Completion of Barnawartha North Inland Rail project marked

The job involved the railway, which passes below the Murray Valley Highway bridge at Barnawartha North, being lowered by about 1.4 metres to allow for double-stacked freight trains to run through unimpeded.

To mark the finish, a celebratory barbecue was held on Thursday November 2, 2023 at the on-site depot with Wodonga mayor Ron Mildren joining senior representatives of the Australian Rail Track Corporation and contractor for the project McConnell Dowell.

ARTC Victorian and South Australian general manager projects Ed Walker said although it would not be until 2027 that taller trains could travel from Melbourne to Parkes in central NSW it was pleasing to have ended the northern most project in Victoria.

"The reality is we won't be able to operate double-stacked trains until all the sites are done, but this is the first and for that reason it's just a really nice milestone for the team to be able to celebrate all the hard work that has been put in," Mr Walker said.

He said the lowering of tracks at Barnawartha had been relatively simple compared to simultaneous bridge and underpass works around Glenrowan and Wangaratta railway stations and it had benefitted from good weather.

"Glenrowan is going really well, the bridge spans have been installed in the recent super possession, and we're anticipating that we'll be able to open that new bridge early next year, end of January-early February," Mr Walker said.

"Wangaratta we'll be working there all of 2024 and completing it towards the end of 2024, with the underpass, new station platform and we also need to rebuild the Green Street bridge and do some track works."

Mr Walker said there had no surprises with earthworks.

"Whenever you're digging, you never know what you're going to find, but the ground conditions have been as expected, so it hasn't caused us any undue delay or impact," he said.

Mr Walker said trains had travelled through the Barnawartha North work zone at a slower speed to ensure the new track, which included 800 new concrete sleepers and 800 metres of rail, was bedded in and those reduced limits had now been lifted.

Workers at Barnawartha North will be transferred to the Wangaratta project and to the northside of Seymour where a higher bridge will be built on the Seymour-Avenel Road to allow for double-stacked wagons.

To mark the occasion, Cr Mildren was presented with a rail clip in a box.

It was the most significant railway work in the Wodonga Council area since the city's railway and station were removed from the central business district between 2008 and 2010.

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