Lights at the end of the tunnel

John Bridgman says the notion that infrastructure is an investment for the future is something we could learn from Australia. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Stringing 175km of power cables above Auckland's rail network is not as simple as it seems.

While a straightforward idea in principle, the man charged with powering up our rail lines from Swanson to Papakura is having to re-engineer the old network to install overhead cables in places they were never designed to be. The scheme also involves building the infrastructure to get electricity to where it is needed and put power control systems in place.

John Bridgman of global engineering firm Aecom is the project director for electrifying Auckland's rail network. His team quickly realised that the height restrictions of some rail bridges meant more clearance was needed to accommodate power cables.

He says depending on the design of the tunnel, creating more space can involve excavating the ground to lower the tracks or altering the bridge - and the road above it - to create more headroom. Every decision has a knock-on affect, so finalising the project is like playing a game of chess - only you need to know the winning move before the first pawn is pushed into place.

Bridgman says design of the electrification project is to be completed by the year-end, work will start next year and electric-powered trains should start running on the route by 2013. Working on the design is a team of engineers in Auckland, Sydney and Britain.

"We are drawing on standards from around the world to plan this project," he says. "Our people are using New Zealand's current standards - such as those used throughout the North Island - as well as drawing on standards from Australia and Britain."

Planning and preparation is one thing. Getting people with the training, skills and experience to actually do the work is quite another. New Zealand doesn't have a long history of electrifying railways so there are few people on the ground who can step in to work at the sharp end.

While finding people abroad with the right skills is not too hard, Bridgman admits that encouraging them to come here for a one-off project could present recruitment issues for firms such as his.

"A lot of the specialist expertise we need has to come from overseas," he says. "But these people have families and lives, so it is a challenge to relocate them here for a year."

Looking at the bigger picture in New Zealand, Bridgman says he is pleased major infrastructure projects are starting to get off the ground, but says decision-making time needs to be cut. Having worked on major projects in Australia, he has first-hand experience of the different attitudes taken by the two countries when it comes to signing off major schemes.

"We pay a lot of attention to the environment and the community here, but we can sometimes do a bit too much," he says. "We often spend a long time thinking about what we will do, and while we are improving in that area we can still make some good gains in actually getting on with jobs."

Bridgman says the approach in Australia tends to be that infrastructure investment is seen as an opportunity for change and a chance to invest in the future.

"Brisbane in particular has taken a new approach to investing in infrastructure to try to make it comparable to Sydney and Melbourne. Brisbane wants to be a good city to live in and competitive on the world stage as a metropolis. The north-south bypass will do that when it opens next year. There is a lot of anticipation there about this bypass."

Bridgman says the notion that infrastructure is an investment for the future is something we could learn from Australia.

"We need to look beyond the cost-benefit and consider how projects will benefit communities," he says. "Particularly when you get into very big infrastructure projects. For example, the Waterview road project at Mt Albert really struggled to demonstrate the value to the community - purely on the economic benefit of what it offered.

"In Australia a leadership call is often made by Government along the lines of 'let's get on with this job' because of the value it offers the community. In Melbourne you can see some very good examples of where investment in urban environments has created something for communities - rather than it just being a road."

Bridgman says though infrastructure projects need to make sense in their own right, it is just as important that work with the rest of the city. Integration is key.

"Every project needs to add a benefit to the city in terms of connectivity, or added value," he says. "So just spending a billion dollars on a town because something might look good isn't going to work. If it doesn't make sense to a taxi driver, a commuter or a user as to why this project should exist, then questions should be asked. There needs to be a planned view and that can often be a challenge."

Bridgman points to some good examples though. He says the Northern Gateway project is an investment that is adding value to the environment.

"But we can tend to be slow about recognising the value of what we can do - it takes time to digest those sorts of decisions," he says.

"However, it is heartening to see enthusiasm for infrastructure here because there is an opportunity for these sorts of projects, such as the Auckland CBD rail tunnel. That type of project will change the way the city will feel to its communities in the future."

One concern of Bridgman's is the cost of tendering for major projects. It's a game for high-rollers only, those who can toss a multimillion-dollar chip on the table and cross their fingers.

"The high cost of bidding for major projects is stifling competition in New Zealand," he says. "Those very big projects are hugely expensive to bid on and it is not sustainable for the Government or the bidders.

"The cost is so huge that some companies aren't bothering. There is a lot of thinking at Government level on how to get the best outcome verses the cost of bidding. And at the end of the day, the winning bidder will add the expense to the overall cost of a project."

Bridgman also wants to see a closer relationship between industry, banks and government. This, he says, will be key to getting large building projects off the ground as traditional public, private, partnership business models change into ones where lenders move to relying less on patronage - such as toll revenue - to recoup their investment.

"Banks are now far more risk averse than they were in the past," says Bridgman. "So those models are changing more towards funding with what you might term a 'de-risk' model.

"The Government is looking to retain some of the sovereign risk around patronage and usage, while the bankers are providing support around the infrastructure and its build form - so banks will underwrite the quality of the product and the Government underwrites the use of the product.

"I think that is probably a useful trend in New Zealand, because there is still an appetite from bankers to be involved in infrastructure. But we always struggle here with the volume of traffic - to make those projects bankable."

Looking ahead, Bridgman says work needs to be done to complete Auckland's Western Ring route "to get that up and running as quickly as we can".

"It is such a necessary part of the infrastructure and will deliver so much benefit when it's done," he says.

"And we need to complete the rail network, its electrification, and getting a system in place so it can deliver the value for users in terms of rail stations, connectivity, frequency of service. So projects such as the CBD rail tunnel can unlock capacity in the network and allow a real transport passenger system to work alongside buses.

"They are big spends. But they will both make a big difference to transport in Auckland and people living and working in the city will feel the benefit every day."

AECOM'S PROJECTS

Papakura Interchange
The project involves the further investigation of a preferred option to address safety and capacity issues at the existing interchange followed by the detailed design of the final scheme.

The preferred option includes a new northbound on ramp, three-lane duplication of the Beach Road overbridge and full signalisation of the ramp intersections.

The project objectives are to improve safety and address the immediate and future traffic demands on the interchange.

Auckland Rail Electrification
AECOM is undertaking the design of 175km of overhead electrification equipment, associated power supply substations, and switching equipment for the Auckland rail network between Swanson and Papakura. This project is a critical element of Ontracks's Auckland Electrification Project that is due to be completed in 2013.

Manukau Motorway Extension
AECOM is working on the SH20 to SH1 Motorway Link project (pictured), a new 5km long four-lane motorway.

It will connect from the existing SH20 motorway at Puhinui Road Interchange to a new connection to the SH1 Southern Motorway.

The scheme also provides for local road cycle ways and enabling works for the future construction of the Manukau Rail Link between the North Island Main Trunk Rail Line and Lambie Drive.

This project involves moving more then a million cubic metres of earth, construction of 11 bridges, and 250,000 m2 of pavement works.