DEVIATION OF RAILWAY

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27397, 9 July 1954, Page 10

DEVIATION OF RAILWAY

CHANEYS KAIAPOI LINE EMBANKMENTS BEING CONSTRUCTED Within two years trains should be running over a new section of line from a point about three-quarters of a mile north of Chaneys station to the Kaiapoi station yards. About a third of the earthworks for the 2.7-mile deviation has now been completed, and tenders will be called shortly for the erection of the substructure of a new railway bridge across the Waimakariri river. The deviation is being built so that the new bridge can be placed in a more favourable position. Work on the deviation began about three months ago. Good progress was made until about two weeks ago, when floods in the river prevented shingle being taken from the bed for use on the new embankments.

Work has been resumed this week. Six lorries under hire to the Railways Department through the New Zealand Road Transport Alliance are moving the material from the riverbed. So far about 19,000 cubic yards of material have been moved—about a third of what will be required to complete the job. Dual Effect of Work “In taking the material out of the river we are killing two birds with one stone,” said the assistant district civil engineer of the Railways Department (Mr R. H. Lovatt) yesterday. “We are helping to remove the aggradation in the river, and at the same time are building our approaches to the new bridge with good material.’’ The embankment of the south side of the river is being built first, and it will be another six weeks before it is completed. The new line will cross sand dunes and swamps. The route has been cleared of trees and stumps, and the surface is stripped before the shingle is laid out in a series of fourinch layers, each of which is compacted separately by a bulldozer. The new embankment will vary in height from 4ft to 15ft, and it will be 15ft Sin wide at the top.

The new Waimakariri fail bridge will- consist of 29 40ft spans. The sub-structure will consist of reinforced concrete piles and solid reinforced concrete caps or piers, rising 16 to 18ft from the water level to the underside of the girders. The Railways Department will itself complete the superstructure. At the south end of the main bridge an additional 100 ft bridge will be erected to take the place of the flood opening in the existing approach to the old bridge. Better Bridge Site The new bridge site is infinitely superior to that of the old bridge. The old bridge is on a bend and at an angle to the river. Its replacement on the existing site would involve the building of a much longer structure. Because it will be close to the traffic bridge, the new bridge will also benefit from protective works erected for the traffic bridge, and there will be a subsequent saving in cost. On the present railway line, there is another bridge over the old south branch of the Waimakariri near the Kaiapoi station, but as little water now flows in the south branch, no separate bridge will be needed on the deviation. A change in the alignment of Stewart’s Gully roaci will be aecessary as a result of the rail The road will eventually join the Main North road a few chains scfuth of the present junction. The change will eliminate what is considered a dangerous corner.