Murrumbeena sky rail station delay: Wet and windy weather blamed

A SKY rail station’s reopening has been delayed for a month, causing more frustration for commuters in Melbourne’s southeast.

WET and windy weather has been blamed for delaying the reopening of a new sky rail station in Melbourne’s south east.

Murrumbeena commuters face an extra month of disruption with the station, which has been closed since mid-June. The station is now set to reopen on October 2.

The Level Crossing Removal Authority originally planned to reopen the station in early September — and possibly earlier — following $1.6 billion in works along the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.

Works continue on Murrumbeena railway station upgrade.

Murrumbeena commuters face an extra month of disruption with their station. Picture: Mark Dadswell

Authority project director Brett Summers said crews were working around the clock to get the train station open, but could not control the weather.

“We thank commuters for bearing with us while we get these critical works done,” Mr Summers said.

“It’s been a complex process to get some massive construction equipment up and running at Murrumbeena, but the end result will mean we can push ahead with building the new elevated line while trains keep running.”

Weather conditions on key dates in July prevented several tests to be carried out on the equipment, leading to unavoidable delays.

The authority said these tests needed to occur while the rail line was closed, meaning they could not be rescheduled for the next day.

During the station’s closure, frustrated commuters have faced delays in getting to and from the city as buses replace trains.

Buses have replaced trains at Murumbeena railway station. Picture: Mark Dadswell

Wet and windy weather has been blamed for delaying the reopening of Murumbeena railway station.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said passengers would hope any station closures were minimised.

“One of the core promises of sky rail was that it would mean less disruption to train services than other methods of removing the crossings,” Mr Bowen said.

“The Level Crossing Removal Authority needs to deliver on that promise.

“Removal of the crossings will be a plus when it’s completed, but months of bus replacement services can make passengers’ lives a misery.

“The quicker the station reopens, the better.”

The controversial sky rail project involves the removal of nine level crossings by elevating the railway line between Caulfield and Dandenong.

The crossings are among the state’s worst with boom gates down for more than 80 minutes in the morning peak at a number of sites.

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