Works in Pakenham are powering ahead, with crews lifting in bridge beams and laying tracks for the new rail bridge.
The elevated rail bridge will replace level crossings at McGregor Road, Main Street and Racecourse Road, making journeys safer and easier for the 63,000 vehicles that travel through these crossings each day.
With beams already in place across McGregor Road and Main Street, the project team marked an important project milestone recently by craning 12 concrete L-beams into place across Racecourse Road.
Measuring upwards of 32m in length and weighing up to 135 tonnes each, a total of 272 L-beams will be installed for the 2.5km bridge structure, joined together to form a U shape, known as a U-trough, which trains will run in when the rail bridge is completed in 2024.
While works continue to position the final 32 beams either side of Racecourse Road, crews marked another significant milestone by starting to install the 6500 sleepers and 7.8km of new rail track required for the bridge, along with 18,000 tonnes of ballast sourced from a local quarry.
As part of the Pakenham level crossing removal project, the Pakenham rail line is being extended by 2km, and a new East Pakenham Station built to meet the needs of this fast-growing community.
On the Pakenham Line, 22 crossings being removed, making it boom gate-free by 2025 and changing the way people live, work and travel.
