After a month of chaos, the Tarro Rail Bridge has finally fully reopened to traffic this morning.
The four lanes of the New England Highway were reduced to two on October 8 when technicians found a problem with the columns that support the bridge over the railway line.
The two lanes for Newcastle and Port Stephens bound traffic opened last Wednesday night, but persistent rainfall meant workers couldn’t get back on site to finish the work until last night.
Last night’s efforts mean the four lanes of the New England Highway at the Tarro Rail Bridge are all open today.
Transport for NSW Regional Director North, Anna Zycki said transport for NSW prioritised the urgent repairs required to return the road over rail bridge on the New England Highway to normal operating conditions as quickly as possible.
“Transport for NSW acknowledges the impacts these restrictions have had on motorists and thank the community and freight operators for their patience while we worked to return the bridge to normal operating conditions safely.”
Further non-urgent works, including ongoing maintenance to the bridge, will be undertaken at a later stage and managed to minimise further disruption to traffic.
The extra passenger train services added to the Hunter Line between Newcastle and Maitland, put on to meet increased rail patronage while restrictions were placed on the bridge, will continue and be reviewed by NSW TrainLink this week.
The two additional daily weekday services in the AM and PM peak periods will run until further notice, as will the addition of express trains stopping at all stations.