Image: Matthew Nichols.
Level crossings aren’t a common sight in metropolitan areas like they used to be, in fact there are only three left in Sydney, but you can still catch a few of these relics in regional and country areas across Australia.
But Melbourne has been left behind for a long time in the urgent infrastructure renewal to remove level crossings that have traditionally caused delays and congestion, leading to angry motorists appealing to the government to act on it.
Their calls were answered at the November 2014 Victorian election, when then Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews made a pre-election promise to remove 50 level crossings across the Melbourne metropolitan area at an estimated cost of $5-6 billion.
Now the Andrews Labor government is carrying on with its ambitious removal project by tackling some of the state’s “most dangerous and congested” level crossings, announcing that four more removals will begin this year.
These designated trouble spots are located at Heatherdale Rd in Mitcham, Blackburn Rd in Blackburn, and Main and Furlong Roads in St Albans.
The government has selected an Alliance including Leighton Contractors, Aurecon and Hyder Consulting as the preferred contractor to design and construct the level crossing removals at these locations.
Under the reconstruction plan, it looks like cars will be getting the top bunk, as the rail line will be lowered under the road at each location. St Albans, Ginifer and Heatherdale stations will be re-built with platforms below street level and Blackburn Station will be upgraded.
The government expects that the works beginning on Main and Furlong Road in the coming months will be completed in 2017, and the removal of Heatherdale and Blackburn Road level crossings will start later this year and these crossings will be gone by 2018.
Even this relatively small part of the wider project to remove 50 level crossings will be expensive, with Mr Andrews and Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan announcing that the package of works will cost around $480 million.
This package includes $151 million from the Commonwealth, and the state government expects that it will create nearly 200 jobs.
Mr Andrews said these level crossings clog roads, risk lives and “stop us running more trains”.
“These four level crossings will all be removed by 2018, and are part of our $2-2.4 billion commitment in the 2015-16 Victorian Budget to remove at least 20 of these congested death traps over four years,” Mr Andrews said.
