THE KAIKOURA JOB: Rebuilding KiwiRail's Main North Line

摘要

The awakening news of the Kaikoura earthquake at 12:02am on 14 November 2016 was a shock to all who saw the graphic pictures of the devastation on TV and in the news media. They showed the effects of a 7.8 magnitude shake with all the lateral ground displacements, rockfalls, uplifts and the resultant damage imparted to all the man-made structures that were in the way. It was the greatest catastrophe in terms of damage that has ever befallen the New Zealand rail network. A gruesome sight, and yet, unless you happen to see and experience the area first hand, it depicts but a small measure of the true enormity of the event.Rob Merrifield's book helps to correct this imbalance. The title, The Kaikoura Job, was the same as that given by the men who completed this final link of the Main North Line in the 1930s and 1940s. It provides a full array of photographs showing before, during and after views with a commentary covering all aspects of the event, both historical, seismic and re-constructional details.