The recovery of the road and rail networks following the Kaikoura earthquake has been awarded the highest New Zealand engineering excellence honour, the Supreme Award at the Engineering NZ ENVI Awards.

Following a joint win in the Engineering Impact category (with Auckland Council‘s Te Auaunga), the NZ Transport Agency, KiwiRail and the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) alliance‘s work on the earthquake recovery was selected as the overall winner.

The judges said it set the benchmark for the rest of applicants and had set the standard for how we mobilise as a country to respond.

“The earthquake isolated coastal and rural communities overnight and the disruption to freight, tourism and primary industries was felt nationwide,” said Steve Mutton, chair of the NCTIR board and a director of regional relationships for the NZTA.

“The Transport Agency, KiwiRail and our alliance partners had a shared vision of ‘moving mountains to reconnect communities‘ and that‘s exactly what we did, in just over a year (under extreme pressure at times). It was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary situation.

“We‘re delighted that the incredible work of the thousands of men and women who worked to reopen the road and rail has been recognised with this award. We are now working to leave a safer and more resilient transport network for people to enjoy for generations to come.”