The incident

On Sunday 3 March a so-called ‘professional’ driver of a container truck loaded with a single ‘high cube’ 40 foot ISO shipping container bound for the Port of Melbourne tried to make it under the 4.0 metre clearance Napier Street bridge, but ignored the warning signs – striking the bridge and dislodging the container from the truck.

By the time I came past trains were already running again following an inspection of the bridge, and Victoria Police were in attendance – not hard, given their police station is next door!

The damage

The 40 foot container had been dislodged from the trailer, and hanging at a perilous angle, almost ready to fall onto the footpath.

The bridge protection beam taking the hit rather than the bridge.

The impact speed must have been high, as the bridge warning lights had been dislodged.

And the steel container deformed.

An impact mark from the bridge protection beam visible to one side.

Dislodged container twistlocks on the ground below.

A hole in the fresh asphalt where the container fell to the ground.

Recovery time

The truck operator called up mobile crane to assist with the recovery operation.

But it wasn’t needed – a heavy tow truck was used to drag the container away from the truck.

Chains and the rear boom used to lift up the rear of the container.

Which then topped over sideways.

Crushing the fence intended to ‘protect’ pedestrians from road vehicles.

I don’t think that was how they intended the recovery to go!

At least the semi-trailer was now free.

But in need of repair – the rear container twistlocks bent out of position.

Another crack

After a bit of maneuvering, the heavy tow truck was able to pull the 40 foot container back upright.

And then pull it clear of the bridge.

Allowing a waiting sidelifter truck to pull up alongside.

Lift the damaged container onto the sidelift trailer.

And take it away.

Allowing the eastbound lanes to be reopened.

All up the recovery effort took an hour to complete.

So why is the Napier Street bridge worse?

The Montague Street might be notorious for bridge strikes in Melbourne.

But the bulk of impacts in South Melbourne are just weekend warriors on car licences driving rental trucks when moving house – not ‘professional’ drivers with a heavy vehicle licence – and a four tonne steel shipping containers falling off a truck is far more dangerous to other motorists than the body of a pantech truck getting a little beat up.

In addition the statistics don’t lie – the the Napier Street bridge was struck 37 times by heavy vehicles between 2018 and 2022, while the Montague Street bridge was only hit once in 2021.

One possible solution – the Port Rail Shuttle project, paused back in 2015, but ready to start operation ‘soon’.

Footnote

And a bit of a laugh – a petition to “Paint Footscray’s Napier Street Bridge With Scary Shark Teeth“.

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Regional Rail Link

Work on Regional Rail Link was well underway, with the new flyover outside Fotscray taking shape to carry the new tracks over the Werribee line.

And the cutting closer to Footscray was being widened for the extra tracks.

The new suburban platforms were also taking shape at Footscray station.

And the existing footbridge was being extended north over the future tracks.

The bridge over the low level goods lines was also being widened.

With the rail alignment outside Sunshine also ready for the extra tracks.

While at the stalled Caroline Springs station site, work had restarted – but it was only a road deviation due to RRL related road closures.

The final stage of Regional Rail Link opened in June 2016, but Caroline Springs station had to wait – it finally opened to passengers in January 2017.

And off to Ballarat

I went on a trip to Ballarat onboard a 80 year old diesel railcar.

Along the way we had to give way to some far more modern trains.

Before our arrival into Ballarat.

But there is one thing that hasn’t changed in 80 years – the diesel exhaust belching into the air at Southern Cross Station.

Protective Services Officers

Melbourne’s first group of Protective Services Officers were deployed in February 2012 to Flinders Street and Southern Cross stations, with the roll out ramping up soon after.

The limiting factor on their deployment – providing a prison cell at every railway station.

Ding ding!

A decade ago there were no accessible tram stops or low floor trams running along Elizabeth Street in the Melbourne CBD.

But there was some progress being made – the tram tracks along Elizabeth Street were being relaid.

And Yarra Trams was using their new ‘kletterweichen’ (‘climbing turnout’) to allow trams to terminate short of the works, rather than forcing passengers to walk from the nearest permanent crossover.

However the new crossover still had some teething issues, as the first tram to pass over it derailed!

Yarra Trams having to send their heavy recovery vehicle to the site, to pull the tram back onto the rails.

Meanwhile over on Swanston Street, dimwitted motorists were getting confused by the new platform stops – driving through the bike lanes.

While out at Ascot Vale motorists were inflicting more damage, this driver having impaled their ute on five metres of safety zone fence.

So what was the solution that Yarra Trams has been applying across the network?

Closing tram stops.

“A recent review by Yarra Trams and Public Transport Victoria of the environment and layout at these stops has identified an increased safety risk to passengers and pedestrians. A number of improvement strategies have been trialled with minimal success”

And on the tram stops that remain – hiding network maps behind advertising slogans.

Buses

A decade ago City Sightseeing Melbourne was running a hop-on hop-off bus services around Melbourne using a fleet of open top double deck buses.

The service was a victim of the Covid-19 pandemic, and is yet to restart operations

Another competing tourist service was the Melbourne Free Visitor Shuttle.

It was discontinued in 2017 after years of declining patronage.

Meanwhile out in Footscray, I found a colourful arrangement of Westrans, Sita and Melbourne Bus Link buses running route services.

Today they’re operated by CDC Melbourne, Transit Systems Victoria and Kinetic Melbourne, and the orange PTV livery has replaced that of the private operators.

Myki

Myki had taken over as the only ticketing system in Melbourne, with Metcard ticket machines pulled out of trams, and replaced by an extra seat.

But the reliability of the new system was somewhat lacking – I found this stack trace for ‘log4net‘ displayed on this Myki reader.

And the rest

Remember Melbourne Bike Share?

It ceased operations in November 2019.

Meanwhile over at 447 Collins Street, work was underway to reinforce the failing facade.

The marble facade panels being removed from the lower floors to avoid any further pieces falling to earth.

But it was only a temporary fix – the entire tower was demolished in 2015, with the ‘pantscraper’ known as ‘Collins Arch‘ completed on the site in 2020.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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