A significant section of KiwiRail’s Main North Line has been reinstated over the Christmas break with the track from Picton to Grassmere now repaired and the designs for six bridges along the route near completion.
KiwiRail’s group general manager Network Services, Todd Moyle, says more than 100 KiwiRail staff, consultants and contractors have been working apace in the lead up to and throughout the holiday period, fixing twistedtrack, inspecting and redesigning replacement bridges and tunnels and getting the first part of the line, from Picton south, workable again after November’s devastating 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake.
“We have had track gangs moving in both directions, from Picton south and Christchurch north, over the holidays and a key strategic goal was to get the line to Grassmere completed. While there are no major slips in that area, there were more than 50 medium scale faults on the line and the track had been shifted sideways in many sections along the network.
“Our people started that work two and a half weeks before Christmas, so to have it finished by the second week of January is a remarkable feat.
“Our design team has also been working hard throughout the Christmas period. Designing a new bridge would normally take several months. Instead, in a matter of weeks, we will have six bridge designs ready to go so that construction can begin in early February.
“Accelerating that design process for both bridges and tunnels is a critical part of rebuilding the line as quickly as possible.
“There is continuing seismic activity in the area and so the safety of our work-crews is our number one priority. That makes a final completion date difficult to commit to but there is no doubt that despite the size of the project, we are working to schedule.
“The scale of this project is unlike anything we have seen in New Zealand in railway terms for generations. But the skill of our workforce, the technology we can employ and the partnerships we have in the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery alliance with NZTA and other alliance members are really paying off in these early stages.
“Rebuilding the Main North Line after such a significant earthquake is no easy task but we are more than up for that challenge,” Todd Moyle says.
