BREAKING: Gas explosion cancels services

A gas explosion at Manurewa rail bridge has cancelled all services between Puhinui and Papakura. Weymouth Road is also closed. Fortunately there have been no reports of injury.

More to follow as it is reported.

UPDATE: Auckland Transport have just advised bus replacements are in place and NZ Bus are accepting rail tickets.

UPDATE 2: New Zealand Herald have updated their article:

Multiple explosions and a fireball have been reported on a rail overbridge on Weymouth Rd in Manurewa this morning. The road has been closed and fire crews on site are considering evacuating buildings.
The explosions are believed to have been caused by power cables, fire communications shift manager Jaron Phillips said.
"They started being reported to us before 8am. Some [witnesses] reported some kind of fireball and flames showing from the footpath area,'' he said.
What caused the power cables to make explosions is still being investigated.
The train line has been shut down and a nearby car park has been closed to traffic.
Commuters are advised to make alternative travel arrangements.
Three fire crews are on scene and another two are on their way.
So far it is unknown if there is any damage to the overbridge, which is near the Beaumonts Way intersection.
There are no buildings on fire, Mr Phillips said.

 (from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10823742)

New platform

The new platform is fast approaching completion, with more edging appearing.

The edging on the south end of the new platform is all but complete

At the north end, there is still a bit of work to do

Edge blocks ready to be placed

Still some excavation to do as well

Platform progress

The first of the new platforms at Papakura is starting to take shape.

The edging which has been installed so far gives a taste of the new platforms, which also looks as if it may be higher than the existing island platform

The north end of the station still looks like a bombsite

Platform edging

The first pieces of edging for the new platform have been placed, and the rest of the platform has the temporary wooden edging laid out.

A digger carefully lays the platform edging in place

Temporary wooden frames along the pit, marking out the edge of the platform

Is this hole where the station building will eventually move to?

Can't be too long now until trains start using the new platform!

New platform

The first signs of the new platform have appeared!

A concrete mixer pours concrete for the first new platform

Clutter

The worksite now looks very cluttered, and the station building has been chopped back a bit more.

In the pits a small stream has formed, complete with a waterfall

The pit runs along the worksite

Piles of ballast and dirt have sprung up near more machinery

Behind the station building demolition is under way, yet the remains of the old footbridge is still there

Small piles of dirt have appeared by the tracks. They look to be spaced for electrification mast bases

The "mini-building" in front of the main station building has now disappeared completely

This temporary level crossing is used by trucks to access the island platform

A truck dumps dirt into a pit

Edit: Some footage of a passenger train (on a training run: pun not intended) and a freight train squeezing their way through the worksite.

Rain rain go away...

As students (both high school and university) go back to education, the skies opened up and soaked Papakura with rain, putting a slight dampener on works.

Along with more works comes more bus replacements. The good news is that "busitution" appears to be happening less often, especially compared with a few years ago when all trains after 8pm on the Western Line were busituted, every day

Workers demolishing what was a barrier between the carpark and Platform 3, which is almost completely gone

Good thing the station building is boarded up in preparation for its big move

Rainwater fills the track pits

This workers seems unfased by the huge puddle of water

As of now, I have no information on when the station building will be moved (perhaps during one of the above shutdowns), but once I know I'll post here. (Edit: The station building is due to be moved over Christmas.)

Station building

At the end of the shutdown weekend, the station building had been cut back and the shape of the future platforms was starting to take shape.

The station building, with its shelters missing and the "nose" mostly chopped off

The future platforms are starting to take shape. Based on the plans from Auckland Transport, the dug pits are for new tracks, while the untouched ground is for platforms. You can make out where the dock platform will be in this shot

Shutdown weekend

This weekend passenger trains stopped running to allow work to carry on at Papakura station and elsewhere on the network. (Other works include building a walkway along the railway at Orakei, finishing off the walkway between Meadowbank and Orakei stations in the Orakei Basin.)

A freight train waits to pass a signal just north of the station. A small section of track is missing on the other line

Overview of today's work, with a lot more machinery around

The station building's shelters are now missing completely on one side, presumably in preparation for shifting

A worker cuts off the shelters

Not quite sure what this is on the platform...

There's a lot more machinery here too

The station building looks a lot different without the shelters

Pre-shutdown

This weekend (14 and 15 July), the entire suburban network will be closed for various works around the city, including at Papakura where KiwiRail will "demolish[...] existing structures on the island platform and [carry out] excavation and drainage work". With that in mind, I took some photos today of the station before any of this happened.

Panels for the station building shelter are now missing, presumably so they can be refurbished

Overview of the platform works from the Clevedon Road bridge

On both sides we now have workers, with a train squeezing through. Note how close the fence is to the train

Another train approaches the station as diggers work at the north end

On one side of the fence, things look completely finished, on the other it's a bomb site

Behind the station building, the temporary buildings that had been there for years are finally gone

Areas of the station that are untouched by workers are now seemingly a minority. Very little remains of what was once Platform 3

A lone rail protector stands north of the Clevedon Rd bridge - I counted three of these at the station. These men sound a horn when a train approaches the worksite

After the weekend I return to university, so these blog posts may become more frequent, even daily, as I'll be using the station every weekday and can keep a better eye on progress.

Platform works

Over the weekend KiwiRail have made some good progress on the construction of a new platform, with a pit being dug to allow construction to begin.

Overview of the platform construction

The site of the former Platform 3, with the pit now running alongside the railway

Most of the machinery has now moved to the south side of the footbridge

Very little now remains of what used to be Platform 3

4 July progress

I took a quick peek at the station today while on my way to Waiuku, and found that the workers are certainly getting a move-on now.

The hole is now full of water, thanks to some rain over the past few days. Other materials have also arrived on-site

Overview of the works from the Onslow Road bridge

Platform 3's demolition continues. Piles of rubble are now forming makeshift ramps

Can't be too long now until the new platforms start to take shape.

The next stage

The last post may have been a little premature. This week, work began on construction of the new platforms, with the workers starting off by digging a hole and demolishing the old Platform 3.

Workers and a digger dig out the former trackbed to make way for a platform

The hole dug so far at Papakura

On one side it's business as usual, on the other it's all systems go

Overview of the worksite

Platform 3 on 2 July. The shelter has now been demolished and the edging is being removed

Close-up of the edging of Platform 3

I'm expecting quite a bit of progress over the next few days, but last time I predicted progress I was wrong, so take this with a grain of salt.