Flood waters washed away one of the 34 piers in the 610 metre long rail bridge over the Rangitata River near Timaru.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This resulted in the bridge sagging and all trains in the area have been stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A KiwiRail spokesperson said engineers were\u00a0putting together a repair plan “but at this stage we have been unable to undertake a close physical inspection of the damage due to the high water levels”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flood waters have washed away one of the piers holding up the rail bridge over the Rangitata River resulting in the steel bridge spans sagging. Photo: Connor Haley<\/p>\n\n\n\n The recently opened\u00a0Fairfield Freight Hub near Ashburton would be used to keep rail freight moving between Invercargill and Christchurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We will be able to move rail freight by road between Ashburton and our Timaru rail terminal (approximately 50kms) while the bridge is closed,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KiwiRail could not comment on how long it would take to repair the bridge or if there would be further damage to the bridge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n About eight freight trains travel across the bridge every weekday, and about five each weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No passenger trains use the line south of Christchurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rakaia River and Rangitata River both peaked in the upper reaches early this morning, an Environment Canterbury spokesperson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rakaia rose to about 2100 m3\/s and the Rangitata to around 1100 m3\/s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “These flows will pass through the lower reaches today,” the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Overflows from either river are unlikely, but landowners adjacent to these rivers should monitor their own situation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Environment Canterbury staff will monitor vulnerable locations to check for any issues during the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Freight will be moved on trucks to keep the Invercargill to Christchurch rail link open after a bridge failure cut the\u00a0South Island main trunk line this afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":27130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,7597,3407,30,163],"tags":[7726,7306,7],"class_list":["post-27129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-bridge-collapse","category-bridge-strike","category-bridges-tunnels","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","tag-kiwirail","tag-nz","tag-transport"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-12-at-3.42.55\u202fpm-1024x480.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n