Crews in Diggers Rest have been doing super heavy lifting this week – 420 tonnes of it to be precise.
Across 2 days, 12 Super-T beams weighing 35 tonnes each were lifted into place for the new Watsons Road bridge being built over the rail line to safely separate trains from vehicles and remove the dangerous level crossing.
A giant crane positioned the 24 metre-long beams onto concrete piers across the 2 bridge spans, forming the foundations for the new road deck.
Manufactured in nearby Melton, the giant beams were delivered to site and lifted in last week to coincide with buses replacing trains on the Sunbury Line.
With all the beams now installed, crews will connect the beams to the bridge abutments and piers, ahead of concreting the deck to tie the structure together.
The 350 metre-long Watsons Road bridge will open to traffic later this year, with traffic now flowing freely over the new Golden Way bridge following the removal of the dangerous and congested Old Calder Highway level crossing earlier this month.
More than 8000 vehicles used the two level crossings every day, facing delays of up to 36 minutes when 27 trains travel through the crossings during the morning peak.
Diggers Rest – and the Sunbury Line – will be level crossing free in 2025, with rail passengers able to access five new underground stations when the Metro Tunnel opens, providing even more ways to move around city.
Across Melbourne, we’re removing 110 level crossings by 2030, with 86 already gone for good, boosting safety and easing congestion.
