Join the RTSA NZ Chapter for their end of year event – New Train Control Centre & KiwiRail Engineering Team at 5:30-7:30 pm Tuesday 12th December in person in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, or online.

Please join us for our end of year get together, including a presentation on the new Rail Operations Centre in Wallaceville as well as a presentation from KiwiRail’s Network Engineering team on their goals for the future.

The event will be broadcasted across parallel sites in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch with members and guests welcome to attend in any of these locations for networking with some drinks and nibbles before and after the presentations. The event will also be broadcast as a webinar for those not able to attend in person.

For those attending the Wellington venue please note that the dinks and nibbles after the presentation will be hosted at an additional venue, details for this to come.

Event Details

5:30 – 7:30pm

Tuesday 12th December

Auckland: Beca Offices, 21 Pitt Street, Auckland CBD
Wellington: Engineering New Zealand, Level 6, 40 Taranaki Street, Wellington ( Post Presentation Drinks & Nibbles Venue: TBC)
Christchurch: Beca Offices, ANZ Centre, Level 2, 267 High Street, CBD
Online: Via Zoom (6pm start)

About the Speakers

New Rail Operations Centre – KiwiRail’s National Train Control, which controls train movements across most of the country, moved into new premises in Wallaceville, Upper Hutt earlier this year. The new control centre in Upper Hutt watches over every railway track from Invercargill to Whangārei, bar the Auckland commuter network which has its own separate centre. The 2800m2 facility is staffed by more than 100 people and is located at the Blue Mountains Campus in Wallaceville. The facility tracks and monitors each line around the country in real time, giving the operational team the ability to direct traffic or negotiate track obstructions as quickly as possible. Carl Mills’ talk will cover both the performance aspects of the new facility as well as how it was designed and constructed and particularly how its operation was transferred over from the previous facility.

KiwiRail Network Engineering Team – The Engineering Team is a diverse team that delivers many different functions across all the disciplines that deliver rail infrastructure, including signals, telecommunications, traction, electrical, track, structures and civil. Included in its functions are developing and maintaining technical standards and policies, engineering technical advice and in-house design and design management services as well as a wide variety of other services. Christina Hawke’s presentation will cover off both aspects of these works but also the Network Engineering teams recent developments and its goals for the future.

Carl Mills – has worked in the rail industry since 1994 in the New Zealand in a variety of roles including Regulatory Relationship Manager and national Manager of Network Operations. Currently he is Project Director – Control Systems Integration responsible for upgrading KiwiRail’s control systems and facilities, including the construction and commissioning of the new Wallaceville centre.

Christina Hawk – is originally from Hawaii having also spent time working in California before moving to New Zealand in 2019. She joined KiwiRail in early 2022 as the Engineering Civil Sector Manager. In this role she is responsible for the line management of KiwiRail professional engineering team responsible for business as usual, renewals and improvements for civil, track and structures infrastructure.

Registration Information

Click here to register on the Engineering New Zealand website.