First step – block the freeway.

With a Truck Mounted Attenuator (TMA) Truck parked on each lane.

Their variable message signs directing motorists onto a detour via the adjacent Todd Road exit.

And just to make sure the road was clear, two more traffic control trucks were parked beside the next exit along.

The reason for the closure – a crane at work on the Ingles Street bridge over the West Gate Freeway.

Workers were busy attacking an attached billboard with a gas axe.

So a crane could lower it down to the ground.

So it could be trucked away.

Replacing the previous fixed billboard.

With a steel frame.

So a new digital billboard could take it’s place.

Footnote on Truck Mounted Attenuators

VicRoads has a set of guidelines for the use of Truck Mounted Attenuators to protect work sites.

These Guidelines have been produced for the deployment of Truck Mounted Attenuator Trucks (TMAs) in Victoria to protect worksites on or beside active roads against errant vehicle intrusion. TMAs may be deployed to protect short to medium term maintenance or construction works where it is not practical to close the road or deploy temporary safety barriers for the protection of workers. They may be deployed as ‘barrier’ or ‘shadow’ vehicles depending on the static or mobile nature of the works.

A TMA is defined as a combination of Host Vehicle (Truck) and Impact Attenuator Unit, either mounted on the Host Vehicle or towed by the Host Vehicle to protect road workers. The Impact Attenuator Unit, also known as a crash cushion or crash attenuator, is a device intended to reduce the damage done to structures, vehicles and motorists resulting from a motor vehicle collision. Impact Attenuator units are designed to absorb the vehicles’ kinetic energy and/or redirect the vehicles away from the hazard, and from roadwork machinery or workers.

TMAs are required for the protection of works on or adjacent to all high speed roads. Their major application is for the protection of works on or adjacent to ‘M’ Classification Roads where they are mandatory. They are also applicable under the hierarchy of safety controls for the protection of works on all other roads where substantive speed limits are 80Km/h or more.

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Precast concrete everywhere

The most obvious usage of precast concrete on the West Gate Tunnel Project is the tunnels themselves.

Each of the 3-lane tunnels requiring 2500 precast concrete segments to line the interior.

West Gate Tunnel Project photo

But the massive viaduct running above Footscray Road also requires tonnes of precast concrete.

Piers to hold up the two carriageways.

Then there is the bridge deck itself.

Assembled using a giant mobile gantry.

From shorter sections of precast concrete.

Enter LS Precast

In a paddock outside Benalla is a yard filled with massive pieces of precast concrete.

Google Maps

Cranes everywhere.

Each massive piece of precast concrete was created inside an bigger sheds.

Then stacked up outside.

Google Maps

Hundreds of tunnel lining segments waiting to make the trip to Melbourne.

Multiple times a day, A-double semi trailers departs the yard.

On the 200 kilometre, two and a half hour drive down the Hume Highway to Melbourne.

There they thread their way through the western suburbs to West Gate Tunnel work site.

The precast concrete elements that make up the elevated viaduct above Footscray Road are also manufactured at Benalla.

But since these elements are much larger.

West Gate Tunnel Project photo

They need to be transported by specialised low loader trucks.

West Gate Tunnel Project photo

To spread their extreme weight across the road surface.

West Gate Tunnel Project photo

What about trains

Benalla is on a railway line, and so is Melbourne – so why not transport all of these pieces of precast concrete by train? Well, that is exactly what the government said would happen.

New Benalla manufacturing facility to create hundreds of jobs for rural and regional Victorians
1 Feb 2018

Victoria’s largest precast concrete manufacturing facility will be built in Benalla to supply major Victorian infrastructure projects, create 400 jobs and provide a massive boost to the local economy.

The $60 million facility will be operated by local businesses and will supply precast concrete for major projects including the West Gate Tunnel Project.

The facility will be capable of producing up to 1,500 tonnes of concrete product per day at peak capacity.

Benalla’s access to road and rail infrastructure means the facility is well placed to supply future Victorian and interstate projects, creating ongoing economic benefits to Benalla and surrounding communities.

