Mammoet has executed a bridge installation as part of the Webb Street level crossing removal project in the Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren.
To address congestion issues in the area, the Victorian government decided that vehicles and trains should be separated at Webb Street level crossing. To do this, a 1 km section of the rail line needed to be elevated, with the crossing requiring the installation of two 680-tonne steel half-through bridges over Cranbourne Road.
Traditional stick-built construction methods would have caused extensive road closures. The project’s principal contractor McConnell Dowell tasked Mammoet with finding a solution that would minimise disruption.
Mammoet proposed an accelerated bridge construction (ABC) approach, which involved fabricating the bridge offsite and transporting it to the installation site using SPMTs. This allowed the bridges to be installed quickly, reducing the need for road closures and mitigating safety risks.
The SPMTs, combined with the JS500 jacking system, raised the bridge sections to a height of 9 m to clear obstacles before navigating the congested streets of Narre Warren. Once at the installation site, the bridge sections were lowered onto their foundations.
The new rail bridge allows vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists to travel beneath it, eliminating the Webb Street level crossing. This project is the 14th crossing removed on the Pakenham Line, with more removals planned to make the line boom gate-free by 2025.
