Work underway to repair damaged rail bridge

Photo: Chris Lynch

KiwiRail has begun work to reopen the 610-metre rail bridge over the Rangitata River, which lost one of its piers during flooding on Friday.

This morning, KiwiRail engineers were able to make a close inspection of the damage to the rail bridge.

Chief Infrastructure Officer, André Lovatt said “Despite the spans sagging, they appear to be structurally sound. We have not found damage to any other piers or spans.

“We have now begun work with our civil contractors to divert the river flow away from the area where the pier was washed away. This work is expected to take a few days.

 “By mid-next week we aim to begin building temporary supports for the bridge, which will allow freight trains to resume running. This work is expected to take up to two weeks (from now), however further inclement weather is expected towards the end of next week which could disrupt our work programme.”

 Permanent replacement of the pier will be carried out once the bridge is operational.

 “We continue to work with our customers to keep their freight moving between Invercargill, Dunedin and Christchurch. Rail services can run from the north to Christchurch and Ashburton and from the south to Timaru. Connecting rail freight is being managed using road bridging operations.”