Sarens moves rail bridge segment in Australia
15 December 2023In a four-hour operation, Sarens removed and transported two old bridge segments to make room for a new bridge on O'Riordan Street in Sydney, Australia as part of the Botany Rail Duplication Project.
Sarens had just a four-hour time window to remove the old bridges and drive them approximately a kilometre over public roads, next to the Sydney airport, to bring them to the designated lay down yard.
The weight of the bridges, more than 250tonnes each, and the surrounding structures ruled out the possibility of deploying a crane. SPMTs proved to be the ideal solution. And additional challenge was the fixed steel billboard on the sides of the bridges.
The Eastern bridge was removed by lowering it down using the stroke of the SPMT. To remove the west span an additional stroke was required. The team decided to deploy their CS250 climbing system on top of the SPMTs for the west span. Upon removal, the SPMTs drove the bridges to the lay down yard,, where Sarens’ gantry system lifted bridge sections from the SPMTs onto concrete blocks. (The lowering could be done outside the critical four-hour window)
“The proximity of the project site to the Sydney Domestic and International Airport added to our challenge” said Michiel De Bodt, Technical Solutions Sales Manager. “We had to follow strict OLS restrictions and most of the work was completed during the night shifts. Our team successfully completed the project on time and within the budget.”
