The last of 3.2km of viaduct between Orchard Hills and Luddenham in Sydney’s west has been completed as part of the Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport project.
Constructed for the Western Sydney Airport metro line, this impressive structure is a critical part of the project’s 23km alignment that includes six new stations, underground tunnels, ground-level and elevated railway in Sydney’s west. The viaduct has been constructed to take Sydney Metro’s rail services over various terrain that includes Warragamba water pipelines, Blaxland Creek, and Luddenham Road.
A total of 1101 precast concrete segments were used in the construction, made from more than 52,000 tonnes of concrete. Each segment measures 10.85m-wide, up to 3.2m-long and 2.4m-high, and weighing up to 65 tonnes. The segments were manufactured in Buchanan, just outside Newcastle.
Supporting the viaduct are 84 piers made from 96,250 tonnes of concrete; each weighing 80 to 160 tonnes each, towering up to 15.3m-high. More than 2500 people worked over 16 months to build the viaduct which includes the base of Luddenham Station, the only railway station located on a viaduct 13.5 metres above ground.
The NSW Government declared the viaducts “a feat of engineering innovation, using advanced techniques including a custom-built underslung 110-tonne temporary beam and a 300-tonne crawler crane to lift and align each segment of the viaducts in place”.
In October 2024, we reported on the progress of the viaduct as workers pieced together the part crossing over the Warragamba pipelines and the challenges which this involved.
About the author
Desi Corbett
Desi is the Editor of Concrete in Australia and at the helm of our magazine for 8 years. She was behind the Institute's weekly news bulletins from 2016-2021 and is now writing our focused news items. Desi has been an engineering news and features journalist/editor across all disciplines since 2013 - part of a 30-year career writing for a wide range of industries.