Posts
By MARK BAKER
The damaged bridge showing the section that may have to be removed for safety reasons. Picture: NEIL RICHARDSON
THE East Tamar Highway was reopened yesterday afternoon after an excavator being transported on a semi-trailer smashed into an overhead rail bridge on Tuesday.
The future of rail freight transport on the Bell Bay line remains unclear until an engineer's report on the damage is finished in the next few days.
Infrastructure Minister Graeme Sturges said the bridge was safe for vehicles to travel under but there had been significant damage to the structure.
"This has been a major whack and the department has moved into action very, very quickly indeed through the contingency plan that they have," he said. "We've had a team of expert engineers up there, workers up there clearing the concrete on the road, making it safe."
Mr Sturges said the Government understood the strategic nature of the Bell Bay rail link and was keen to reopen the track as soon as possible, "but we now need to get the expert advice from the engineers; they're crunching numbers, they're doing what they need to do and one thing we won't do is compromise the safety of Tasmanians".
About 3.30pm on Tuesday, an excavator being transported on a semi- trailer hit the railway bridge.
The highway remained blocked for most of yesterday while engineering crews surveyed the damage.
Light vehicles and standard trucks were able to detour along Lilydale main road, Pipers River main road and Bridport main road, however, B-Doubles were too large for the alternate routes.
Mr Sturges said he would not rule out action against the transport company but it was not the primary concern for the department.
Kellara Transport general manager Ken Hughes was interstate and unavailable to comment yesterday.
Infrastructure Department roads and traffic general manager Peter Todd said the maximum vehicle height would be limited to 4.3m.
"This limit will be strictly enforced, with variable message boards in place to remind truck drivers of the new restriction," Mr Todd said.
"New temporary gantries on the road approaches to the rail bridge will also be installed as an extra warning for truck drivers."
A team of five transport inspectors would also be on the highway to make sure trucks kept to load limits.
Tasports marketing executive manager Charles Scarafiotti said the highway's closure had not caused significant congestion at the Bell Bay port.
"The only issue for us is we have a train that can't be removed from our wharf at the moment," he said.
"If other cargo starts to come in while it's there, then it's going to be a bit of a problem and we'll have to look at some relocation."
Freight will be placed on trucks while the rail line is not operational.
Opposition infrastructure spokesman Peter Gutwein said freight forwarders who moved to road transport might not return to rail.
"For the longer term prospect of rail, it's obviously going to be a concern that whatever is transferred to road comes back to rail in the future," he said.
Mr Sturges said he hoped that Pacific National would be able to keep its current arrangements and restart carrying freight on trains when the line reopened.
Mr Gutwein said the closure of the highway highlighted a major flaw in transport planning as there was no alternate route.
"It does rely on heavy traffic and specifically B-doubles so it's certainly one issue in terms of contingency planning into the future that needs to be considered because any significant blockage of the highway effectively strangles the port," he said.
Mr Sturges met George Town Mayor Doug Burt and general manager Ngaire McCrindle yesterday to discuss alternate routes for heavy vehicles and concerns about road mass on the highway.
The damaged bridge showing the section that may have to be removed for safety reasons. Picture: NEIL RICHARDSON
THE East Tamar Highway was reopened yesterday afternoon after an excavator being transported on a semi-trailer smashed into an overhead rail bridge on Tuesday.
The future of rail freight transport on the Bell Bay line remains unclear until an engineer's report on the damage is finished in the next few days.
Infrastructure Minister Graeme Sturges said the bridge was safe for vehicles to travel under but there had been significant damage to the structure.
"This has been a major whack and the department has moved into action very, very quickly indeed through the contingency plan that they have," he said. "We've had a team of expert engineers up there, workers up there clearing the concrete on the road, making it safe."
Mr Sturges said the Government understood the strategic nature of the Bell Bay rail link and was keen to reopen the track as soon as possible, "but we now need to get the expert advice from the engineers; they're crunching numbers, they're doing what they need to do and one thing we won't do is compromise the safety of Tasmanians".
About 3.30pm on Tuesday, an excavator being transported on a semi- trailer hit the railway bridge.
The highway remained blocked for most of yesterday while engineering crews surveyed the damage.
Light vehicles and standard trucks were able to detour along Lilydale main road, Pipers River main road and Bridport main road, however, B-Doubles were too large for the alternate routes.
Mr Sturges said he would not rule out action against the transport company but it was not the primary concern for the department.
Kellara Transport general manager Ken Hughes was interstate and unavailable to comment yesterday.
Infrastructure Department roads and traffic general manager Peter Todd said the maximum vehicle height would be limited to 4.3m.
"This limit will be strictly enforced, with variable message boards in place to remind truck drivers of the new restriction," Mr Todd said.
"New temporary gantries on the road approaches to the rail bridge will also be installed as an extra warning for truck drivers."
A team of five transport inspectors would also be on the highway to make sure trucks kept to load limits.
Tasports marketing executive manager Charles Scarafiotti said the highway's closure had not caused significant congestion at the Bell Bay port.
"The only issue for us is we have a train that can't be removed from our wharf at the moment," he said.
"If other cargo starts to come in while it's there, then it's going to be a bit of a problem and we'll have to look at some relocation."
Freight will be placed on trucks while the rail line is not operational.
Opposition infrastructure spokesman Peter Gutwein said freight forwarders who moved to road transport might not return to rail.
"For the longer term prospect of rail, it's obviously going to be a concern that whatever is transferred to road comes back to rail in the future," he said.
Mr Sturges said he hoped that Pacific National would be able to keep its current arrangements and restart carrying freight on trains when the line reopened.
Mr Gutwein said the closure of the highway highlighted a major flaw in transport planning as there was no alternate route.
"It does rely on heavy traffic and specifically B-doubles so it's certainly one issue in terms of contingency planning into the future that needs to be considered because any significant blockage of the highway effectively strangles the port," he said.
Mr Sturges met George Town Mayor Doug Burt and general manager Ngaire McCrindle yesterday to discuss alternate routes for heavy vehicles and concerns about road mass on the highway.
No comments:
Post a Comment