Pre-Easter shutdown

With Easter approaching, preparatory works have almost finished, with as much track as possible laid and ballasted. Very little actually needs to be done over the weekend.

New tracks laid through the station. Since this photo was taken much of the track has been ballasted

Track at the north end ready to be connected

The tamper group parked up

From what I can tell, all that needs doing over the long weekend is to connect the track and move the ticket machine back to its original location, and possibly some minor touchups - and then the upgrade is complete.

Before and after photos will be posted next week.

Ballast and sealing - nearly there

With ballast being laid on the last two track to be installed and the remainder of the platform being resealed, the upgrade project is fast approaching completion, with a deadline of Easter.

Ballast on the two new tracks (formally the Up Main, left, and Down Main, right) - only the Up Main has a platform attached

A digger spreads ballast on the Up Main. The diggers move much faster on rail

Two new signals in the foreground, with an unfinished signal in the background. These types of signals aren't very common, and Papakura has four of them, one at the south end of each platform. Briefly, these types of signals (with a single light on the top head) indicate that only medium speed is permitted

The shelter is still sans furniture, but has been resealed

The entire platform is now sealed, with tactile dots still to be installed

There is still some work to do at the north end of the new tracks, although it looks as though this work may be completed in time to lay track next weekend (Easter).

Track progress

Good progress is being made on the last two new tracks to be installed, with about half of the length of track laid.

The freight bypass track, left, and Platform 1's new track awaiting ballast and south end connections

As you can see there is still a bit of formation work to do around the north end

Some platform work is also happening

I think parts of the platform are being resealed

Track laying

We're finally seeing the last of the track laying work under way, with Platform 1's new track appearing recently.

Looking south. Hopefully the kink at the end of the new track isn't permanent

A digger hard at work laying new sleepers

Over at the shelter, seating is being removed, although I'm not sure why

Bigger kink

South of Platform 2, a big kink has appeared in the temporary track, signalling (pun not intended) that the final layout is almost here.

That's quite a sharp corner...

This view from the footbridge shows the kink more clearly, as well as where the track will eventually run

North of the platform, there is some way to go before the formation is ready for track

And some idiot has decided that fencing off the tag posts was a good idea. There is only one other tag post on the platform by the lift, and about 4-5 on Platform 3