To limit the number of trucks on local roads, the precast concrete segments for the West Gate Tunnel Project will be transported to Melbourne by freight train.

A new 700m rail siding will be built along the existing rail line in Benalla to provide a direct link between the precast facility and Melbourne.

The West Gate Tunnel Project will provide an estimated $11 billion boost to the Victorian economy, creating 6000 new jobs.

Construction of the Benalla precast facility is due to commence in March 2018, and it will be fully operational from October 2018.

With a railway siding constructed right into the casting plant at Benalla.

New Rail Siding For Benalla Precast Concrete Facility
25 September 2018

Work has started on a huge rail siding to service the new precast concrete facility being built in Benalla.

Minister for Roads Luke Donnellan joined Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes to visit the worksite today, that will soon start producing precast concrete for the Andrews Labor Government’s West Gate Tunnel.

A new 700 metre siding will be created from the existing rail line to provide direct access to the precast facility.

New rail track will also be built – connected to the nearby freight line – so the concrete segments can be loaded directly from the precast facility on to freight trains and transported to Melbourne.

About 20 metre of new track has been laid and the existing train line is being upgraded ahead of the commissioning of the new siding in late 2018.

Construction is well underway on a new $60 million precast concrete facility in Benalla in readiness for concrete production.

The facility will initially provide over 65,000 concrete products for the massive West Gate Tunnel Project.

Excavators are currently levelling the site and the steel frames are going up for the three large sheds to be built on the site.

The precast facility will include a concrete batching plant, the large sheds for precast concrete production, offices, precast product storage, maintenance areas, a precast rail siding and 300 car parking spaces for workers.

The precast facility will be the largest of its kind in Victoria, capable of producing over 1,500 tonnes of concrete product per day at peak capacity.

The precast facility will create 400 jobs and will help ensure regional communities can benefit from the many opportunities created by the state’s booming infrastructure sector.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan

“It’s fantastic to see the progress being made on this, the largest precast concrete facility of its kind in Victoria.”

“Building the new rail siding means that we can get concrete products from Benalla to Melbourne via the existing rail network, avoiding heavy vehicle traffic and associated road impacts.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes

“This is a massive investment in Benalla and we are already seeing jobs being created for local people with construction well underway.”

“This facility nearly didn’t happen due to the Liberal and National parties’ opposition to the project, I’m proud that my home town of Benalla and people throughout the north east share in the benefits of the Andrews Labor Government’s West Gate Tunnel.”

But by October 2020 their messaging had changed.

By having the concrete segment facility in Benalla, it ensured that regional Victoria benefited from our state’s infrastructure boom – creating jobs and providing a boost to the local economy.

The facility is supplying a variety of precast concrete products for the West Gate Tunnel Project and was selected due to its proximity to local quarries, its production capability and the easy access to Melbourne via transport networks . These products come in a range of sizes, shapes and weights.

A number of precast segments are not suitable to transport by freight train and will be delivered to West Gate Tunnel work sites by truck, using approved truck routes. The project team is exploring which precast segments are suitable to transport to Melbourne via rail. We’ll keep you updated through these channels as things progress.

The rail siding is clearly visible in the aerial view on Google Maps.

Google Maps

But as fas as I know, the rail siding at the Benalla precast yard has never been used by trains, and none of the precast segements have been transported by rail – however the cement used to make the segments did get moved by rail to Benalla station.

Footnote: some videos

Building the concrete precast facility at Benalla.

And flying over the completed yard.

Test fitting tunnel lining segments.

Delivering precast segments to the West Gate Tunnel work site.

Assembling the bridge columns.

And an animation showing how the bridge builder above Footscray Road works.

Footnote: other recent projects

The concrete segments for the Metro Tunnel were cast at a yard at Ravenhall, only 30 kilometres from their final destination.

While the precast concrete for the ‘Skyrail’ bridges were initially cast 50 kilometres away at Pakenham, and are now cast 70 kilometres away at Kilmore.

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In the beginning

For many decades, precast concrete ‘Super T’ girders have been the goto design for new road and rail bridges.

