Summer Sweat Paid Off
CRL took advantage of KiwRail’s annual maintenance closure of the Auckland rail network over the Christmas and New Year period – known as a Block of Line - to complete a number of jobs essential to the project.
The rail works over the festive period enabled KiwiRail to mobilise 1,100 people, working more than 155,000 hours on the network to make it more resilient and reliable, and to advance some of Auckland’s major infrastructure projects.
North Auckland Line (NAL) – Mt Eden Station
Critical work was completed to switch the existing single line running through the site onto a new single track 1.3 kilometres long between the Kingsland and Grafton stations - a switch needed to connect the Western/NAL with CRL at the redeveloped Mt Eden Station.
The tight construction timetable work required close collaboration between Link Alliance, KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and rail specialist contractors Martinus and Siemens. Completing a successful switch involved around 200 people working on the tracks, signalling, installing electrified overhead lines, bonding and earthing them, and associated civil works.
Dale Burtenshaw, NAL Construction Manager for the Link Alliance said teams “worked flat stick, including double shifts, in some pretty sweaty summer temperatures over the holidays to complete a big step for the project. Importantly, we’ve regained a lot of construction momentum lost to the Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions.”
Other Mt Eden work included relocating safety hoardings, earthworks for new retaining walls and utilities, building a new haul road, and works to prepare for the second drive of the Dame Whina Cooper tunnel boring machine (TBM), later this year.
Burtenshaw said he wants to acknowledge the support of the project’s Mt Eden neighbours.
“Their patience and understanding during some long hours of work helped contribute to our success,” he said.
Further Block of Line closures at Mt Eden are planned for March and April.
C9 Works – Britomart Station
Work at the opposite end of the project, in the Britomart Station tunnels, over the Christmas Block of Line has also been deemed a great success!
CRL contractors Martinus worked around the clock in the tunnels between Spark Arena and the station platforms to modify and improve existing infrastructure, to prepare the track for changes required by the CRL.
In the tunnel entrance to the station, the team replaced all the tracks and then poured a 75-metre-long concrete slab under the newly laid tracks. It was a project that required precision and meticulous planning. A laser was used to ensure the tracks were in place within an accuracy of two millimetres. Then the concrete was poured from trucks that were parked above in Britomart.
In late January, CRL Chief Executive Dr Sean Sweeney (pictured) placed the last clip on the new track - symbolically completing the small but complicated package of works.
“I’m thrilled at how the team rallied in challenging circumstances to get the job done within the allocated timeframe,” Sweeney said.