No Sleepers ‘Til Baldwin
Work starts this weekend on laying new sleepers on a section of the Western line between Morningside and Avondale.
KiwiRail and its contractors will be working between Newcastle Terrace and Baldwin Ave station from tomorrow preparing for the laying of new concrete sleepers.
The work breaks down into two stages:
Firstly, ‘skeletising’ the track to prepare for the installation of the new sleepers. This involves the removal of the clips and plates that hold the rail down. That work is done manually.
Then, the actual installation.
That involves a machine called a sleeper layer pulling a train which lays the sleepers on the tracks.
After the sleepers are laid, the track is manually bolted back on.
The installation happens the following weekend when train services there are replaced by buses.
Other sleeper renewals have been going on in other parts of the Auckland rail network, as part of preparation for the new electric trains.
Baldwin Ave’s station upgrade starts on December 19.
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A couple of clips of the sleeper lay job at Sylvia Park a few weeks ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct3VQ8v02CI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJdx0EOJpME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKd26f65kjo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJcRPJttQhY
Links should work.
Impressive machinery. I saw a video of one of things operating in Europe somewhere and wondered if there would ever be anything that advanced in NZ. Turns out there is!