Link Alliance Celebrated For Its Environmental Excellence On City Rail Link At 2023 Australasian Rail Industry Awards

The Link Alliance, which is leading New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project to date, the City Rail Link (CRL), has been recognised at the Australasian Rail Industry (ARI) Awards for its environmental approach.

Almost 800 people gathered in Melbourne on Wednesday night to congratulate the 16 winners, including the Link Alliance which was awarded the Sustainability & Environmental Excellence Award.

Australasian Railway Association (ARA) Chief Executive Officer and ARI Awards judging chair Caroline Wilkie congratulated the Link Alliance for its significant achievement.

“The City Rail Link has successfully embraced several sustainability initiatives at all levels of this major project, leading to a significantly reduced carbon footprint,” Ms Wilkie said.

“Once built, the CRL will give people more sustainable transport choices. It is a remarkable project and the Link Alliance has set new benchmarks for incorporating environmental, social and cultural benefits into infrastructure projects.”

The CRL is New Zealand’s most complex and ambitious infrastructure project to date. The vast majority of works are being delivered by the Link Alliance, including:

1. The design and construction of two new underground stations (Te Waihorotiu and Karanga-a-Hape), redeveloping existing Maungawhau Station, and retrofitting Waitematā Station (Britomart)
2. Bored tunnels from Maungawhau to Te Waihorotiu, as well as mined and cut-and-cover tunnels
3. Rebuilding a section of the existing Western Line to accommodate the new CRL connections
4. Rail systems

Some of the initiatives incorporating sustainability included using 3D BIM modelling to track the projected carbon footprint as the design was developed, a first in New Zealand, design changes to reduce mined tunnelling by up to 45 per cent, replacing 21 per cent of cement with fly ash in concrete mix designs and using a social benefit and sustainability weighting when procuring materials.

The project also engaged 72 Māori and Pasifika-owned businesses, resulting in a $135 million spend since 2019, and its 16-week internship programme for Māori and Pasifika youth has had 33 interns graduate, over 73 per cent of whom have since been employed.

The 2023 awards featured 16 categories recognising individuals, organisations and rail projects in the areas of diversity and inclusion, sustainability, passenger, infrastructure, innovation, supply, customer experience, freight, signalling and systems engineering and safety.

The Awards are supported by the Australasian Railway Association, Institution of Railway Signal Engineers, Railway Technical Society of Australia, Rail Track Association Australia, the Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board and the Permanent Way Institution (NSW).

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