Construction blitz to remove 10 level crossings, including a new stretch of ‘sky rail’

Another 10 level crossings will be removed in a major construction blitz that will involve building more “sky rail”. See which suburbs will be affected.

Three new sections of “sky rail” are set to be built across Melbourne to get rid of 10 level crossings — including a 2km structure across two bayside suburbs.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday morning announced that 10 extra grade separations, set to cost up to $2.5 billion, would be added to a schedule of 75 already in the works and on track to be finished by 2025.

The locations include the bayside suburbs of Mentone and Parkdale, where the government wants to use a rail bridge to connect the two stations, which are about 2km apart.

This would eliminate notorious traffic snarls at boom gates and allow pedestrians to walk between Como Parade East and Como Parade West, but is likely to stir community debate.

Other crossings set to be removed by building rail bridges include at Croydon on the Lilydale line and at Keon Park on the Mernda Line.

The state government plans to get rid of 10 more level crossings. Picture: David Crosling

The other six level crossings would be done with rail trenches or road bridges and include:

• Two at Beaconsfield on the Pakenham line;

• Narre Warren on the Pakenham line;

• Calder Park on the Sunbury line;

• Dublin Rd on the Lilydale line;

• Bedford Rd in Ringwood on the Belgrave line.

The removal of the extra 10 crossings will allow for four other level crossings to be closed – at Cave Hill in Lilydale, Holden Road in Calder Park, Station Street in Officer and Progress Street in South Dandenong.

Premier Daniel Andrews announces the level crossing removal plans. Picture David Crosling

Mr Andrews said Labor promised in 2014 to get rid of 50 level crossings by 2022 but the program was more than a year ahead of schedule so more could be added to the list.

At the last election, the government promised to remove 75 crossings in total by 2025.

“It’s an incredible achievement that has created jobs, reduced congestion on our roads and opened up space for more trains, more often,” he said.

“Instead of just finishing early, we’re going to do more.”

Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said the extra work sites would “give a boost to our economy after the pandemic and support small business and hundreds of jobs”.
In a media release, the government said it had “preferred design solutions” for each location but that “a team of technical engineers will continue to assess and refine each one, ahead of final designs being confirmed”.

The Ringwood grade separation will mean there are no more crossings between the city and Ferntree Gully on the Belgrave line.
And by 2025 when a total of 85 level crossings will have been removed over one decade, two of Melbourne’s busiest train lines – Pakenham and Lilydale – will become level crossing free.

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