The public walkway attached to the Ava Rail Bridge will be closed from February 2025, when new safety requirements take effect.
KiwiRail General Manager Metros Jon Knight says the aging sleepers on the rail bridge will be replaced and, due to how it is attached to the bridge, the public walkway will need to be removed.
“In Budget 2024 Government has made a significant $52.9 million investment in the Wellington metro network, which includes replacing the aging sleepers and rail on the Ava bridge. This work is crucial to ensure Hutt Valley
Line services can keep running and we need to get onto the repairs - starting in February next year.
“The bridge and walkway are almost 100 years old. Unfortunately, the way the walkway was built – sitting on extended sleepers and attached to the bridge spans – is not allowed by modern engineering standards which will come into effect when our re-sleepering work begins.”
“We appreciate that the public walkway is used by locals, including high school students, to get across the Hutt River. However, standards have come a long way since the bridge was first built and we need to meet those modern safety requirements.
The Ava Rail Bridge is owned by KiwiRail, and the walkway by Hutt City Council.
The walkway and bridge date from the 1920s. KiwiRail is building maintenance accessways on the bridge, as part of the track upgrade, but these do not have any protections / separation from the tracks so cannot be used by the public.
Mr Knight said there are existing safety concerns with the walkway, which is not adequately separated from the rail line over the bridge.
“A replacement walkway could be built, provided it is attached to the Ava Bridge’s concrete piers. If this is something Hutt City Council wants to fund, we will work with them to make it happen. In the interim, from February, there will not be any public access across the river at Ava.
The next closest access across the Hutt River is about 1km away, at either the Waione Street bridge to the south or the Ewen Bridge to the north.
KiwiRail is undertaking major renewals and upgrades across the Wellington metro network and Wairarapa Line, to lift its standard, improve train service reliability and prepare for future growth. The Ava Bridge work is one of these necessary renewals.