KiwiRail replaces two railway bridges in one weekend near Te Puke

Bay of Plenty Times 6/8/20

Last weekend KiwiRail staff and contractors replaced two railway bridges – Bridge 105 near Pukehina Beach Rd and Bridge 91 just outside Te Puke.

“In order to minimise the disruption to our freight customers, we replaced both bridges over the same weekend,” says KiwiRail chief operating officer, capital projects, David Gordon.

“Freight train services did not run between Te Maunga and Kawerau on Saturday and Sunday.

“We originally planned to do this work during Easter, however, the Covid-19 lockdown period meant we had to reschedule.

David says the old timber bridges had reached the end of their useful life and have now been replaced with modern concrete bridges.

“Upgrading the bridges provides greater resilience for our log, dairy and other freight traffic along this section of the East Coast Main Trunk line.

“The work is part of a wider regional resilience programme funded by the Provincial Growth Fund.”