Welcome to the first edition of the Link Alliance's Mt Eden Station newsletter!

Our new monthly newsletter is to keep our neighbours and the wider community up to date with progress on City Rail Link (CRL) project works in Mt Eden by sharing construction-related news and stories with you.

Who is the Link Alliance?

The Link Alliance is tasked with designing, constructing and delivering CRL’s twin rail tunnels, two new underground stations at Karangahape Road and Albert Street and a new station building at Mt Eden. The alliance includes six New Zealand and international companies with a wealth of experience in delivering large-scale infrastructure projects here and overseas, alongside City Rail Link Limited.

Three of the companies (Tonkin+Taylor, AECOM and WSP Opus) are focussing on the design of CRL and the other three (Vinci Construction Grands Projet, Soletanche Bachy and Downer NZ Ltd) on its construction.

What’s happening in the Mt Eden Station area?

If you live or work near our station construction site, you will have noticed that we’re making good progress with demolishing the CRL-owned buildings bordered by Shaddock, Flower, Nikau and Ruru Streets.

Our geotechnical investigation team is also busy testing sub-soil conditions and installing groundwater monitoring equipment in various locations around our Mt Eden work site. Before the end of the month, we’ll be moving into Nikau Street and Flower Street to divert underground utility services. To do this, we will need to close Nikau Street in sections, maintaining one lane of traffic with stop-go traffic management in place.

In December, we’ll be diverting Flower Street South near its intersection with Nikau Street, to give us room to start construction of the CRL tunnel portal at this location in early 2020. This portal will be the launching point for the tunnel boring machine that will construct the underground tunnels between Mt Eden and the new Aotea Station in the city centre. While Flower Street South is closed, vehicles can still use Shaddock Street, Ruru Street and Nikau Street. Pedestrian access will be maintained via Shaddock Street (from Mt Eden Road and Ruru Street ends).

Overview of upcoming early works

Mt Eden Station to close mid-2020

Mt Eden Station will be closed from 30 May (Queen’s Birthday weekend) 2020 to ensure the safety of the public and the construction team while the new Mt Eden Station is built.

The area will become a busy construction site once the station closes - with demolition, excavation, foundation works, utility relocations and the building of the new station, tunnels and platforms - while keeping the existing Western Line services running on an unchanged timetable. 

Construction will also see the station's current platform and access points demolished, meaning temporary access to the station will not be possible. We did investigate ways of keeping the station open, however none could guarantee safe public access or normal train operations through a construction zone.

Trains will continue to run on a single line through Mt Eden but will not be stopping. We will close one half of the rail corridor at a time to undertake construction, leaving the other side for train services.

Rail passengers will still be able to get on and off trains at neighbouring Kingsland and Grafton stations and Auckland Transport will be providing information on available bus services.

The existing Mt Eden Station will be enlarged and redeveloped to incorporate a modern new station building, the new CRL lines and platform and an extended Western Line platform to cater for longer nine-car trains. Once complete, the new Mt Eden Station will provide a critical connection point for Auckland's rail network, enabling more direct travel between west, south and central Auckland.

Mt Eden Station may be closed for about four years but will open as soon as the new building is operational and safe for use.

Click here for more information and to see a video fly-through of the stations.

Mt Eden demolition well underway

The demolition of the first of 30 empty buildings at our Mt Eden Station construction site has begun, starting in the area bordered by Flower, Nikau, Ruru and Shaddock Streets.
 
Clearing the site enables us to establish a ‘base camp’ for the substantial programme of construction to complete the City Rail Link - New Zealand’s largest ever infrastructure project.
 
The cleared site will be used as a staging area for the tunnel boring machine and provides room for construction of the southern portal of CRL’s twin rail tunnels. It also allows for construction of a new Mt Eden Station building and for existing rail tracks to be shifted slightly to connect the existing Western Line with the tunnels.
 
CRL Ltd CEO Sean Sweeney says, in many ways the start of demolition mark’s the end of the project’s beginning.
 
“When these buildings have gone, the way will be clear for us to get below ground, complete the tunnels, build two underground stations, redevelop Mt Eden Station and then handover a world class rail system an international city like Auckland deserves,” he says.    
 
We’ve put in place a number of measures to reduce the impacts of demolition, including erecting fencing, using water misters to manage dust on site and monitoring noise and vibration to ensure it remains inside approved limits.

Old cottage gets new life in the Waikato

The old 19^th century kauri weatherboard cottage from 6 Flower Street has headed south to start a new life at the Rangiriri Tavern in the Waikato, where it will be joined by other period cottages to provide a unique accommodation experience.
 
Built in the late 1800s, the cottage has undergone a number of modifications since the mid-1900s, when it was converted into flats. The lower ground floor dates from this period and the building may also have been raised at that time. However, some internal features, like doors, skirting boards and timber boards have survived. Archaeologists have created a record of the building with plans and photographs and monitored the site clearance in case other original features were found.

Mt Eden salvage boosts re-build on cyclone-battered Tonga

Containers packed with material salvaged from vacant buildings on our Mt Eden construction site are being shipped to Tonga this month, where they will be re-used to help rebuild cyclone-battered communities.

“All sorts of things that helped people do their jobs in offices and factories at Mt Eden are still in pretty good nick and will now get a new life helping Tonga’s rebuild - a church in one village or giving children a decent classroom in another,” says Sai’a Latu, general manager of the TROW salvage company. 

TROW worked its way through 10 empty buildings, stripping out everything it identified as re-useable. Contents of the two Tonga-bound containers include cupboards, desks, shelving, tables, doors, benches, toilets, drawers, ceiling panels and carpet tiles. Other salvaged material is also being used to build a church in south Auckland.

“Not so long ago, a lot of salvaged material, at least 40 percent of all construction waste, would have been trucked off to the nearest dump as waste. That’s an industry image we want to help change,“ Mr Latu says.

Link Alliance’s Environmental Sustainability Manager, Sarah Sutherland, says the partnership with TROW not only enables us to prevent usable materials ending up as landfill but allows us to re-use items that will be of real benefit for communities.

“It’s a great example of the project adding value,” she says.

Empty Mt Eden buildings provide great training opportunity for police

A number of our vacant buildings, earmarked for demolition, are being used by different units of the New Zealand Police for training purposes. The training is part of their readiness for the APEC conference in 2021.

Sergeant Justin Moore of the Auckland Police Dog Handling Unit says he’s “hugely appreciative” of gaining access to newly vacant buildings to train the dogs attached to the Armed Offenders Squad.

“Being able to use large empty venues that aren’t familiar to the dogs is of huge benefit when creating live scenarios that develop and train the dog teams who are called on to protect the public,” he says.