By Max Davies
Work will begin later this year on the first of seven bridges in the Mitchell Shire set to be redesigned and replaced as part of the Inland Rail project.
Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2023 on the bridge in Seymour-Avenel Road in Seymour.
Inland Rail will connect Melbourne and Brisbane, changing the way goods travel across Australia with an anticipated direct rail transit time of less than 24 hours incorporating double-stacked freight trains.
The other six bridges in the shire are part of the second stage and are still in the design phase to accommodate larger, faster and taller high-capacity trains.
The six site are at: Broadford-Wandong Road in Wandong; Short Street, Hamilton Street, and Marchbanks Road in Broadford; Hume Freeway at Tallarook; and Hume Freeway, at Seymour.
The bridges need to be redesigned and replaced to allow for greater clearance underneath.
An Australian Rail Track Corporation, ARTC, Inland Rail spokesperson said the Seymour-Avenel Road bridge was the only site being delivered in the first package, tranche one, of works, with work set to start in late 2023.
“The remaining six sites … are all being delivered in the second package [tranche two] of works. Construction on these sites is not expected to start until 2024 at the earliest,” he said.
The bridge on Seymour-Avenel Road, north of Granville Drive, will be replaced with a new bridge in the same location to minimise the impact on the environment.
Works will require road closures. Detailed designs, including information on construction staging and associated detour routes, are expected to be released in mid-2023.
Construction works at the remaining Mitchell Shire sites are still in the design phase but are expected to cause significant disruptions, however the ARTC spokesperson said bridge access during construction was a top priority.
“We are still working through the design phase and are yet to award a construction contract for tranche two sites,” he said.
“Once a construction contract has been awarded, ARTC will work closely with the contractor on constructability assessments and construction staging to understand potential disruptions.”
The selected contractor will be responsible for implementing construction management plans to appropriately address traffic management and detours, as well as mitigations for construction impacts such as noise and dust.
“We are committed to maintaining bridge access during construction,” the ARTC spokesperson said.
In Broadford, the bridge at Hamilton Street will be redesigned and replaced with a new bridge, as the existing bridge does not have the required vertical clearance nor the required horizontal clearances between piers under the bridge for double-stacked trains.
Designs for a new bridge at Short Street are also progressing, as original plans to lower a section of track under the bridge were deemed not feasible due to impacts to existing bridge foundations and freight and passenger rail services, as well as an unavoidable 2.4-metre height difference between the standard and broad-gauge track that would have caused issues with accessibility and safety.
The bridge at Marchbanks Road will be replaced with a new, higher bridge slightly north of the existing bridge, helping to reduce the impact on nearby vegetation and traffic during construction until the new structure is tied into the existing road.
The ARTC spokesperson said the community would be informed of construction schedules and expected disruptions as soon as they were finalised.
“We are consistently out engaging and available to the community. If people want to know more, they can drop into our Wandong shop front every Thursday,” he said.
Reference designs for Wandong and Broadford are expected to include detailed visualisations and will be available to the public by mid-2023.
Information relevant to the Mitchell Shire, including detailed fact sheets, is available at inlandrail.artc.com.au/where-we-go/projects/tottenham-to-albury/regions/mitchell-shire.
