Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s the five station modules coming to land at Keon Parade.
Sections of the new Keon Park Station, measuring around 30 metres long and known as modules, have been put together on site after being trucked to Keon Parade.
Sutcliffe Fabrications in Hallam prepared the steel beams, which were then joined and lifted into place to create the structural foundations of the new Keon Park Station.
The five modules create the station platform where passengers will board trains at the new Keon Park Station when it opens later this year.
The modules each weigh roughly between 105 and 125 tonnes and are transported from their assembly position to their lifting position by a Self-Propelled Modular Transporter (SPMT), which is like a giant skateboard with many wheels, weighing approximately 24 tonnes.
Once in position, the modules are then lifted and installed by two mobile cranes.
Lifting these giant segments is precise work. The final movements were controlled by two surveyors, one on either end of the module, communicating with the team members in scissor lifts using mallets to shift the module one millimetre at a time.
Once all the station modules are in place, the next round of L-beams will start being delivered to site, to be lifted into place and completing the second elevated rail bridge over Keon Parade.
It’s full steam ahead for the new Keon Park Station – which will be built underneath the elevated rail structure, to the south of Keon Parade. The team has already completed the concrete slab, in-ground services, steel framing and roofing.
Works will now continue installing the windows and doors of the new station, with internal fit-out starting in the coming months. Lift shafts will be constructed off site, and craned into place once both sides of the elevated rail bridge are ready.
The vibrant, modern Keon Park Station will be located on the south side of Keon Parade, providing better access to the station and improved connections to local neighbourhoods, JC Donath Reserve, buses and Johnson Street shops, cafés, and eateries.
With major construction continuing, Keon Parade will be boom gate free and the new Keon Park Station open to the community in spring this year.