Inland Rail project to advance in Seymour and surrounds

By Billie Davern

Feb 17, 2025

The current progress at the Seymour-Avenel Rd bridge. Photo by Contributed

With Tranche 1 of Inland Rail’s Beveridge to Albury project nearing completion, Seymour residents can expect to see more works coming up later this year as Tranche 2 commences.

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Tranche 1 has seen the replacement of the Seymour-Avenel Rd bridge with a new bridge 3.2 metres higher constructed in the same location.

Inland Rail is about 78 per cent of the way through this job, which was established to allow sufficient clearance for double-stacked freight trains to pass safely underneath.

Coming up in Seymour and surrounds, Inland Rail will be lowering the tracks below the Hume Fwy bridges in both Seymour and Tallarook to create a gradual decline.

These works will begin this year, with the entirety of Tranche 2 of the project in Victoria being projected to be completed by late 2027.

Inland Rail Beveridge to Albury Tranche 2 project director Scott Anderson said the lowering of the tracks in these locations is set to benefit locals as “they get to drive on a freeway with less freight driving up and down.”

“Each double-stacked freight train will take 110 b-double trucks off our roads,” Mr Anderson said.

This project has also opened a range of employment opportunities for locals in the region.

“We’re going to provide a huge number of jobs to locals,” Mr Anderson said.

“We’re really focusing on local content and we’re working with our contractor on that to make sure that they are using local content."

To perform works on a rail corridor is no easy feat.

Mr Anderson explained that much of the work in lowering the tracks below the Hume Fwy underpasses in both Tallarook and Seymour must be done when trains are not in operation on the line.

“Twice a year, we have a blackout period, or super possession as we call it, where we get 60-hour blocks of time and we have to do as much of the work that we can within that 60-hour block,” Mr Anderson said.

“There’s a huge amount of planning that goes on.”

In the coming months, Seymour and surrounding areas are set to see works beginning to progress, with Inland Rail opening up sites across the region.

Mr Anderson said locals will particularly see developments in November.

“Over the next six months, there’ll be a steady increase in activity and lots of people will start arriving on site and things will start changing,” Mr Anderson said.

“It’s the start of us delivering some really good infrastructure updates for the community.

“I think when the project is finished, they’re going to be really happy with what we’ve done.”

For more information on Inland Rail’s Beveridge to Albury project, visit https://inlandrail.com.au/where-we-go/projects/beveridge-to-albury/status/