Bridge 194 - The finished product

An aerial view of the new bridge over the Pleasant River at Goodwood. Photo courtesy of KiwiRail April 2024.

Earlier this year, HEB Construction and KiwiRail completed the new bridge over the Pleasant River. The Pleasant River is just south of Palmerston and directly north of the old Goodwood station site on the Main South Line between Christchurch and Invercargill. 

As part of the Rail Network Investment Programme, the old bridge which was a 12 span timber beam bridge that had very much reached the end of its working life was replaced with a four span concrete ballast bridge. The replacement bridge is the first of KiwiRail's ballast bridge designs to be constructed.

With a bit of spare time one cold and clear Saturday morning I was able to get out and see the finished product, the new Bridge 194 over the Pleasant River.

The eastern side of Bridge 194 crossing the Pleasant River and Brooklands Road. 

The beautiful winter sun stayed low in the sky which made getting a good shot of the whole bridge difficult. From the western side I was looking into the sun and from the eastern side there were plenty of shadows. I decided to work from the eastern side even though the shadows played havoc with photography.

The four concrete spans of the new bridge.

The bridge is a great example of good engineering. Throughout the construction process, the bridge remained open to trains except for some weekend block of lines for critical work. 

A temporary bridge was built alongside the existing bridge to provide crane access. Pile casings were first driven into the ground before being filled with concrete. On the top of the casings, concrete cross beams were cast in place. This work was done with the old bridge still in place. Over an extended block of line, the old timber bridge was removed and the new spans which had been assembled onsite from precast concrete beams were placed on the piers. Much of the construction material including the casings and beams were brought in by rail.

Precast concrete bridge beams and wingwalls were brought in by special work train in January 2024. Photo courtesy of HEB Construction from their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HEBConstruction.

HEB and KiwiRail used a work train to bring in over 250 tons of precast concrete bridge components including eight 15 metre bridge beams, four precast wingwalls and a container of crane lifting equipment. The train used standard container wagons with special bolsters and  eliminated approximately 8,400 km's of heavy haulage transport would have been required to transport the concrete components from the factory in Hornby in Christchurch to the Pleasant River site.

One of the the bogie container wagons, IK 16140 which was used to transport the precast concrete bridge beams using special bolsters seen here in the Palmerston yard.

A close up of one of the bolsters on bogie container wagon IK 16140.

With time to spare I had a good look around the new bridge.

Another view of the four spans and three piers looking northwards.

The first pier and northern bridge abutment.

A side on view of the third pier.

A view of the underneath of the new bridge taking in the first and second piers.

Piers two and three and the southern bridge abutment.

The third concrete bridge span

Rubber pads between the bridge pier and concrete span.

The southern bridge abutment.

A side on view of the southern bridge abutment.

A close up of the rubber pads between the fourth concrete span and the southern bridge abutment.

A view of the southern brigade abutment from track height.

Ballasted concrete span bridges, while common in other countries, are relatively new in New Zealand. Some of the advantages of a ballasted bridge include lower maintenance costs compared to traditional timber bridges, the ease of keeping track level while the bridge supports settle and the ease of track maintenance as its essentially a continuation of the normal ballasted track.  

The ballasted track across the bridge.

As well as the construction of the bridge, KiwiRail also upgraded the approaches on both sides of the bridge including new concrete sleepers, rail and ballast..

The approach to the new bridge looking south towards the former Goodwood Station site.

It is obvious the HEB Construction and KiwiRail took great care to rehabilitate the former construction yard and return the ground and the river back to its previous condition. 

The former construction yard area.

It has been fascinating watching HEB Construction and KiwiRail go about building this new bridge. Everyone involved should be congratulated and be proud of their mahi in upgrading infrastructure on the MSL so it can keep doing what it does best, moving freight and hopefully people long into the future.

And that's about it.