Valerie digs for Auckland rail

An Auckland City Rail Link digging machine has been named after Olympic gold medalist Valerie Adams - unbeknownst to her.

Florence and the Machine, Little Red Riding Hood, Greek goddess Athena and Kowhai were all put forward by students at Sir Edmund Hillary School in Papakura for two boring machines that will dig under Auckland’s CBD.

But it was Valerie and Maia that were chosen to name the machines that Connectus, a McConnell Dowell and Hawkins joint venture, will use to dig the City Rail Link (CRL) Albert St stormwater tunnels.

The name Valerie was submitted by both Jasmine Matthews and Kauri Poki in honour of Adams’ strength.

The womens shot putter has two Olympic gold medals and four world championship gold medals to her name. Most recently she won silver at the Rio Olympics.

Adams says she was quite surprised when she found out she was the namesake for the machine.

‘‘It’s quite an interesting object to have named after me, but I guess it’s appropriate because it’s strong and so am I,’’ Adams said.

She said she would have preferred being named after a Ferrari but did see the funny side.

‘‘It’s kind of hilarious, I just hope one day I can ride on this machine.’’

CRL will use two 3.4 kilometre long tunnels up to 42 metres below the city streets to create a rail line linking Britomart and the city centre with the existing western line near Mt Eden.

Principal Kataraina Nock says it was a ‘‘wonderful’’ opportunity to participate in the competition.

‘‘To think they can all take a ride on the CRL in years to come and know they’ve been part of its creation makes this meaningful and special.’’

The two machines will replace the existing stormwater main and re-divert the Orakei sewer main under Albert St. One of the world’s largest piling rigs is now on site building the 362 piles needed for construction of the first tunnel. The piles are 20 metres deep and each is filled with two trucks of concrete and reinforcing cages. These will line the Albert St tunnels and work is expected to be finished in April 2017.

The CRL is set to cost between $2.5 billion and $3.4b and is expected to be completed by 2022.