The Australian Rail Track Corporation is calling for expressions of interest for a $235 million upgrade of Victoria’s North East line.
The major contract will include track grinding, drainage upgrades, track improvements at level crossings, bridge upgrades and the installation of new ballast on the North East line, which runs from Melbourne to the NSW border at Albury-Wodonga.
The work is funded by the Australian Government and will be delivered via the ARTC.
ARTC boss John Fullerton on March 26 said the time had come to seek a major contractor to help deliver work along 316 kilometres of the railway.
“ARTC has been hard at work ensuring all appropriate management, planning, procurement and approval processes are in place for the project,” he said.
“It’s important we get this project right and we are going through a staged, robust process ensuring that we find and procure the best available engineering companies to deliver the major packages of work along the North East line.”
From the expressions of interest phase will be formed a shortlist of companies who will be invited to proceed to a formal Request for Tender phase.
The upgrade is focused on improving track reliability, providing smoother journeys and reducing causes of major delays to passenger services between Melbourne and Albury. This will be achieved, the ARTC says, by improving the performance of the North East line from an ARTC freight standard, to that of other regional passenger lines in Victoria.
The ARTC said work to be undertaken along the North East line includes:
- Install two new sets of crossovers between Seymour and Benalla to improve track access for work crews to minimise disruption of the works program. Crossovers also allow greater operational flexibility helping tomaintain reliability.
- Add, replace and compact new railway ballast (the rocks around the track). This provides a stable base for train operations by improving the track’s foundation and drainage.
- Remove mud-holes where ballast has been contaminated to improve drainage.
- Resurfacing including packing and compacting more ballast in-between the rail and sleepers.
- Upgrade the track machinery (turnouts) that enable trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction.
- Relocate overhead signal wires to underground to decrease risk of signal failures due to trees falling on wires or line wire theft.
- Install additional backup power supplies including solar in some locations to minimise signal outages due to power supply.
- Drainage improvements by creating and reforming trackside drainage to ensure water flows away from tracks properly.
- Grind rail tracks so there is a smoother, even interface between the track and wheels of the train.
- Replace older timber top bridges with new concrete and ballast top bridges.
- Improve the track at level crossing to make journeys smoother.