KBR helping Victorian commuters to arrive home safer and sooner
The railway crossing on Burke Road in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, was one of the city's most congested and dangerous crossings. More than 25,000 vehicles, 150 trains, and 180 trams travel through this busy intersection every day. KBR's Engineering & Construction team in Australia recently celebrated the successful removal of unsafe railway crossings and delivered on a large construction project to make the intersection safer and help the flow of traffic in the area.
The first phase of the project to remove the crossing involved separating the railway line from the road by excavating an 800 meter long cutting to lower the rail line and building a road bridge over the top. As part of the construction project, a new local train station and tram stop along with pedestrian and cyclist pathways were built.
The KBR team provided engineering design and construction phase services to the project and completed more than 60,000 man hours without a Lost Time Incident.
"It was a truly collaborative effort with the design and construction teams working in shifts day and night, seven days a week, to complete the major construction work on schedule in just 12 days," explained E&C Australia's Director of Transport, Ray Mahony. "The project required major road and rail closures to undertake the work and the teams did an outstanding job in delivering the project safely, on-time and with minimal disruption to commuters and motorists," Ray added. The project completion was celebrated by the symbolic removal of Burke Road boom gates which previously blocked the road whenever trains passed, causing major congestion and significant delays for motorist, particular during morning peak hour. The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, and Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Alan both attended the event.
Ms. Alan spoke at the event and said, "Removing this level crossing is not only good news for the thousands of motorists who use Burke Road every day, it's also great news for the local community, which is now safer and has access to a brand new train station."
This delivery was the first in a series of projects of its kind and the KBR team is now working to remove three more rail crossing within Melbourne.
