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- Essential rail upgrades between Melbourne and Sydney: 27-31 December
- 65 projects will improve reliability & safety of Interstate network
- Some unavoidable disruptions expected from $6m worth of work
The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is urging residents and communities in North East Victoria, the Riverina and Southern Highlands to be mindful of rail works this Christmas-New Year period, as it embarks on a mammoth ‘mega maintenance shutdown’ across the region.
“This time every year we take the opportunity to deliver a large package of maintenance work when fewer trains are running after the Christmas freight rush,” ARTC’s Executive General Manager Interstate, Peter Winder said.
“We do this to get the maximum amount of rail maintenance done efficiently in the safest possible environment for our people as well as minimising impact on everyday operations,” Mr Winder said.
Rail maintenance tasks like rail grinding, ballast resurfacing, re-railing, upgrading rail turnouts, track undercutting, drainage maintenance and technical jobs like signalling work, will take place across nearly 600km of track.
We also have some big project maintenance jobs like repairing and upgrading railway bridges taking place and would like residents to be aware of works in the following areas:
– Track reconstruction work within Junee, Moss Vale and Goulburn railway yards
– Level crossing upgrades at Bethungra level crossing (Olympic Highway)
– Repairs at Spring Street underbridge in Moss Vale
– Underbridge repairs in Tallong.
Almost 500 metres of track undercutting will also be delivered in various locations in North East Victoria from Craigieburn to Seymour.
“We would like to get wide awareness of this work taking place, so the community knows what is happening around their neighbourhood and can ask us questions to find out how they are affected.
“We know this period is a time when families are visiting and travel to different events is regular, so we want as many people as possible to know about what is going on, when.” Mr Winder said.
“Around $6 million worth of work will take place in this shutdown, which is an important part of making sure we continue to run the safest possible network and maintain high reliability levels for our customers.”
Work will start from 27 December, with the bulk of work taking place 27-28 December at the Victoria end of the corridor and 29-31 December in NSW. Most work will be during day time hours only, but some track machine and major work packages will require night work.
If you want to find out further detail about work in your area please visit: www.artc.com.au/community/track-work
ENDS
Media Contact: Bas Bolyn, 0477 340 658