A SECTION of railway was washed away after heavy rainfall on Sunday evening caused flash flooding in Cootamundra and surrounding areas.
Following the rainfall, the Australian Rail Track Corporation said it conducted track inspections and discovered a section of track had been washed away at Stockinbingal on the branch line.
“ARTC is marshalling all materials and resources to repair the track, with the line expected to reopen on the afternoon of Thursday 16th March,” ARTC said in a statement.
“The East West and North South lines remain open.”
Meanwhile, as part of the so-called ARTC super possession, the Sydney to Melbourne rail line is to be shut down from 0600 Saturday 18 March to 0600 20 March.
The company said it would carry out essential maintenance and improvement works on the line.
Works include track re-railing, resurfacing, and reconditioning, as well as drainage restoration, track ballasting, level crossing upgrades, relocation of utilities, turnout maintenance and bridge maintenance.
Routine track maintenance activities will be completed, along with signalling works, and vegetation control.
To minimise disruption to customers, the ARTC super possession will be run in conjunction with similar possessions on the Sydney Trains network.
These works are part of ARTC’s additional investment over the next three years to improve network resilience, further helping to reduce speed restrictions.
During this period, early works will also commence on the Southern Highlands Overtaking Opportunities project at Werai.
Works will include earthworks, and installing ballast, sleepers, and rail. This project is being delivered with $41.6 million in funding support from the Australian Government.
The project aims to increase flexibility and reduce congestion on the network, by allowing freight trains to be overtaken by faster services.
The super possession also provides the opportunity for ARTC to undertake Inland Rail construction at Glenrowan and Barnawartha North.
ARTC will also facilitate early works on the Melbourne Airport Rail project with the installation of monitoring equipment on the Maribyrnong Bridge and carry out geotechnical investigations.
ARTC general manager asset maintenance services – interstate Costas Kokkoni said:
“This super possession will see more than $15 million worth of essential works completed from Sydney to Melbourne, to maintain a high standard of safety and reliability across the network,” he said.
“Work will be completed across 90 worksites along the corridor in New South Wales and Victoria, including early works commencing on the Southern Highlands Overtaking Opportunities project.”
