The transformed Wangaratta railway station has been officially opened today, marking the completion of major works on Inland Rail’s Beveridge to Albury (B2A) Tranche 1 project.
Inland Rail – which will run double-stacked freight trains via regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland – will cut rail freight travel time between Melbourne and Brisbane to less than 24 hours.
At Wangaratta, modifications of the station precinct and the replacement of the adjacent Green Street bridge were required to allow sufficient clearance for double-stacked freight trains.
Together with construction partner, McConnell Dowell, Inland Rail transformed the station by:
- relocating the east track to form a new west track
- adding a new western platform
- removing two footbridges and replacing them with a single pedestrian underpass
- lowering the tracks under Green Street bridge and
- replacing the Green Street bridge on the same alignment.
Wangaratta station is now more accessible with a new western carpark, better connected with new pathways, lifts, ramps and stairs and safer with the installation of 35 security cameras.
In addition, Inland Rail also lowered the tracks under the Murray Valley Highway at Barnawartha North and replaced bridges over the rail line at Glenrowan and Seymour-Avenel Road.
Wangaratta station is the centrepiece of the B2A Tranche 1 project, which also involved upgrading sections of the 262 km of existing rail between Beveridge and Albury.
