ENGINEERS building a vital bridge link over t
he Maribyrnong River have brought in a ‘one-of-a-kind’ piece of equipment to complete the project.
Regional Rail Link’s City-Maribyrnong River (CMR) project team has been using a 96-metre-long launching truss to help build a 1.1-kilometre elevated superstructure over the river.
A narrow construction corridor between the existing rail line and industrial buildings in Kensington and a sensitive riverside environment ruled out the possibility of a crane being used to lift bridge beams into place. Preliminary investigations revealed the largest hydraulic crane in the country would have failed to lift the centre beams into place.
Regional Rail Link Alliance general manager Peter Wilkinson said the launching truss was one of the largest pieces of machinery on the entire RRL project.
“The launching truss allows us to lift 30 bridge beams – each about 80 tonnes – into place in this very tight corridor without harming the local river environment,” he said. “It’s nearly 100 metres long and the only one of its kind in the country.”
Trucks will use a temporary ramp built on the Kensington side of the bridge to reverse in the beams to be lifted onto the launching truss, which is a steel frame designed to move along the bridge alignment and lift bridge segments into place. Bridge construction began in June and is due to be completed by next month.
On a site visit last Friday Regional Rail Link Authority chief executive Corey Hannett said he was pleased with progress of the overall project. Once completed, the RRL project will provide dedicated tracks for trains travelling to Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong.
