Project Challenges
The U-troughs were so heavy they had to be split into 125-ton L-beams just to move, and even split they combined extreme weight with lengths of up to 30m, which Ares carried on three trailers each through the tight metropolitan areas of Melbourne and Geelong, including a Waurn Ponds crossing with only a four-night closure window.
Too heavy to move whole
Level crossing removals use an elevated rail overpass built from precast U-troughs, strong enough to carry the fill material, rail tracks and the trains themselves. That makes them very heavy, so they had to be split in half into L-beams just for transport, and each half still weighed 125 tons.
Long and heavy at once
To minimise the number of spans in the overpass, the beams were also very long, up to 30m. To handle that combination of weight and length, Ares used three trailers per L-beam, a dolly, low loader and jinker, keeping axle loads acceptable while staying manoeuvrable enough for the metropolitan areas around Melbourne and Geelong.
Through the metro maze
From CIG in Laverton, the Narre Warren beams took the Metropolitan Ring Road around Melbourne to Greensborough, wound through the eastern suburbs, then ran the M3, Eastlink and M1 down to site. The Waurn Ponds loads took the M1 all the way past Geelong before exiting to reach the construction site.
A four-night window
The Port Kembla run was straightforward but for a few tricky corners through Goulburn before the two site entrances.
