Case study: Level Crossing Removal

Hallam Road
SEPA Alliance

The SEPA Alliance team used SiteHive devices and software to protect vulnerable species and keep residents informed as they replaced a level crossing in suburban Melbourne.

Client

SEPA Alliance

Industry

Infrastructure, rail and road

Project

Level Crossing Removal Project

Products

SiteHive Enviro Pro, SiteHive Hexanode Multi

The challenge

Remove a dangerous and congested level crossing while protecting vulnerable species and minimising disruption to local communities.

The Hallam Road project involves the removal of a level crossing in Hallam, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, by building a rail bridge over the busy main road. Covering a 2km section of the Pakenham rail line, the project is a "rail over road" exercise that includes a rail bridge and a new station with facilities for 2200 passengers.

The work site covers a large area and multiple environments. In the north-east, the Pakenham line goes through a wetlands area, home to the Dwarf Galaxias - a vulnerable species whose protection is a priority. There are also protected species of woodland and wetland grasses, and other major areas of the site are residential.

The solution

Mobile and automated SiteHive Hexanode monitoring devices allow the team to monitor noise and dust easily across a large area. They then use SiteHive Enviro Pro to manage the data from wherever they are - on-site or off - and can act on it proactively as required.

"With SiteHive we know exactly what's happening and we don't have to worry about it. We mostly just rely on Alerts to tell us if there’s an issue.”

Mat Boomsma
SEPA Alliance Hallam Road

Benefits and features

Exceedances explained quickly using images and audio

The SiteHive Hexanode devices provide images, audio and direction of arrival maps for both sound and dust. The team can go back and listen to the sound and look at the photos, and then label the exceedances easily.

Alerts automatically notify the team about issues

The team set up rules for noise and dust based on their management plan, and SiteHive Enviro Pro automatically messages them by email or sms if any thresholds are reached. The SEPA team is free to focus on other activities, knowing they'll be notified if there's a site issue.

Savings up to $18,500 a month

The team estimates savings of up to $18,500 a month by using SiteHive. This comes from more efficient and effective workflows, as well as a reduced need for consultants.

A live and continuous record of site events

SiteHive devices and software provide the team with a full record of what’s happening on site, including 24/7 data, images, audio files and direction of arrival mapping. Having access to this gives the team a lot of certainty because they know that if they have to respond to resident complaints or the EPA, for example, they have all the information at hand.

The team has full access and control

Traditionally, the team used external consultants to do their noise and dust monitoring, but SiteHive allows them to manage it themselves. This has made things much faster, and also delivered significant cost savings.

"Using SiteHive is much cheaper. If we weren’t using SiteHive it would probably cost us $10,000 for a consultant to do the set-up, grab the data, device hire and report each month for dust, and the same again for noise. Now we can easily do that ourselves."

Mat Boomsma - Environmental Manager
SEPA ALliance Hallam Road

Find out more

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