With concrete poured into a steel mould, and steel reinforcing bar inserted, each beam is made offsite.

Trucked to the bridge site.

And lifted into place by crane.

Enter ‘Skyrail’

In 2016 it was announced that all nine level crossings between Caulfield and Dandenong would be eliminated by the construction of an elevated railway line. However there was one problem – the rail corridor between Caulfield and Oakleigh was too narrow for conventional bridge building techniques.

The solution – a dedicated casting plant was established at Pakenham.

It all starts with a cage of steel reinforcing mesh.

Concrete is then poured, giving a short segment of bridge.

They are then trucked one by one to the assembly site at Murrumbeena station.

Where they are assembled into completed beams.

And lifted the top of the completed bridge.

Where they are collected by a straddle carrier.

To deliver them to their final home at the end of the bridge.

Between May 2017 and April 2018 a total of 174 bridge spans were delivered – each ranging from 280 to 420 tonnes, with the straddle carrier travelling more than 260km back and forth along the rail line.

Some breathless boasting

The use of the straddle carrier and gantry crane solution was seen as innovative.

The new skills, processes and protocols associated with this national first have entailed an extensive amount of behind the scenes activity, including a comprehensive training programme.

Simon explains: “We’ve trained approximately 300 workers to operate the carrier, gantry cranes and support beams, as well as cast and tension the spans that make up the rail deck. It’s not insignificant from an industry perspective as we will retain this knowledge in Australia along with a whole range of highly transferrable skills.”

But the rail viaducts at the Noble Park end of the project used conventional super T beams.

As did the viaduct at Clayton.

With the straddle carrier and gantry crane meeting an inglorious end dumped in a yard at Sandown Park racecourse.

The reason?

And the new hotness – U-Trough beams

By 2019 a new, much simpler design of rail viaduct had taken over – the U-Trough.

With cleaner lines, the design also reduced the total height of the final viaduct, by containing the rail track inside the bridge structure itself.

The first example was the Mernda line extension, and quickly followed by the level crossing removal at Skye Road on the Frankston line.

With the beams manufactured at the NVC Precast yard in Kilmore.

Google Maps

The plant having a 115 lineal metre radiant heat cured bed fitted with external vibrators, two 1800 tonne slow release stressing jacks, and two 80 tonne x 40 metre span portal gantry cranes covering a working area of 8000m2.

NVC Precast photo

As with all precast concrete, the rebar is the first step.

NVC Precast photo

With the resulting beams being stacked in the yard.

NVC Precast photo

Until they leave the site by road.

NVC Precast photo

Cranes are used to lift the beams from the truck, and into place to make a bridge.

Work able to be completed with minimal disruption to rail services.

Even on narrow sections of rail corridor, like that between Bell and Preston stations.

Some early projects used preassembled U-trough beams.

NVC Precast photo

Delivered via convoluted routes.

But other projects have seen them delivered in two halves, to reduce the total weight of the load.

The beams then tied together on site.

With concrete poured in place.

The list of LXRA projects that have used U-trough bridges is long and growing, including:

• Mernda Rail Extension
• Skye Road, Frankston
• Seaford Road and Carrum
• Abbots Road and Greens Road, Dandenong South
• Werribee Street, Werribee
• Toorak Road
• Reservoir
• Hallam
• Lilydale and Mooroolbark
• Coburg and Moreland
• Preston and Bell
• Deer Park

(And probably a few more that I’ve missed!)

Footnote: more on U-troughs

In September 2019 Roads & Infrastructure published a piece on U-troughs.

The Level Crossing Removal Project will see 75 level crossings throughout Melbourne removed by 2025 in order to increase safety, reduce travel times and better connect communities across the city.

So far 29 level crossings have been removed and completed across Melbourne, including one at Skye Road in Frankston.

For the first time in Australia, the Level Crossing Removal Authority, principle contractor, designers, engineers and NVC Precast worked together to deliver the elevated rail using prefabricated concrete U-Trough beams.

