Two level crossing have been removed and a brand new station has been opened to passengers in Rosanna, Victoria.
Over more than six weeks, around 1,000 people worked around-the-clock to build the new station and remove crossings at Grange and Lower Plenty roads, excavating the equivalent of five Olympic swimming pools of soil from under Grange Road to lower the train line.
A new rail bridge over Lower Plenty Road has also been installed.
The $395 million Hurstbridge Rail Line Upgrade has also duplicated 1.2km of single track between Heidelberg and Rosanna, alleviating a bottleneck that has plagued the line and caused delays for many years.
“This upgrade means better and more reliable services for Melbourne’s north east, enabling us to run more trains, more often and more safely,” Victorian Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Allan, said.
Over four months, 3,700 cubic metres of soil has been excavated to create a new tunnel under Darebin Street in Heidelberg to make way for the new section of track.
The total combined weight of the new track and rail rock is equivalent to 31 Boeing 747 aeroplanes.
To enable this mammoth task to occur, sections of the Hurstbridge line were closed for about six weeks and replacement buses moved thousands of passengers every day.
Travelling along Grange Road and Lower Plenty Road is now much easier for the 25,000 and 17,000 cars respectively that use the two roads each day.
Both roads opened in the middle of April 2018 following works to remove the boom gates, getting rid of two dangerous level crossings months ahead of schedule.
Planning work also continues on the Hurstbridge Line Upgrade Stage 2.
