Bridge 217 Replacement, Napier

At the start of 2023 Bridge 217 was destroyed during Cyclone Gabrielle. This bridge is a key component of the Palmerston North to Gisborne Railway line. Spiral Drillers were contracted as part of the emergency works to install the piles for the critical railway bridge. Once established on site we were engaged by our client to work through solutions to use both our 80-ton crane and temporary staging to place the main bridge girders and permanent works, once piling had been completed.

The project involved driving 762mm diameter Bottom Driven Steel Tube Piles using our 8-ton drop hammer. The piles were bottom driven to an end of drive set target and capacities verified using PDA.

We mobilised to site in mid-May, installed 12 piles to between 35-43 metres and installed our temporary staging 48 metres off land. The piling crew worked every second weekend to accelerate the construction programme given the critical nature of the rail line.

When our contract scope ended, we worked with United Civil to complete the main structure lifts as we removed the staging. We utilised our crane and crew to complete super structure placement where we lifted in all headstocks, bracing and permanent rail girders from the stage access.