Porirua Area Capacity Enhancements (PACE)

The PACE Project involved a complete upgrade of Plimmerton Station north of Wellington. The upgrades were required to enable an enhanced timetable to be implemented as a part of the WMUPIV capacity upgrades in Wellington. Building within the metro regions of the NIMT is hard, we we’ve made sure that the capacity increases achieved here will be suitable for at least the next 3o years.

Vitruvius was responsible for providing the complete project and design management service, working alongside strategic partners and sub-consultants. We were directly responsible for delivering the detailed spatial track and earthworks models, as well as the drainage design and third-party utilities models.

The work was delivered through five phases of work:

• Survey, client requirements & options assessment
• Concept design
• Developed/detailed design & consenting
• Procurement and construction planning
• Construction delivery

Here is a shortlist of the key pieces of infrastructure delivered by the project:

• A new downmain (third main) through Plimmerton Station
• A new station platform including 2 x new shelters
• Major upgrade of the existing station platform
• A new pedestrian underpass and station access ramps/stairs
• Safety improvements (automatic gates) for 5 x pedestrian crossings and 2 x vehicle crossings (Pascoe Avenue and Steyne Avenue)
• 8 x new turnouts to facilitate a high-speed turnback at Plimmerton
• 9km of signalling upgrade between Porirua and Pukerua Bay to facilitate bi-directional running
• 1km of electrification upgrade to facilitate the new track layout

All of the above was delivered in and around 95 Block of Lines of various forms, with no LTI’s or serious injuries. A huge achievement from all involved.

The PACE Project was delivered within KiwiRail’s BIM pilot programme, which is focussed on project delivery using best practice information management processes and harnessing the power of operating in a model-based environment. Vitruvius committed to going on the digital journey with KiwiRail and helped develop new design and construction management tools that were standardised across the business.  Furthermore, the final as built Asset Information Model (AIM) was handed back to KiwiRail for input into their asset management system, Maximo. The metadata information provided with each design model will go a long way to improving KiwiRail’s ongoing asset management programme.