Western Rail Line Construction Underway Tomorrow

Construction work to double track the Western Rail Line will begin in earnest tomorrow afternoon.

The Auckland Regional Council is managing the project on behalf of the Crown, to double track the Western Line between Boston Road in Mt Eden, and Morningside Drive in Avondale.

The project entails construction of around 2.2 kilometres of new track and realignment of existing track, which will create 7.5 kilometres of continuous double track between Boston Road and Morningside Stations.

It is the largest rail line construction scheme to be undertaken in Auckland since the 1960’s. The project will increase service reliability and capacity, by eliminating a rush-hour bottleneck which is caused by a lengthy stretch of single track.

The ARC Chair, Gwen Bull, says the first phase of construction will begin on April 9 at 1pm, and will continue until April 26.

“Working intensively over the school holiday period, when there is less demand on services, means overall construction time will be reduced by several months”, she says.

Work will continue in stages until project completion, which is estimated to be in early 2005.

© Scoop Media