Austrak sleeper factory
The Austrak sleeper factory is to the north of Geelong and is nowhere near any railway lines, located to the south of Avalon Airport and close to Corio Bay. It was the first concrete sleeper factory in Victoria.
It was established in 1995 to produce concrete railway sleepers for the Melbourne - Adelaide gauge standardisation project, having a capacity to churn out 500,000 sleepers per year. The factory also produces gauge convertible sleepers for TransAdelaide, broad gauge sleepers for Victoria, standard gauge sleepers for ARTC, and tramway sleepers for Melbourne.
The factory consists of a long shed, with a number of extremely long moulds under it. The product of these are then cut up into individual sleepers. The plant sees a constant convey of truck carrying raw materials for sleepers, including sand, aggregate, and cement. The sleepers are also moved out by road, with sleeper trains on the standard gauge being loaded at Inverleigh (!) - the closest usable siding on the gauge.
Events
| 1995 | Opened |