The design of the Skye Level Crossing Removal used 24 prefabricated concrete U-Trough beams, that were over 6 metre wide, 30 metres in length and weighing an impressive 280 tonnes to construct the rail bridge using Rapid On-Line Construction techniques. This reduced the rail occupation period and sped up the overall construction of the project for the benefit of the community.

NVC Precast were chosen to manufacture the U-Trough beams based on their experience in precast and the L-Beams used for elevated rail for level crossing removal.

NVC Precast were able to manufacture and store the beams at their precasting facility in Kilmore Victoria, coordinating delivery to arrive just in time to be erected on site.

The U-Trough beams were produced by stitching two precast concrete L-beams together which were between 25 and 31 metres long with masses up to 120 tonnes each, creating a single unit that weighted up to 280 tonnes.
The L-Beams were positioned to be stitched out in the yard.

The project involved extensive planning to create the forms and casting beds for the manufacture of the beams, the plant to transport them to site, and to create the infrastructure for the stitching and loading at the precast yard.

NVC Precast Construction Manager oversaw the casting of the L-Beams and the process for the stitching of the U Troughs which took four weeks to complete in April 2018.

NVC Precast manufacture up to four L-beams at a time casting 140 to 160 m3 to produce 12 L-Beams per week. To create a single segment U-Trough Beam, 50% of the L-Beams were rotated 180˚, matched positioned on pedestals for the joining stitch to be cast. The rotation and match positioning was achieved using GPS guided SPMT and 80 tonnes Portal Gantry Cranes for the final touches.

The U-Trough beams were stored at NVC Precast’s Kilmore site before transporting to site and final installation into the elevated rail viaduct.

NVC Precast had to ensure that the load out facility it constructed allowed for 2 No. 12 axle Platform trailers to be accurately positioned under the 280-tonne segments for loading and chaining down.

Mr. Bell says the recent redevelopment of the NVC Precast site has created plenty of storage area for both storage and ancillary works such as painting, attaching handrails, barrier rails and temporary walkways.
The U-Trough beams were positioned by stitching two precast concrete L-beams together.

“This allows us to work closely with our clients to provide both precast concrete elements and solutions to some of the common construction problems, such as working at heights,” Mr. Bell says.

“As you are working beside a live rail line, rail upgrade requires closing the rail line every time you want to install the beams, which causes major disruption to rail traffic. With the L beams joined as U troughs off site, you take all the construction activity related to splicing off site and do it when the rail is still open. Then you can close the rail for significantly shorter periods just to install the complete U trough beams.”

Mr. Bell says the U-trough is a very efficient design as the trains operate within the walls of the beams which provides a much lower profile and is more aesthetically pleasing elevated structure.

“The offsite fabrication of the U Trough beams for the Skye project was a great initiative by the main contractor and provided many benefits to the overall onsite construction process, through the benefits of both off site precast techniques allowing rapid installation, great quality control, a reduction in the overall construction footprint, and eliminated a lot of safety issues.”

And structural engineer Daniel Pang published a paper in 2021 on the use of U-trough viaducts on the Toorak Road Level Crossing Removal Project, and how they differed from the standardized design developed by the LXRA’s U-Trough Joint Design Group.

The Toorak Road Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) removed and replaced the existing level crossing with two U-Trough elevated rail viaducts. The design drew on what had been developed for previous LXRP designs but introduced refinements and accommodated the project specific features.

The primary objective with the development of the standard U-Trough was to accommodate the online construction requirements of the overall LXRP program of works throughout metropolitan Melbourne for which speed of construction along existing rail corridors is critical.

The alliances teams participating in the LXRP works had decided to adopt a U-Trough solution as opposed to previously developed and tested local market solutions such as Super T beams and box section. This decision was been based upon the fact that the U-Trough solution had gained acceptance from stakeholders and was regarded as satisfying the design, construction, operational and maintenance objectives of rail infrastructure.

The U-Trough solution provides many advantages over other systems such as Super-T and concrete box girder sections. This solution enables minimisation of the height difference from the soffit level to the top of track and hence provides a lower vertical grade separation height and minimises the required earthworks. In the event of derailment, the train will be contained within the structure, which provides a significant safety benefit.

