Summer Rail Work Gets Underway

in Featured Trains by AKT — December 26, 2010 at 8:00 am | 2 comments

The busy Christmas-January Auckland rail work is now underway with no trains running.
It is the first time that the entire network will close for two weeks – officially from this morning (although there were no trains yesterday) until January 16, 2011 – and work will continue on the Eastern Line and the Southern Line south of Otahuhu for a further week. Those sections of the track will reopen to passenger rail services on Monday January 17.
200 KiwiRail staff and contractors will be involved in the pre-electrification work and upgrades.
Here is what they expect:

• 12,000m3 of soil excavated
• 7,628 sleepers replaced
• 30,512 new pandrols and gauge clips
• 18,506m3 or 26,834 tonnes of ballast
• 45 electrification masts installed
• 1.1km of track removed and replaced
• 12km of track tamped and aligned
• 4km of track formation upgraded
• 2 level crossings upgraded (Church St East and Rossgrove Tce)
• 300m new concrete drainage pipes for Purewa Tunnel
• 70 concrete reinforced piles on bridges
• 250m new retaining walls for bridges
• 52 precast bridge beams for bridges
• 9 precast walls for bridges

The focus of this year’s construction programme will be preparation for the electrification of the rail network by 2013.

The key projects are:

• Resignalling around Quay Park and Britomart, enabling trials next year of Rugby World Cup train operations
• Replacement of five rail overbridges in Papatoetoe, Manurewa and Papakura
• Track-lowering at Church St East and in the Purewa Tunnel
• Redevelopment of Baldwin Ave Station
• Installation of electrification masts at Baldwin Ave and Newmarket Junction
• Widespread maintenance including sleeper renewals on the Southern and Western lines
• Platform modifications at Remuera and Puhinui stations

Specifically the work over this period will be:

NEWMARKET BRANCH LINE:
• Resignalling from Britomart to Newmarket
• Installation of electrification masts in Newmarket Junction

WESTERN LINE:
• Baldwin Ave Station redevelopment and installation of electrification masts
• Sleeper renewals and maintenance Baldwin Ave to Morningside
• Pedestrian bridge replacement at Glen Eden Station
• Piling for mast foundations between Ranui and New Lynn

SOUTHERN LINE:
• Civil works for resignalling between Newmarket and Westfield
• Platform modification at Remuera Station
• Platform extension at Puhinui Station
• Papatoetoe rail overbridge replacements at St George St and Bridge St
• Manurewa rail overbridge replacements at Browns Rd and Station Rd
• Papakura rail overbridge replacement at Clevedon Rd
• Track-lowering under Church St East rail overbridge
• Sleeper renewals and maintenance at Papatoetoe, Manurewa and Takanini
• Pukekohe rail/road freight interchange

EASTERN LINE
• Track-lowering and upgrading drainage in the Purewa Tunnel

ONEHUNGA LINE:
• Piling for mast foundations

The bridge replacements and associated road closures:

• St George St, Papatoetoe closed until January 16
• Bridge St, Papatoetoe closed until January 31
• Browns Rd, Manurewa closed until early February
• Station Rd, Manurewa closed until January 31
• Clevedon Rd, Papakura closed until March
• Church St East, Penrose closed at the rail tracks until January 16

Tags: Christmas shutdown pre-electrification