The restoration of the Main North Line on New Zealand’s South Island following the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016 has won an international award for excellence.
Project partners who formed the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery alliance after the major earthquake were recognised in September at the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association’s annual awards.
The rail line recovery became the first entry from outside the United States and Canada to win the prestigious WW Hay Award for Excellence.
KiwiRail chief operating officer for capital projects David Gordon said the award was recognition of the work done by the NCTIR team following the earthquake event.
“The restoration project was one of the largest ever undertaken here in New Zealand,” Gordon said. “This is further recognition of the remarkable efforts by all our teams in NCTIR to have the Main North Line reopened to restricted freight services within 10 months of the earthquake and a return to 24/7 operations for both freight and tourism services the following year.”
Previous winners of the WW Hay Award include the project to rebuild stations and rail links damaged in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, and reconstruction efforts following Hurricane Katrina in 2006.
More than 1.1 million tonnes of freight has been moved on the Main North Line since it was reopened in September 2017.