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Birth

A decade ago I was in the empty streets of an industrial estate south of Caroline Springs, where a new Bunnings Warehouse store was taking shape.

The iconic grand entrance was there.

But inside there wasn’t a floor.

Just rebar waiting a concrete pour.

By 2014 the streets of the industrial estate were starting to fill up.

Google Street View

And by 2020 Bunnings had disappeared behind a sea of tilt-slab concrete.

Google Street View

Death

While on Millers Road in Altona North was an unlucky Bunnings Warehouse store.

Locked up and ready to be demolished.

Replaced by a brand new $47 million, 17,000-square metre store next door.

And rebirth

Out on High Street in Epping I found a familiar green shed, but it was no longer a Bunnings Warehouse – but a furniture store.

Bunnings moved to a new site on Cooper Street in late 2015.

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Road–rail vehicles

Many different kinds of road–rail vehicle exist, ready to assist with every kind of construction or maintenance task.

Trucks to transport materials to work sites.

Some able to drag a ‘train’ of wagons.

Excavators for digging.

Lifting.

Tamping ballast.

Unloading sleepers.

And laying them.

Big tip trucks to deliver ballast.

And small.

Piling rigs to bore foundations.

Cranes to put in the overhead stanchions.

Cherrypickers to reach the overhead wires.

Along with boom lifts.

4WDs refitted for weed spraying.

Testing level crossings.

Using ultrasonic sensors to look for rail flaws.

Trucks to chip trees.

And suck up gunk.

Even tunnels aren’t enough to keep them away.

So how do they get onto the tracks?

Traditionally road rail vehicles would just head to the nearest level crossing, turn 90 degrees to line up with the tracks, and lower their rail wheels.

But level crossing removals mean access points are few and far between.

Sometimes gravel will be dumped across the tracks to provide access to a worksite.

Allowing heavy equipment to access the rail corridor.

But the long term solution is “Road Rail Vehicle Access Pads” – level crossings to nowhere.

Essendon received one after the level crossing removal at Buckley Street.

As did the Sunbury line between Ginifer and St Albans station following the upgrades there.

And the brand new Mernda line extension doesn’t have any level crossings, so needed them too.

With the list of locations growing each time a level crossing is removed.

But there’s one problem

Ballast piled up between the rails can cause another problem – derailments.

Prohibition of Ballast Pad Hi-Rail Access Points

On the 9th January, 2019 an incident occurred where a tamper derailed as it passed through a ballast pad. Due to this incident and combined with the inability to inspect the Track Asset beneath the ballast (which is a requirement of the Track Technical Maintenance Plan), a number of measures require implementation.

Effective immediately:
– The construction of new ballast pads is prohibited across the MTM network;
– A plan for the removal of ALL existing ballast pads across the MTM network will be compiled by Infrastructure;
– All new hi-rail access points must have their construction type and methodology agreed by the Track & Structures Delivery Manager for all locations.

And asphalt between the rails makes inspecting the trackbed impossible.

Due to track conditions below the Curtin Street road-rail vehicle access pad at Ch.16.818km between Ginifer and St. Albans, a restriction on the speed of trains has been applied through the affected location.

In order to return train traffic to line speed, Infrastructure are required to remove the asphalt in situ at the RRV pad in order to perform rectification work.

In accordance with L1-CHE-INS-079, MTM Design Practice Note Road-Rail Vehicle Access Pads, section 6. vii. – Infrastructure will not return this RRV pad to an asphalt construction but instead utilise type-approved removable panels.

As the type-approved removable panels require procurement, there will be a period of time between when the geometry rectification works are completed and the access pad is returned to use for RRV access.

The geometry rectification works are planned for 25/08/2019 and the removable panels will be available for installation in late November.

So existing access pads have had to be upgraded.

Using the same rubber panels used at level crossings.

Network upgrades never end!

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Their start their life behind an anonymous gate in Ravenhall, next door to the Regional Rail Link tracks.

