CRL – Britomart

The Auckland City Rail Link (CRL) works will extend existing underground lines adding two new stations and include upgrades to the existing Mt Eden and downtown Britomart stations, making it the largest transport infrastructure project ever undertaken in New Zealand at a revised projected total cost of $4.419b. Subsurface works being carried out by CRL on the Britomart East Junction are in preparation for future improved usage of Auckland’s Britomart Station.
The CRLL design called for ‘novel’ infrastructure including bespoke turnouts constructed on concrete slabs, rigid bar overhead line equipment (OLE) and alterations to the existing signaling system.

The location of the works was in the throat of Britomart Station – this is the busiest section of the Auckland Metro network. Any infrastructure issues at this location have a significant impact on train operations. Access to the site was severely limited both physically and in time. Works could only take place when the station was closed. The impact on the operational network of station closure was significant and to limit the impact Alpha Rail team members successfully worked within limited access windows or Blocks of Line (BoLs).

The work scope undertaken by Alpha Rail included:
• removal of the conductor rail and section insulator for crossover.
• removal of fix-point for existing crossover.
• new overlap for existing crossover.
• new fix-point (anchor clamp) for wire run.
• new conductor rails for interim crossover arrangement, until approval of the special design for the new scissors is granted.
• re-staggering and conductor rail adjustments of the Up and Down Mains to complete the new scissors arrangement.