$2m offer for bridge upsets city

KiwiRail's $2 million contribution towards a new bridge over its railway line at Henderson has outraged ratepayers, who say the corporation was far more generous towards a similar one on Remuera Rd in Newmarket.

Waitakere City ratepayers will pay $6.5 million on top of what the corporation says is its fair share to replace a bridge which takes Sturges Rd traffic over the Western Line.

But Auckland City ratepayers will get the Remuera Rd bridge free, courtesy of the state railway agency.

Both replace old structures built by NZ Railways when lines were put through cuttings to ease the uphill climb for locomotives.

Veteran civic leader Assid Corban recalls watching steam trains sliding backwards as they tried to climb the grade between the Henderson and Sturges Rd stations.

"After World War II, Railways decided to put in a cutting through the steep hill to ease the grade, taking the track below the level crossing for Sturges Rd.

"So Railways had to put a bridge over the line in the 1940s, but now KiwiRail is saying it's our responsibility to replace it."

The Sturges Rd bridge had to be wider to serve a double-track railway and 60cm higher to accommodate overhead wires for electric trains.

Until 1992, railway bridges were a Crown asset. Railways was responsible for maintenance on the structure and local councils for the road or tarmac part. A law change passed maintenance of the bridges to local councils.

KiwiRail spokeswoman Jenni Austin said the Newmarket four-lane bridge followed a policy of replacing "like with like". The bridge, part of a $20 million project, had to be replaced to give the height clearances for electrification and the width to take a new triple track through the station.

She said the Auckland City Council had not sought enhancements for the replacement, but the Waitakere City Council had.

Its replacement would be a lane wider than the original two-lane bridge and have room for walkways and intersection improvements.