A major milestone in Victoria’s level-crossing removal has been reached after giant steel bridge sections measuring over 40 metres long have been lifted into place at Melton to form the new rail bridge over Coburns Road on Friday 14 November.
Crews lifted the steel bridge sections using two 750-tonne cranes to connect the rail bridge over Coburns Road while the road was temporarily closed to traffic.
The 220 tonne structures were delivered on site in four 42-metre long sections, being pieced together with another 21 cross girders to form the two bridge sections.
Coburns Road was closed to traffic until 8am on Sunday 16 November to allow crews to continue the installation of the new bridges, with future closures planned between Thursday 20 November and Friday 28 November for bridge concreting works.
The newly-elevated Melton station is planned to open next year with all-new modern facilities and an accessible pedestrian underpass to provide access to each of the four platforms.
Work is also currently underway to remove level crossings at Ferris Road in Melton and Hopkins Road in Truganina to separate vehicles and trains,
A reported 73,000 vehicles travel through the four level crossings each day, with the boom gates said to be down for up to 28 minutes of the morning peak, according to Big Build Victoria.
Early works have also kicked off towards updating the Melton Line to increase passenger capacity by 50 per cent on peak services, allowing 9-car trains to run on the line from 2027.
