Finishing touches

The finishing touches are now being installed on the new platforms, and more ballast appears on the track.

Tactile dots have been installed on the dock platform, and ballast is now covering its track

What is presumably the emergency help post hiding under a box

Tactile strips being installed leading up to the tag post

Security cameras and lights have been installed

The signal is still headless

Behind the station building works continues on the carpark

Tactile dots also appeared at the end of the access ramp at the north end

Work continues on the platform itself

Sealed

The gap in the platform has now been sealed, as has the various access paths to it.

You can definitely tell where the original asphalt ends and the new one starts

Some ballast has also been laid on the new tracks

Nearly there

The platform is nearly completed and should come into use in the next few weeks.

Access paths to the new platform are almost ready to be sealed

The refurbished station building's deck leads down onto the platform

A gap still exists in the platform sealing, but presumably this will be fixed when the paths are sealed

Track for the dock platform has now been laid

Signalling work has begun, with the first new signal post appearing

Completion imminent

The new platforms are starting to look like a functional railway station, with tracks laid and awaiting ballast and tactile dots on the edge being slowly installed, one by one.

At the north end, the final track layout can be made out

At the south end, track laying isn't quite finished, and the dock hasn't even been started

Workers install tactile dots one by one

The gap in asphalt still exists, for now

The new shelter with wiring work yet to be done. Note the ramp and stairs at the end of the station building's new deck

Track laying

During the day the first sections of track appeared onsite.

Tracks appeared today at the north end of the new platform

At the other end, the dock platform sealing has begun. Note too its basic shelter compared to the "main" platform

A gap still exists in the asphalt

Tactile feedback dots are also being installed along the edge of the platform

However, the short section of track currently laid is merely the runoff siding (designed to derail trains in the event of a runaway) - the "main" tracks are yet to be installed.

Temporary ticket office

While not much has appeared to happen over the weekend, a temporary ticket office has sprung up.

Roughly where the old one was too: at the end of the island platform

I was quite surprised that no track was laid over the weekend given that the ballast has all been laid ready for it. Maybe during the next shutdown.

Sealing

Sealing of the new platforms has begun.

The north end of the newly sealed platform

The southern end, with the new shelters and station building

A gap in sealing exists under the bridge, for now

Building and ballast

While all the excitement about HOP floats around, work carries on at Papakura, with the station building receiving some detailing, and a deck - slightly above platform level - is being built.

Overview of the station building as of this morning. Note the new shelter over the top of the window, which hasn't been installed yet, and the railings for the deck

Close-up of the new deck, to face the platform

A truck arrives with more ballast ready for laying. The track is laid on top of this before more ballast is dumped on the tracks, and then finally tamped (shaking the ballast around to let it settle)

Close-up of the new ballast on the track bed

With a shutdown this weekend, who knows what may happen?

Here comes HOP

Some readers of this blog may have seen the title of this post and thought "hang on, HOP's been out for a year already!" Well, it has, sort of. The current HOP card used on NZ Bus services (Waka Pacific, North Star, GO West, Metrolink and LINK services) is actually a Snapper card, similar to - and compatible with - the cards used in Wellington, just with HOP branding applied. Some of you may remember that Snapper was recently dumped from the integrated ticketing project due to them not being able to meet deadlines. Because of this, Snapper HOP (or SnOP) will be phased out instead of merely complementing the new card as was the plan.

Testing of the AT HOP card began yesterday, with around 100 people signing up to the pilot program. I was one of the lucky ones able to join this program and can report it works very well.

Tagging off at Papakura

In the photo above I'm tagging off at Papakura after tagging on using the gates at Britomart. You can see that the deducted fare is being displayed on the left (a discount of at least 10% off cash fares applies to HOP cards) along with my remaining balance on the right. The system is very simple to use from a user perspective, and, all going well, rolls out to the general public for use on trains on 27 October, with ferries following in late November and all buses (not just NZ Bus) next year.

Here comes HOP. For real this time.