While there hasn’t been too much of a song and dance about it, today is actually a pretty momentous day in the history of Auckland’s rail system – in that the double-tracking of the Western Line, a project that has been underway for many years now, has finally been completed – with the second half of the New Lynn trench opening today.

Here’s the KiwiRail press release:

KiwiRail celebrates completion of Western Line Duplication

8 June 2010

KiwiRail has reached a further major milestone in the upgrade of Auckland’s rail network with the completion of Western Line double-tracking.

Commissioning of the final 3km section of track from the new Avondale Station to Tititrangi Rd in New Lynn began at Queen’s Birthday Weekend. From today (Tuesday June 8th) trains will be able to use continuous double tracking from Britomart to Swanson.

Further signaling commission will continue until Sunday June 13th. Timetables for passenger services have been adjusted while the work is carried out.

Acting Project Director DART, Peter King, says the Western Line Duplication project is the result of considerable time and effort by hundreds of people in a variety of organisations.

“This has been a huge undertaking which has progressively improved the capacity and reliability of Auckland’s rail network,” says Mr King. “The completion is the result of many thousands of man hours and considerable resources.

“It represents a huge step forward in the development of a modern and sustainable passenger transport network well into the future, and Auckland commuters are already seeing the benefits.”

The progressive duplication of the line has allowed ongoing improvements to service frequency and reliability.

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority has implemented a series of timetable improvements since July 2007, and the completion of double-tracking will allow Sunday rail services to be extended to Henderson.

The duplication of the Western Line began in 2004 with Project Boston adding 2.2km of double track from Boston Rd station to Morningside in early 2005.

The 7.5km section of track from Titirangi to Henderson was completed in June 2007, and a further 5kms of double-tracking was commissioned between Henderson and Swanson in June 2008.

The technically challenging 1km stretch from Newmarket to Boston Rd was completed in April this year.

The Western Line Duplication project represents the bulk of Project DART, the $600m initial upgrade of the Auckland rail network. At a cost of about $420m, it directly employed more than 400 people.

As you can see in the photo below (credit here) both tracks through the New Lynn trench are fully complete and operational: The real benefits of the second track won’t be seen until next week – when the signalling is fully upgraded and the trains can barrel through at full speed. But it’s certainly exciting to see a many years long, $420 million project, finally completed.

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13 comments

  1. Good to see things getting completed. Is there no official opening with the usual crowd? Its amazing how many opening ceremonies they have to be honest.

    With new signals going in, hopefuly service quality will be improved. Have there been many signal faults lately? No one has been moaning recently about this

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  2. There was an official opening today – but of the Avondale station rather than double-tracking. Kinda funny how many train stations have “opened by Steven Joyce” plaques in them.

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  3. My trip through the trench today was good and I can’t wait for the signals to be completed for a faster journey. During the time over the new track we crossed two trains that would have created delays in the past. With this completed and some advertising I think there will be a good jump in patronage out west.

    Brent – Since Grafton and the double track around it opened things have gone pretty smoothly. I think the new signaling is only up to Grafton at the moment with the rest of the line not being upgraded for some time yet (I could be wrong though). The mere fact that this is now finished should mean much less signal and point problems all round.

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  4. they need to put some vegetation down in those cut and covers, hopefully it looks quite a bit better on completion

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    1. Vegetation? I doubt it – more of a hazard than it’s worth I would think.

      There’s nothing wrong with the odd harsher urban environment. We don’t need to make everything in the city look like it’s not in the city 😀

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      1. Around the platform itself there are contoured panels which look quite good. Putting some creepers on the wall might look nice but they would have to be carefully maintained to ensure they didn’t interfere with the safety features of the tunnel like the hydrants.

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  7. Jeremy: “naturalism can wreck urban environments”

    Do you mean wandering around without your clothes? Bit cold for that today.

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