Kia ora,

We hope you and your whānau are safe and well. It has been a busy time here at Mt Eden Station. This month we are celebrating the lift of the Porters Avenue pedestrian bridge span (pictured above). 

The giant beam was lifted into place last weekend and you can read more about this momentous milestone, along with our other updates below. 

If you have any questions about our work activities in the year ahead, don’t hesitate to get in touch at mteden@linkalliance.co.nz or 0800 CRL TALK (press 5 for Mt Eden Station). You can also follow Link Alliance’s progress by clicking the social media buttons below: 

Ngā mihi,  

Mt Eden Station team 

Up up and away!

It was full steam ahead last week on the western end of the construction site, with the team putting in the hard mahi to achieve one of the City Rail Link’s heaviest single lifts. The Porters Avenue bridge span, weighing a whopping 160 tonnes, was lifted into the air and hoisted into position 7 metres above the Western/North Auckland Line.  

Along with the help of our three mighty titans (one 500 tonne crane and two 450 tonne cranes), a team of 70 people spent over 4 hours on Saturday carefully maneuvering the 46-metre-long steel span that is the centrepiece of the new Porters Avenue Bridge. The bridge will connect Porters Avenue with Wynyard Road, permanently separating people and trains.  

Earlier in the week, the bridge span was welcomed to site on an 83-metre-long truck that travelled 6 hours from Otahuhu in South Auckland to Mt Eden, a journey that would take a regular vehicle 17 minutes.  

Now that the bridge span is successfully in place, the team will begin to install the stairs, railings, lifts and design features. Once completed walkers, cyclists, prams, mobility scooters and wheelchairs will have easy and safe access across the rail corridor.  

The bridge will be shaped like a bow tie, architects Jasmax say that this shape minimises its overall size and maximises sun and light to the surrounding properties without compromising safety for bridge users. Designs on the bridge are set to reflect the importance to Māori of volcanic basalt from nearby Maungawhau, as a gardening and building tool.  

Porters Avenue is the first of four permanent bridges to be built over the rail corridor at the Mt Eden site. A big congratulations to the team for their efforts, we can’t wait to see many more milestones being achieved with the Porters Avenue Bridge due to open in October this year.  

Essential work on the train tracks over the Easter holiday period

Following on from the March 26 - 27 Block of Line (BOL – a scheduled weekend when there are no trains running on the rail network so our team could safely carry out construction activity in the corridor) the Easter BOL will keep the momentum of work on the City Rail Link (CRL) alongside KiwiRail’s work to continue important network upgrades.  

Working over the Easter weekend takes advantage of lower train patronage. The BOL starts on the evening of Friday April 15 to the morning of Monday April 18, including night work, Sunday work and statutory holiday work, to get as much done in a short period of time as possible.  

The Easter BOL will see crews continue work in and around the rail line. Mt Eden residents on our notifications mailing list will receive more detailed information at least two weeks prior to starting. Please email mteden@linkalliance.co.nz if you want to be added to our mailing list.  

This BOL at Mt Eden Station is part of a wider BOL throughout Tāmaki Makaurau. Over this time KiwiRail will also be working to raise the standard of Auckland’s rail network through big projects ahead of City Rail Link opening, and ongoing maintenance to improve train service reliability. 

Look for interesting news and updates from KiwiRail about the wider BOL work in your mailbox or visit https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/akl. 

Window to the future station building

This month, the windows for the pedestrian bridge structure were installed, marking a small milestone towards the completion of the bridge that will carry pedestrians from the station’s North Auckland Line  platform to the Mt Eden Station building. 

The team installed the windows during the 26-27 March Block of Line. 

Come join us for a sunny Saturday at Basque Park

Want to find out more about Link Alliance’s work at Basque Park? This Saturday we’ll be sharing information over at Basque Park, where our pipe diversion and upgrade needed to support our new Mt Eden Station is making excellent progress. The drilling rig has finished its journey from Basque Park, underneath New North Road and into our main site. The team is now working to pull a 5.6 metre pipeline through the mini tunnel. 

