Update on Avondale's rail situation

I think the last post on the blog about the Avondale rail situation was back in January. There's a reason for that -- not much has happened, except they opened up Crayford Street level crossing by shifting it northwards, and did some rumbling stuff with the trucks at the old station site. This last week, though, they're starting to get serious. Late August, they scraped away a flat area at the end of Crayford Street East, and on 3 September shut down the level crossing, and brought in the heavy machinery.

Meanwhile, back at the old station site -- nothing much.


This from the Project Dart site:

"The station is being upgraded and moved to Layard Street. It will be on a straight section of track between Crayford St and St Judes St , and the platforms will be longer at 140m. The new station will be level with the road with several different access points.

The pedestrian level crossing will be upgraded with automatic gates to ensure safe crossing of the tracks and safe access to the platforms.

Construction at the new Avondale Station is intensifying and will be mostly complete by the end of 2009. The station will open when the future New Lynn rail trench is complete in mid-2010. In the meantime, the temporary station to the east of Blockhouse Bay Rd will allow work to continue."

Which might mean I lose my direct walking link with Avondale Shops until mid-2010, or (if I'm lucky) only until the end of this year. I'm hoping for the latter.

Update: I've found a YouTube clip of the double-tracking at Chalmers Street, here.

Another update (9 September 2009): A post on the Auckland Trains blog on Avondale's railway transition.