing closes.

Closing the level crossing permanently to vehicles will enable us to safely divert utilities, integrate the new CRL and Western Lines and ensure public safety once the CRL opens. The number of rail lines in the corridor will increase from two to four, with two trenches for the CRL lines that will lead to the new twin tunnels.

Construction of the new overbridge will begin later this year and we expect that it will be complete in the second half of 2021. It will be accessible to everyone with a lift and dedicated cycle ramp.

Indicative concept of the pedestrian bridge between Porters Ave and Wynyard Road

The businesses along Porters Avenue, Wynyard Road, Fenton Street and Haultain Street will remain open while construction is underway and you will always be able to access them by car or foot.

Mt Eden Station closure – what you need to know

On 30 May 2020 (Queen’s Birthday weekend), the Mt Eden Station will be temporarily closed 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, as they’re not required as part of the new station development.

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’re working closely with Auckland Transport to ensure that there are still public transport alternatives available:

Kingsland and Grafton train stations remain open
If you normally use Mt Eden Train Station to travel to the city, you can still do this from both Grafton and Kingsland station – frequent bus routes travel from the stations into the city centre
Auckland Transport’s new 640 bus route will provide a link between Mt Eden Station and Newmarket from 3 May 2020.

To find out more information about your public transport and travel options, visit at.govt.nz/betterway

Temporary Normanby Road closure

Over Easter weekend, while KiwiRail are doing maintenance on the rail lines, Normanby Road will temporarily close for cars and pedestrians from 7pm on 9 April to 6am on 14 April. During this time, we will install piles to prepare for construction of a temporary utilities bridge over the rail line, which will be in place at the end of 2020.

Traffic management will be in place from the week prior to Easter until the end of the week following Easter, reducing Normanby Road to a single lane along the western edge of the road to enable the work to happen and reducing risks to both the public and our construction team.

During the road closure, pedestrians and vehicles can follow the alternative routes shown on the detour signage leading to Enfield Street or Mt Eden Road.

The businesses along Normanby Road will continue be open as usual during the temporary road closure and you will be able to access them by car or foot.

Portal piling begins

Portal piling is now underway in the Mt Eden Station area! Piling is an important part of the construction process for the tunnel portal to launch our Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) early next year. It will later form the entrance to CRL’s twin rail tunnels that will connect Mt Eden with the city centre, via a new station at Karangahape Road.

Piling involves the use of some very large equipment, including a piling rig and crawler crane. The piling rig and crawler crane will sit on tiered, earth platforms on the side of the hill at the intersection of Flower and Nikau Streets. The rig will drill down into the ground at depths of 8 to 40 metres using an auger to form the pile shaft.

Once the shaft has been drilled, the crawler crane lifts large metal cages (in sections up to 15 metres in length) into the shaft to stabilise and strengthen its walls. Concrete is then pumped into the caged shaft, creating the pile. Piles will then be connected by rows of beams to create a retaining wall that forms the ‘face’ of the tunnel portal. We need to construct 66 piles for the tunnel portal.

The image below is an impression of the completed wall.

Want to see more? Check out what portal piling will involve by watching this video here.

Meet the team

This month we are introducing our Project Engineer for foundations – Sam Downing. Sam is from a small town called Llanelli in Wales. After leaving the UK in 2009 he worked in Sierra Leone, constructing structures for export of iron ore. In 2011, he arrived in New Zealand to work on the Christchurch rebuild after the 2011 earthquakes before joining the Link Alliance in 2019.

Sam’s role at the Link Alliance is managing construction of the portal and other foundations at the Mt Eden site. His favourite local food spot is Ace Kitchen on Mt Eden Road, where he reckons he “spends a bit too much time”.

In his spare time, Sam enjoys spending time with his two young daughters and the Warkworth fire brigade where he volunteers as a firefighter.

Sam is proud to be working towards creating a train network that will benefit Kiwis and visitors in years to come.

One last play at Pressprint

Over the last couple of months, a number of our vacant buildings, earmarked for demolition, have been used by different units of the New Zealand Police for training purposes. Police made use of the former Pressprint building last month as part of a manual handling exercise.

Detective Vaughn McAllister says NZ Police were hugely appreciative of gaining access to the vacant Mt Eden Road building.

“Live venues like these are invaluable for ongoing training,” he says.

Demolition of the former Pressprint building is now underway and is expected to be complete later this month.

Arts collective brings new life to rail container

A 10ft container that will house KiwiRail signalling equipment will be getting a makeover before it is placed on the Akiraho Street-side of the rail corridor near Mt Eden Station later this month.

To visually enhance the area and deter tagging, the container will feature artwork from Auckland-based art group called Kākano Youth Arts Collective, an organisation that employs former graffiti artists.

Collective director Mandy Patmore says: “We have taken inspiration from the land, paying homage to the forests that cover Maungawhau/Mt Eden and all of NZ”.

Join our Mt Eden Community Liaison Group

The Link Alliance is welcoming new applications for membership on the CRL project’s Mt Eden Community Liaison Group (CLG).

Established in 2015, the Mt Eden CLG enables interested members of the community to engage directly with the project. Group membership represents a cross-section of the community, including residents, property owners, businesses and interest groups.

The group meets at least once every three months with the purpose of:

receiving and discussing information on what’s happening in their area during construction
monitoring and giving feedback on the effects of construction on the community
providing input into the preparation of a variety of management plans that outline how the Link Alliance will manage the impacts of construction on people and the environment.

If you’re interested in applying for a position on the Mt Eden CLG and can commit to attending meetings regularly, please submit an online form via CRL’s website at www.cityraillink.co.nz/clg-application-form or contact us at mteden@linkalliance.co.nz to find out more.

Walking tours

Learn all about the construction of Mt Eden Station with a guided tour, led by one of our Construction Managers! The first tour will take place on Saturday 28 March at 3pm. Places are limited, so contact mteden@linkalliance.co.nz to register your interest.

Come and speak to us at our upcoming information sessions

The Mt Eden team hosts regular information sessions for the community at its office at 97 Mt Eden Road.

The info hub sessions are a regular opportunity for you to learn more about the CRL project, upcoming construction work and to ask questions of the project team. The team is enjoying meeting so many locals and those from further afield who are following the CRL project with interest.

Information sessions will continue this month on Wednesday 18 March, from 4.30pm - 6.30pm.

If you can’t make the info hub sessions but would like to talk to the Mt Eden team, please phone us on 0800 CRL TALK (press option 5 for Mt Eden) or email us at mteden@linkalliance.co.nz to arrange a suitable time for a chat.