The rail bridge over the Collie River is currently the focus of a half-million dollar re-sleepering and re-railing project.
The revitalisation program involves the replacement of 180 timber bearers on the ten-metre-high bridge, 110 sleepers on the approach, and the re-rail of 25 metres of rail.
The upgrade will result in safer and more reliable transportation of coal, with more than one million tonnes carried over the bridge each year.
The Collie River rail bridge upgrade is part of Arc Infrastructure’s annual structures maintenance program carried out across the network to ensure all bridges, culverts and other structures are safely and suitably maintained.
Arc Infrastructure’s structures supervisor Shane Hooper said working on a bridge standing at over 10m off the ground means specialist skills and accreditations are required to ensure the upgrade is carried out safely.
“The upgrade of a bridge at that height requires a specific skill set and each employee who worked on top of the bridge was accredited to work at heights and use specialist safety equipment,” he said.
“The nature of the work also means that the time required to replace each sleeper is significantly longer than a standard re-sleepering program.”
The re-sleepering work has been completed and was carried out by Arc Infrastructure’s local maintenance and major projects teams and local contractors over a two week period.
Scaffolding remains constructed on the bridge and the re-railing will occur later in the year.
The Collie River rail bridge upgrade is part of Arc Infrastructure’s annual structures maintenance program which ensures all bridges, culverts and other structures on the rail network are safely maintained.
