Freight hub making good progress
From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
The $18m Fairfield Freight Hub is making steady progress towards being ready earlier than expected.
Wareing Group director Mark Wareing says that after five months of construction, things are tracking ahead of schedule thanks to a dry winter.
The completion date was October next year when construction began, based on the timing of doing the surface sealing after winter, he said.
“At this stage, we are on track to get that done before winter — so maybe April.”
That could mean the shunting yards could shift out of the centre of town early next year and out to the freight hub.
That was a pleasing progress report for the Ashburton District councillors and Rangitata MP Jo Luxton who were visiting the site.
The new rail siding, replacing and extending the old siding of the former Fairton freezing works, is nearing completion.
The only delay could be the installation of the new signals by KiwiRail, Wareing said.
Then the focus goes on preparing the 35,000sqm site for pavement sealing, which includes 1058m of kerb and channel around the outside.
The pavement is in two halves, truck only and container storage.
Contractors Fulton Hogan and Tarbotton Civil are working towards getting the truck-only side completed by the end of December.
The other half will then follow in the new year, followed by the construction of a storage shed and reefer towers.
“A reefer tower has power in it that you can keep a chilled or frozen container going.”
The hub will have the capacity for 120 containers to be kept chilled once all four reefer towers are completed.
Once operational the hub will process about 20,000 containers per year and moving the containers on rail will see a reduction of about 40,000 truck movements per year, Wareing said.
The installation of the Waka Kotahi’s weigh stations north of Rakaia could also be a boost for the hub Wareing said, with more operators looking to utilise rail.
The project is a tri-party commercial development led by the Wareing Group (which wholly owns Fairfield Freight Hub Ltd) with KiwiRail and the Ashburton District Council.
The council is contributing $2.3m to help fund the relocation of the rail yard from the town centre to the purpose-built facility at Fairton, which will be covered by funding from the Three Waters Reform Better Off Funding support package.
The Government is also chipping in with $2.5m from Waka Kotahi’s NZ Upgrade Programme.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.9% Summer
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36.6% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
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