On Saturday 2 April between 11 am – 2 pm we will be hosting a pop-up session in the park giving you the opportunity to ask questions and find out more about the City Rail Link project. 

The Basque Park Pipe Diversion project is scheduled to finish by October 2022. 

Dame Whina Cooper Tunnel Boring Machine prepares for her second drive

We’re almost ready for take off! The Dame Whina Cooper Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) safely returned to Mt Eden Station earlier this year. Over the past couple of weeks, the 910 tonne machine has been reconnected and pieced back together ahead of her second drive. 

The team have now re-energised the machine, meaning the power has been switched on so testing and commissioning can begin. 

The second TBM drive is scheduled for late-April, so keep an eye out on www.digCRL.co.nz for more information about the re-launch!

First Quarterly Stakeholder Survey for 2022

Thanks to everyone who participated in our first quarterly stakeholder survey of the year – each response has provided valuable insights. This time around we invited you to leave your contact details so we could get in touch. The response was terrific and we learned a lot in our conversations with you.  

Here is a summary of what you told us in the survey and what we are doing about it.  

• Emails and newsletters are still the most valued communications channels. A few of you told us you like the QR code that connects to the construction calendar. We are glad to hear it.  

• You suggested we use more graphics to make notifications cleaner and to draw the eye. We think that is great advice and we’ll be making changes accordingly in our next notifications. Do tell us what you think of these changes.  

• Many of you said you want to see the ‘end game’ so we’ll start using more renders and future station imagery in our communications with you. An example is a media release sent out this week that contained great images of the future concept renders of the Porters Avenue bridge as shown on the CRL website. Watch out for more developments in this space - we are excited to share them with you.  

• Finally, a few of you said that you didn’t know about our various social media channels and noted the discovery of Instagram as particularly exciting. Hopefully you have noticed we are making those channels more prominent in our communications.  

Congratulations to our survey participants who went into the prize draw to win a $100 local restaurant voucher. Look for our next quarterly survey in May.  

We are beaming with excitement

The wait is nearly over for the completion of the Normanby Road Bridge! This month, the team successfully installed 14 precast beams on the southern abutment of the Normanby Road Bridge. These beams provide the foundation for the new road platform, you can find more technical information about the precast beams below in our Jargon Buster! 

With the beams in place, the team installs reinforcing before pouring the new concrete road slab. Once the concrete is poured, road barriers will be installed and new footpaths asphalted.  

Installing the southern abutment of the bridge was a huge milestone and we are beaming with excitement to see the progress! 

Shaddock Street's newest artwork

We’ve given another one of our silos a makeover! Artist Kate Woods has transformed a silo on Shaddock Street with her artwork ‘To Shift and Change.’ This piece investigates her relationship to her local environment and the lava/rock forests of Tamaki Makaurau.  

Woods grew up in Mt Eden with a view of Maungawhau from her family home, its green and monumental presence was often seen in her earlier paintings. This memory of Maungawhau’s intense green has made its way into this work, as well as other associated imagery such as the leaves of the Whau tree and small glimmers of karā (basalt) rock. 

If you like seeing the artwork around our construction site, check out: www.cityraillink.co.nz/art-in-construction where you can download one of our artwalk maps and take a self-guided tour to each of our art pieces.  

Floating on Water (Street)

Floatation involves laying in a super-saturated Epsom-salt solution about 30cm deep, which is heated to skin temperature. Once settled into the float pod, it is almost impossible to tell which body parts are in the water and which aren’t. The high-density saline solution will make you feel completely weightless, letting every single muscle in your body fully relax. The float pods are specifically designed to block out all external distractions, such as sights, sounds, tactile sensations and gravity. 

