What we achieved during the winter works

Over the last couple of weeks works ramped up on the Blackburn Level Crossing Removal Project.

The team worked around the clock while the Belgrave/Lilydale rail line and Blackburn Road was temporarily closed. The project team of 250 worked over 35,000 hours during the nine day works period.

Blackburn Road was closed for just over 2 weeks, so that it could be excavated to allow us to begin building the new bridge foundations and bridge abutments. These works prepare the road for when the rail line is lowered and vehicles travel over the new Blackburn Road bridge early next year.

During the closure of the rail line we had 6 piling rigs, five cranes and around 40 excavators and trucks operating 24 hours per day while we installed approximately 280 piles along the rail corridor. These piles will form the walls of the rail cutting that in some locations will be lowered by up to nine meters.

Major excavation works for the rail trench will begin at the end of the year.

A massive thank you to the community for your patience and understanding as we work to remove this dangerous and congested level crossing.

What's next?

The work doesn't stop for the team who will now look to complete work along the rail corridor.

Upcoming works include finishing:

• installation of the1200 piles needed for the new rail cutting
• retaining walls along the entire corridor
• capping beams for all the piles
• installation of major drainage near Blackburn station.

In late December rail and road closures will be required again over a four week period to complete major works, including lowering the rail line and removing the level crossing.

The overall project will be complete in mid 2017.

Checkout images of our progress during the 9 day shut down of the rail and the 16-day road closure on our Facebook page.

Key statistics

Activities completed include:

• up to 138 buses used for hundreds of train replacement services daily, moving around 165,000 customers
• bulk excavation and removal of almost 12,000 tonnes of soil for the bridge abutments, road works and rail cutting
• pouring of approximately 13,000 tonnes of concrete for bridge abutments and piles
• installation of approximately 280 piles including 5.2km of steel reinforcement cages
• 40 tonnes of structural steel tied into the bridge abutments
• installation of a 51 tonne bridge plank at Cottage Street, lifted in by a 350 tonne crane.