Upfield train line 24-hour construction works causes frontline workers, families to lose valuable sleep

Families and frontline healthcare workers living beside a 24-hour construction site say they’ve struggled through 25 “sleepless” nights.

Families living next to a 24-hour construction site in Melbourne’s north say the constant noise is such a disturbance the State Government is giving them exemption notices to travel outside 5km for “temporary relocation”.

Tanya Pittard, who lives next to the level crossing removal works site on the Upfield line in Coburg, said her family had struggled through 25 “sleepless” nights.

“We are 25 sleepless nights into 105,” she said.

“My husband is an essential employee working 12 to 16-hour shifts, I’m working full time and trying to juggle homeschooling – there are doctors in this street, disability carers – we need our sleep.

“Melburnians are struggling, we’re all making sacrifices and trying to do what we can to get through this pandemic, and all we ask is for some sleep, a respite period for the works to stop between 10pm and 7am.”

Tanya Pittard and her sons William and Callum say 24-hour construction work on the Upfield line is causing them sleepless nights. Picture: David Crosling/NCA NewsWire

Ms Pittard said she would frequently wake to loud drilling in the middle of the night and “constant intermittent noise”.

“I go to bed knowing I’m not going to get a good night’s sleep – we’re all just exhausted from this – it’s all day and all night,” she said.

“Relocation isn’t good enough – these are our homes and all we’re asking is a bit of consideration during those critical hours when we need our rest.”

Works include removing four level crossings, elevating a 2.5km section of the Upfield line and building two stations at Moreland and Coburg.

Workers are operating 24 hours a day until mid-November when trains will resume running on the Upfield line.

Residents in Jesse St, Coburg say Upfield line construction works are disturbing their nights. Picture: David Crosling/NCA NewsWire

The noise has become so bad the Pittard family, as well as 300 other families, was granted a letter of exemption to travel beyond 5km to Parkville in order to relocate away from the constant sound.

“With construction works occurring 24/7 in the Upfield line rail corridor for the Bell to Moreland Level Crossing Removal Project, residents in proximity have been relocated to alternative accommodation for respite,” it was stated in the letter.

“The project is considered critical infrastructure for Melbourne and is continuing. Residents of the above address will be required to travel more than 5km outside of their home postcode to their temporary relocation accommodation in Parkville until 15 November 2020, at which point they will return to permanently to their primary residence.”

Bell to Moreland level crossing removal project director Matt Thorpe said to shorten shifts would drag works over a much longer time frame, meaning greater disturbance.

“We have supported the community by offering over 300 families temporary relocation as we remove four dangerous and congested level crossings, including one of Melbourne’s worst bottlenecks at Bell St,” he said.

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