At Float Culture, they believe in creating lasting and meaningful change in the lives of their clients. Scientific evidence suggests that Floatation Therapy has an accumulative effect, so just as a massage therapist may work on a muscle for a few sessions to relieve tension and free you up to move better, repeated Floatation sessions do the same for your mental processes. This can help build mental clarity, strength in the face of stress, restfulness in sleep and physical relaxation. 

So head on over to their website and support this local bliss business - https://floatculture.co.nz/  

Or pop in and visit their lovely team at 12 Water Street, Mt Eden.  

Tautoko i tō pakihi paetata, Support your local business. 

Auckland Transport Connected Communities

Auckland Transport is currently consulting with the public on the upgrades to happen along the entire New North Road corridor. Your feedback will help them to understand your preference and vision for your local community. This will also let Auckland Transport know the level of change you want to see and what you are willing to work on with them. 

Submissions are now open until 8 April 2022 and can be made here New North Road Survey. 

Through initial community collaboration, three approaches to upgrade the busy road have emerged, all with the aim of improving safety, bus reliability and connectivity, and will provide more transport mode choices. Each option supports thriving town centres and improved access to connected, safe and attractive facilities for people walking and on bikes. A combination of various elements from the three options could be included in the final outcome. 

If you missed ATs recent live Q and A sessions, you can find further information and learn about the project, at the AT project webpage. All information on the website can be downloaded and printed and documents are designed for the Vision impaired.  

Check out our info spots

Jargon Buster

Precast concrete beams and slabs are a construction system that involve either precasted concrete panels or planks that are placed between smaller more frequently spaced precast beams that span between walls or columns. Once the beams have been placed, a thin reinforced concrete layer is then poured on top of the beams. 

Unlike poured concrete beams or slabs, the precast system doesn’t require extensive formwork, and provides flexibility to stage construction. Our precast concrete beams on the Normanby Road Bridge enable us to build it in two parts to keep the trains running throughout construction. 

Join our Mt Eden Community Liaison Group!

Passionate about the Mt Eden community? Want to learn more about the project and provide feedback about our planning and construction? If you answered yes then you may be the community representative we need! Our Community Liaison Group (CLG) was set up at the start of the project and meets for one evening approximately every two months so community representatives can stay up to date on the Mt Eden Station construction activity, provide feedback, and ask our team questions.  

The group is a mix of neighbours and community representatives who want to learn more about the project and ask valuable questions of our construction staff. These meetings have transitioned online during the pandemic and will continue to take place virtually moving forward. 

If you are a resident around our Mt Eden construction site, represent a local community group, organisation or business and are interested in joining our Mt Eden CLG, please send us an email with more information about yourself and why you are keen to join. We would love to hear from you!  

More information about our Mt Eden CLG (including past presentations and minutes) can be found HERE on our website.  

Connect with us in April

Join us on Tuesday 5 April for our monthly community drop-in information session at our visitor centre Te Manawa – located at 1 New North Road. Our technical experts will be on site from 5 pm – 7 pm to chat about the topic of interest and answer your burning questions. 

This month the topic of interest is the Normanby Road Bridge.  

Te Manawa is also open on Monday’s between 11 am – 1 pm. Pop in to check out our virtual reality set, kid-friendly activities, and our interactive scale model of the Dame Whina Copper TBM. 

Last month we had a great turn out for our monthly perimeter walk. If you missed out, our Development Response Manager will be leading the next hour-long tour on Tuesday 5 April from Te Manawa at 4:30 pm.  

Our perimeter walks are where you can learn more about the project and what’s happening behind the hoardings. Perimeter walks do not enter the construction site, so all you need are your best walking shoes, moderate level of fitness, and your vaccine pass. 

Tours are free, just email mteden@linkalliance.co.nz to book as numbers are limited. Tours will be cancelled if weather conditions are unfavourable so please keep an eye on your email.  

If you have any questions about the project, you can contact us on 0800 CRL TALK (option 5 for Mt Eden Station) or mteden@linkalliance.co.nz.