Winning a global engineering award ahead of city railways in India, innovative British windfarms and a huge river bridge in Scotland is testament to Kiwi ingenuity and engineering excellence, KiwiRail’s Acting Chief Executive Todd Moyle says.
“The rebuild of the Main North Line railway and State Highway One following the Kaikoura earthquake has achieved global recognition by beating nine other major engineering projects to win a prestigious international award – the Institution of Civil Engineers People’s Choice Award.”
KiwiRail, the New Zealand Transport Agency and the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) alliance were announced winners of the award by the London-based institution earlier today.
“This is an amazing win for New Zealand and highlights this country’s expertise in civil engineering and earthquake recovery,” Todd Moyle says.
“We’re known as masters of number eight wire thinking, but we’ve taken that attitude and turned it into engineering excellence recognised around the world.
“KiwiRail, our partners NZTA and the NCTIR alliance brought together the best civil engineering and construction capability in New Zealand to deliver what was a massively complex project. This award is for everyone who worked on that project, and the communities who supported us over the two years it took.
“The ICE award is determined by popular vote, and we are very thankful to all those people who voted for us.
“We were the only Southern Hemisphere finalist alongside nine high profile projects from much larger countries such as the United Kingdom and India.”
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is a professional membership body for civil engineers worldwide who work across government and industry. This year is the first year the award has been open to entrants from outside the UK, to mark ICE’s bicentenary.
Other finalists included the 2.7 km long Forth river replacement bridge in Scotland; an innovative offshore wind farm generating electricity for 34,000 household near Newcastle, England; a new metro rail system in Hyderabad India; and a Hong Kong Harbour area waste water treatment scheme.