Customer: KiwiRail Location:  Auckland Contract: Early Contractor Engagement (ECI), Design & Build

Fast Facts Constructed 19 km of combined services route  Including over 21,000 tonnes of structural fill and 23,000 tonnes of ballast ready for 4.1 km of new track to be installed by KiwiRail  Involved Auckland's largest network shutdown over seven days from Boxing Day 2021 Zero LTIs

eTRACS, a John Holland and McConnell Dowell joint venture, together with Jacobs and KiwiRail has completed the detailed design and early works for the Papakura to Pukekohe Electrification Upgrade Project (or P2P) to electrify the track between the Papakura and Pukekohe Train stations in Auckland, New Zealand. 

The eTRACS team constructed 19 km of new signal ducting, drainage works, level crossing, and track upgrades as part of the Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contract signed with KiwiRail in August 2020.  

The P2P project is funded through the Government’s New Zealand Upgrade Programme and is part of KiwiRail’s $1 billion investment in the Auckland Metro Upgrade Programme. It was one of the first ‘shovel ready’ projects processed through the new Covid Recovery Fasttrack Consenting  Act to begin construction. The project provided a number of jobs, training and development opportunities and focussed on using local suppliers and services to help stimulate the South Auckland economy.  At the peak of the Christmas Block of Line works in 2021, one of the biggest KiwiRail has undertaken, almost 500 people were employed onsite. 

Project Scopes:

• Design and consenting 
• Enabling works including: Site and vegetation clearance, service relocations, surveys and ground investigations 
• Combined Service Route: trenching and duct installation,directional drilling and undertrack crossings, pit installation, signalling civil works 
• Five level Crossing upgrades 
• Formation and drainage works at five locations North Drury Junction, Drury South (Southern Crossover & - Northern Crossover), Tuhimata, Pukekohe Station, Pukekohe South  so new track could be laid for bi-directional running  
• And civil works at Pukekohe Train Station station to allow for more services, longer trains and more stabling  

Enabling works were completed in 2022.

Watch a video of the action during Christmas 2021 here:

For more information about the P2P project and KiwiRail’s broader Auckland Metro Programme