But the ‘tunnel lining segment manufacturing facility’ sign gives it away.

Overhead cranes travel over the casting yard.

Segments and a sunset. More than 1,500 concrete segments have been manufactured at our tunnel lining segment facility in Melbourne’s west. Our tunnel boring machines will use 56,000 curved concrete segments to create a watertight lining inside the twin 9km rail tunnels. pic.twitter.com/rCi0iIzOCp

— Metro Tunnel (@metrotunnelvic) July 22, 2019

Production started early, so that a stockpile of tunnel lining segments could be built up.

It’s no cornfield, but how’s the serenity? So much serenity.

Our tunnel segment manufacturing facility is in full production mode pumping out the 56,000 concrete segments required to line the Metro Tunnel’s twin nine-kilometre tunnels. pic.twitter.com/ZD1tva9YQ2

— Metro Tunnel (@metrotunnelvic) August 20, 2019

180 segments being poured a day.

The first segments were delivered in August 2019.

The first tunnel segments have arrived at the new North Melbourne Station site with 18 concrete segments delivered, each weighing 4.5 tonnes.

The TBM will use these segments to create temporary rings to line the steel bell, which is an innovative launching method for the TBMs. pic.twitter.com/QzOUQZxx4P

— Metro Tunnel (@metrotunnelvic) August 22, 2019

Driven across Melbourne six at a time on the back of a semi-trailer.

Until they arrived at the future North Melbourne station site.

In September work on the shed over the station box was still underway.

But was completed in October.

Ready to store the concrete segments, before they are lowered into the tunnel.

Loaded onto a rubber tyred TBM support vehicle.

Even the mightiest machines need some support

Meet our TBM support vehicles, tasked with delivering the concrete segments needed to line the Metro Tunnel and will eventually be used to transport our team to and from the TBMs. pic.twitter.com/5Nu2CiaYSE

— Metro Tunnel (@metrotunnelvic) November 13, 2019

And driven through the tunnel to the TBM itself.

TBM Joan is on her way towards Kensington, installing a number of tunnel lining rings, composed of concrete segments. The team has been monitoring Joan’s performance and systems, including confinement pressure management, ring building, segment handling and grouting. pic.twitter.com/Hsa9dVdZ2f

— Metro Tunnel (@metrotunnelvic) October 6, 2019

Which then assembles them into a tunnel wall.

A sidenote on the gantry cranes

The gantry cranes at the casting yard were supplied by Australian manufacturer Eilbeck Cranes, as were cranes at the Melbourne CBD worksites.

Those cranes seem to be more successful than those at Parkville station – dismantled due to safety concerns.

Meanwhile on the West Gate Tunnel

The West Gate ‘Tunnel’ might be predominately surface roads, but it actually features two tunnels: 4 kilometre long outbound and 2.8 kilometre long inbound.

The precast concrete segments for this project are being manufactured by LS Precast in Benalla, served by a dedicated rail siding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pEzo0HCfBY

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It’s a hi-rail excavator – a piece of standard heavy construction equipment, fitted with a set of fold down flanged wheels that allows the machine to roll along railway tracks.

During major trackwork projects, you can find hi-rail excavators all over the tracks.

Rail wheels make moving to the work site easy.

And they can drag a trolley of equipment if needed.

With a standard bucket fitted, the machines can be used to dig up existing level crossings.

Or dig up ballast beside the tracks.

Heavy concrete railway sleepers can be moved using a forklift attachment.

But a specialised claw attachment allows eight sleepers to be moved at a time.

Once the sleepers are beside the tracks, an excavator with a tie inserter attachment can place them into the tracks.

Then freshly ballast can be added.

And to finish the job is another specialised accessory – the ballast tamper attachment.

The metal tines are pushed into the ballast and then pressed together repeatedly, packing the freshly laid ballast around the newly laid tracks.

Can you imagine having to do the same tasks with just a pick and shovel?

Footnote

Here is a video of a hi-rail excavator rolling along the then-new Regional Rail Link tracks at Tarneit – they can zip along rather fast if need be!

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