Highway 1 at Blueskin Bay, and a close-up view of a track machine.
Half-million rail project
By 'Blueskin News' reporter Rozalina MacLeod
Ontrack, a subsidiary of Kiwirail, had nearly 60 men working on a two-day
maintenance project alongside Blueskin Bay on 18-19 September.
Robert Storm, a field engineer for renewals at Ontrack, told 'Blueskin
News' the sleeper laying project at Waitati was part of this year's
programmed work and cost over $500,000.
"Preparatory work started about 2 weeks ago and all work is expected
to be completed by mid October," Robert said. "We have now replaced
all the sleepers in this section but we still need to complete ballast
reconditioning and final track lifting and smoothing."
The job started at the track points at Waitati, where trains pass one
another, and the main line was resleepered with new concrete sleepers
for 2km towards Evansdale.
"Timber sleepers have a finite life and most of those in this area
were worn out or had suffered damage following a derailment a couple of
years ago," Robert explained. "Once completed this section of track
should be maintenance free for many years."
Hard work means hungry workers. Robert received many favourable
comments on the hearty lunches supplied through a reputable Waitati
eatery.
As 'Blueskin News' went to press, Ontrack were planning to work on a
1.5km section of track just north of Seacliff in the last weekend of
September.
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Warrington, Evansdale, Waitati, Doctors Point), Dunedin, New Zealand.
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domain and may be freely shared, archived, re-edited and republished.
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