Digging in at the Britomart project

By BERNARD ORSMAN

The big dig for an underground railway station at the Britomart site in downtown Auckland is well under way.

A giant hole the length of three rugby fields, and one that would fit a three-storey building is appearing as fast as trucks can remove 178,000 cu m of soil and rock from the site at the back of the old Chief Post Office.

This compares with 311,000 cu m hauled away for an even bigger hole when Sky City was built in the mid-90s.

Up to 80 trucks a day are carting the spoil from Britomart to a quarry at Wiri - some via a 500m underground tunnel that will connect to the train station and already built at a cost of $16.5 million.

The tunnel is being used to limit traffic snarl-ups around the project, which has already closed Britomart Place, Gore St and Commerce St.

Since the end of November, Downer Construction has dug 40m of the 340m from Britomart Place to the old Chief Post Office - to a depth of 12m.

The excavation is due to be finished by mid-June.

German construction company Bauer has brought two drilling rigs to New Zealand to drive 408 piles into the ground to keep out seawater on the reclaimed land, and form the basis of the underground walls.

Work has started on the main roof and the site is ready for the first concrete pour on the base floor.

When the $96.6 million stage one contract is completed in April next year, the railway station will have four commuter tracks and one inter-city track, with provision for two light rail tracks in the future.

Tenders for the next stage, to renovate the Chief Post Office, will go out next month for work to start in May.

This will be followed by tenders to spruce up Queen Elizabeth Square and streets around the 3.5ha Britomart precinct.

Britomart is being built at a cost of $211 million.

Auckland City ratepayers are paying $134 million plus $12 million in interest costs. Infrastructure Auckland and Transfund are contributing $45 million and $20 million respectively.

Auckland Mayor John Banks is critical of the "$211 million train garage" but having inherited the project (it received the go-ahead from the previous council), he says it is important to build it on time and under budget.

He says that although trains are a vital part of the regional transport network, the grand regional rail scheme planned before the last local body elections has to be scaled back, including plans for light rail in central Auckland.

"I don't see us going back to a light rail focus for 25 years."

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