Victoria’s Level Crossing Removal Project is celebrating the installation of its 1000th U-trough – an innovation that has become central to the project.
U-troughs are precast concrete structures that form the superstructure for elevated rail bridges, allowing trains to run above roads, freeing up space for new uses below the rail line.
Made up of two massive L-shaped concrete beams, they are installed on top of crosshead piers and then ‘stitched’ together to form a U-trough.
In an Australian first, the U-troughs have been designed specifically for the Level Crossing Removal Project and are now widely used across Victoria’s Big Build.
The Level Crossing Removal Project’s 1000th U-trough was recently put into place west of Coburns Road as part of the Melton level crossing removal project.
To mark the milestone, the project team created a stencilled memento in recognition of the thousands of workers who have helped deliver and install these mammoth concrete segments on projects across Melbourne.
Since their introduction on the Mernda Rail Extension in 2018, U-troughs have become a defining feature of Victoria’s level crossing removals.
Their use in level crossing removal projects in Brunswick and Coburg, Preston, Pakenham, Parkdale and Carrum has helped to create more than 20 MCGs of open space for community facilities, playgrounds, and cycling and walking paths, and thousands of new trees and hundreds of thousands of new plants, shrubs and grasses, the Victorian Government said.
Senior Project Engineer Ben Bartlett, who was on site for the installation of the 1000th U-trough at Melton, said it was amazing to see them used in so many places to remove level crossings.
“It’s a really impressive legacy that I have been able to contribute to,” he said.
“It’s certainly something I will be taking kids back to in the future to show them what a wonderful thing I have worked on.”
Construction is underway in Melton, with all four boom gates set to be removed and the new Melton Station to open in 2026.
