Auckland rail disruption: Trains return to Britomart after three-week closure

Monday, 18 January 2021

A total of 6 kilometres of worn rail was fixed between Newmarket and Britomart during a three-week closure. (File photo)

Trains have returned to Britomart Station after it was closed for three weeks so repairs and replacements of worn railway line could take place.

KiwiRail's David Gordon said a new scissor track crossing was installed in the station’s tunnel and worn line was replaced between Newmarket and the central city.

He described the temporary closure as necessary to get a “boosted workforce” into critical inner parts of Auckland’s train network which are near impossible to access when trains are running.

A total of 6 kilometres of worn rail was fixed, while two turnouts between Newmarket and Britomart were replaced.

* Auckland rail disruption: 'Handful' of tracks under close safety watch

* Track fault keeps train line to Auckland's Britomart station closed until Friday

Gordon said this section of line was a “major highway” in the network, carrying most of the city's trains.

KiwiRail Chief Operating Officer Todd Moyle On the big track replacement programme (video from June 2020)

“On the average day, more than 350 trains travel on this section of line, so we made the most of the shutdown and worked 24/7 to make sure trains could return to Britomart today, as scheduled.”

In September, the downtown Britomart terminus was closed for a day for urgent track repairs.

Gordon said passenger trains had returned to other sections of the network last Monday, following a 16-day network wide shutdown over the Christmas/New Year period.

“The Christmas holiday shutdown enabled us to replace 18km of worn rail which is the equivalent distance of driving from Britomart to Ōtāhuhu.”

Thanks to more than 200 rail staff and contractors over that time, preliminary work to electrify line at Papakura and Pukekohe was completed and the first stage of main works was completed at Westfield and Wiri junctions.

“Now that we have worked on the central sections, our focus turns to the Western line. The Western line will be largely closed to passenger trains until the end of the month,” Gordon said.

“We have planned the repairs on the Western line to be carried out during the school holidays but appreciate this is still disruptive and apologise.”

He said KiwiRail continued to make “solid progress” repairing damaged rail across the network and had 70 per cent of the required work done.

The work is part of a $1 billion programme to modernise the Auckland metro network and prepare it for the growth that will come with the City Rail Link.

However, Consultant Opus estimated nearly $200 million worth of repairs and future-proofing is needed over four years to be ready for another step-up in services when the City Rail Link opens in 2024.