Delivering the biggest level crossing removal rail occupation

The Cheltenham and Mentone Level Crossing removal project was awarded to the Southern Program Alliance (SPA) in March 2019 and was one of four packages of works the Alliance is currently removing. This package involved the removal of three level crossings including Balcombe Road, Mentone, and Charman and Park Roads, Cheltenham. To remove these level crossings the Southern Program Alliance (SPA) undertook one of the biggest rail occupations to date on the Melbourne Metropolitan Rail Network in Victoria over 57 days. During this occupation the Alliance removed 300,000m3 of earth, sprayed 5000m3 of shotcrete, placed over 40,000T of capping and ballast, 6kms of new sleepers and track, and constructed two new premium stations; Mentone and Cheltenham. Major upgrades to trackside power, substations and a completely new signalling system upgrade were also completed. During this time SPA successfully managed time constraints and productivity whilst maintaining quality alongside confronting the adverse reality of working life through a world pandemic. Faced with such an extended occupation, SPA put over six months into planning and preparing for the occupation with fatigue management and safety at the forefront of concerns. Throughout the occupation continuous improvement was always encouraged by all teams as it was well understood that these innovations could be carried through to future Rail Projects. As part of our continuous improvement initiative the team also introduced a new framework to help manage performance during the occupation. This had a higher focus on tracking several key metrics, like costs, productivity and safety. This data supported the operational reliability during the Occupation and provides valuable information for improving future Occupations.