The new 23-kilometre metro line when complete, will mean it’ll take passengers five minutes to travel from the airport to Bradfield, approximately 15 minutes from the airport to St Marys and approximately 20 minutes from Bradfield to St Marys where passengers can connect to the rest of Sydney’s rail network.
The impressive viaduct structure is a critical part of the metro alignment between Orchard Hills and Luddenham and has been constructed to take metro services over key locations including the Warragamba pipelines, Blaxland Creek, and Luddenham Road.
This viaduct will be part of a mix of underground tunnels, ground level railway and elevated railway.
A total of 1,101 precast concrete segments (sections of the bridge) were used to construct the viaduct, with each segment measuring 10.85 metres wide, up to 3.2 metres long and 2.4 metres high, and weighs up to 65 tonnes, with more than 52,000 tonnes of concrete used to cast the segments.
In a boost for local jobs, all 1,101 precast concrete segments, which were pieced together to build the structure of this viaduct, were manufactured in Buchanan, 20 minutes outside of Newcastle.
Supporting the impressive structure are 84 piers, each weighing between 80 and 160 tonnes and towering up to 15.3 metres high. The piers were made using 96,250 tonnes of concrete.
To build the viaduct, more than 2,500 people worked over 16 months with huge machinery to manoeuvre the heavy segments.
The Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport project itself has engaged more than 8,868 workers, 54 per cent of whom live in Western Sydney.
Completing the viaduct also included completing the base of Luddenham Station, the only station located on a viaduct 13.5 metres above ground.
Luddenham Station is one of six new stations for the metro railway line that will become a crucial connection for travellers visiting the new international airport.
It will also open up housing and business opportunities here in Sydney’s west, as we link up this part of our city to a rail line for the first time ever.
The next stage of this project will include laying track along the entire 23-kilometre alignment.
This new Sydney Metro railway will become the transport spine for Greater Western Sydney, connecting communities and travellers with the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport and the growing region.
For more information about the project, visit www.sydneymetro.info/westernsydneyairportline.]sydneymetro.info/westernsydneyairportline
