Two massive cranes worked separately to remove bridge pieces and a train platform at Wangaratta on Monday, February 5, as part of the Inland Rail project.
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The line between Melbourne and Albury was closed to trains between 3am and 9pm to allow the works to unfold.
One crane hauled up 12 cut-up length-ways pieces of the Green Street bridge, while the other 450-tonne machine hoisted away sections of the dive platform, previously used by the XPT.
Australian Rail Track Corporation Victorian general manager projects Ed Walker travelled up from his Melbourne office to witness the infrastructure being torn down.
"It's an important milestone for the project," Mr Walker said.
"It's very tangible, you can see the bridge had sat there for more than 60 years before it came down and it makes us look forward to providing a new bridge."
The railway lines beneath the new bridge will also be lowered by 2.8 metres to allow for the higher wagons.
On Monday from mid-morning, the two spans of the bridge were craned away after being cut into 12-metre long pieces either side of the central pier.
Bitumen and sub-surface material had already been removed, leaving the segments as concrete surfaced pieces.
The embankments and pier will stay in place before they are removed during another rail shutdown in March.
The lowering of the tracks will then unfold before works begin on the construction of the new bridge, which is expected to open towards the end of the year.
The dive is being filled in as part of the Inland Rail project and the platform, which catered for standard gauge trains, will be recycled in some form, as will the bridge pieces.
Between 60 and 80 workers, across two overlapping shifts, were involved in the work which will continue on Tuesday, February 6, with one rail line being used through Wangaratta.
Wangaratta mayor Dean Rees was among a crowd of locals who took the opportunity to watch the dismantling works on Monday.
"It was good to see things going on, because once that's done (the bridge removal) they can start to take away the embankments and then fill in the dive and put pylons in for the new bridge," Cr Rees said.
"It will be well worth it when it's done because we'll have that landscape under the bridge opened up, whereas we've now got the embankments covering up that space and you don't get that open look."
Mr Walker noted the fascination from curious residents.
"We've found particularly with Wangaratta, because it's so close to town and connected to the railway station we get a lot of interest from people and that's certainly been the case this time as well," he said.
Final stage works, including the installation of railings and lighting and laying down of bitumen, are now occurring.
