Concept designs for a new railway overpass in Euroa have been released by the Australian Rail Track Corporation as part of its Inland Rail project.
Three meetings were also this week held in Euroa for community members to discuss the project which requires the Anderson St bridge to be upgraded to allow for double-stacked trains to fit underneath.
ARTC’s Victorian stakeholder manager Lauren McKenzie said the preferred solution was replacing the bridge with a new and higher bridge to the north-east of the current bridge, also closer to the station.
‘‘To date our work in Euroa has focused on the core elements of the engineering solution for the Anderson St bridge which needs to accommodate double-stacked trains,’’ she said.
‘‘There are good reasons — including hydrology, community and traffic disruptions and safety — why we are not progressing with other options such as track lowering or a new level crossing.’’
Euroa Bridges Alternatives Group member Shirley Saywell said it seemed the ARTC was viewing the project solely from an engineering perspective and stressed the need to submit a fully integrated, high quality design for the town.
Through its Facebook page, EBAG expressed its concern with the progress to date, and said they soon hoped to view definitive facts, measurements, drawings and plans.
Ms McKenzie said the ARTC appreciated the community concern around the visual impact of a newer and higher bridge and they wanted to talk more about how they could better integrate a new structure into the local environment so that it might be received more as a landmark than an imposition.
‘‘In addition to discussions relating to functionality and accessibility, we are also keen to discuss elements related to visual amenity such as landscaping, interface treatments and urban design to provide an enhanced station precinct including things like public open spaces,’’ she said.
‘‘We’ve produced an initial artist’s impression of how a new and taller structure might look and were seeking community feedback on that.’’
Ms McKenzie noted the recent community sessions in Euroa had reinforced the high level of interest in the project.
‘‘The process does take time to get right,’’ she said.
‘‘Once the engineering solution is developed further we will be able to share more detail on how we can make our solution support the community vision.’’
The Inland Rail project aims to complete a national freight network between Melbourne and Brisbane via regional Victoria, NSW and Queensland.