Station's future hangs on rickety old bridge

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Serious safety concerns about a rickety old Auckland rail bridge are hastening a decision to abandon the station it leads to.

The Auckland Regional Authority is under pressure from the Land Transport Safety Authority in Wellington to make an early decision on the fate of Southdown station, which is estimated to draw fewer than 40 passengers a day on the southern rail line.

This follows an inspection by the safety agency of the rusty and slightly wobbly pedestrian overbridge to the station, to which passengers can gain no other lawful access over rail tracks on each side.

Anyone avoiding the bridge and crossing the tracks is liable to a fine of up to $20,000 or a maximum of six months in prison.

LTSA acting rail safety manager Bill Guest found "several serious faults arising from corrosion of steel, and the splitting and decay of timber, at structural connections".

He also noted weak guard-rails.

"There should be no more than a minimal delay if either repairing it or closing it," he wrote in a letter to the regional agency late in March.

That body referred the letter to the regional council, which has the final word and is leaning towards closing the station after the Auckland City Council has a chance to consult the local community and passengers can be told of alternative transport options.

These include catching buses to Penrose station about 2km to the north, or to Westfield to the south.

Senior regional council rail official Shane Ellison pointed out an additional hazard - from passengers having to walk or drive across an uncontrolled freight siding to get to the bridge in the first place.

"Eliminating these hazards has a significant cost and has brought forward consideration of withdrawal of rail services to and from Southdown," he told the Herald.

But he indicated the station itself would not be closed "as such", instead remaining available for services to resume should demand increase to the point of justifying the cost of pedestrian level-crossings or a refurbished bridge.

He said Southdown was the least-used of Auckland rail network's 40 stations, having suffered a 4.4 per cent decline in the past year, at a time when some others enjoyed more than double their previous patronage after the Britomart terminal opened.

Transport network risk and safety manager Bob Lupton said he examined the bridge within days of the LTSA inspection and imposed a load restriction of no more than 10 people on it at once, although it never got "anywhere near 10 persons".

The Herald noticed a slight wobble in the bridge, as well as a lack of wire mesh on either side of its main steps, a loose top step and extensive rust in its remaining steel work.