Trams, trains and automobiles: Commuters get creative amid level crossing chaos

Andy Dolan’s daily commute from his home in Nunawading to his work in Southbank used to be a breeze: hop on a train and he’d be at the office within 40 minutes.

But since February, he’s been swapping between suburban and freeway buses, train lines and his own two feet to complete the journey. It now takes him up to an hour and 45 minutes.

Commuter Andy Dolan has been getting experimental since the three-month closure of the Mont Albert and Surrey Hills stations began in February.Credit: Eddie Jim

“I basically have to get to work later and leave earlier,” the 32-year-old geologist said. “It’s frustrating ... I usually have to get home and pick up my son from daycare, so he’s been picked up a bit late sometimes, which is obviously not great.”

This is all because of two level crossings.

The Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP), a feature of Victoria’s $90 billon Big Build, will see 110 dangerous and congested level crossings removed by 2030.

This includes crossings on Mont Albert Road and on Union Road in Surrey Hills, where two women died when their car was crushed by a train in 2016. There have been at least eight near misses at both crossings since 2005.

The train line in the area will be lowered via a 1.3 kilometre trench, and bus replacements will operate between Camberwell and Box Hill along the Belgrave and Lilydale lines for about three months.

“Selfishly, it’s very frustrating and it’s definitely thrown my days out a lot. But I understand ... level crossings are obviously very important for general efficiency and for safety,” Dolan said.

An LXRP spokesman said there were more than 150 replacement buses running daily along the affected section of the Belgrave-Lilydale lines route.

Out of the frustration has come creativity. Commuters are taking the opportunity to experiment with different routes, testing how modes of transport compare – and inadvertently experiencing more of Melbourne.

Dolan has tried five different routes so far, including a bus to the Glen Waverley train line, a freeway bus to the north of the city followed by a trek on foot, and another freeway bus from Springfield Road in Nunawading to a connecting train in Collingwood.

“One thing I was kind of struck by was how nice-looking Collingwood station is,” Dolan said. “I also used to work on the trains ... but on a bus, there’s just no space. So because of that, I’ve done a bit of reading, which I guess has given me a bit more leisure time.”

Mont Albert and Surrey Hills stations were closed on February 17 and are expected to reopen in May – combined as one “super station”.

This will be one of the longest shutdown periods since the three-month closure of a stretch of the Upfield line in 2020. Carnegie and Murrumbeena stations were closed for a month in 2016 and the Frankston line shutdown for only eight days during the removal of the old Carrum station in 2019.

“Delays are exacerbated by a lack of on-road priority for buses ... some passengers have understandably given up and taken to their cars, which has the effect of making traffic worse for everybody.”

Daniel Bowen, Public Transport Users Association

The LXRP has also caused delays across other train lines since it began in 2015, most notably the Frankston line, which was disrupted for two months while two stations were built and three level crossings removed.

According to the LXRP, works on Ferguson Street and the Bell to Moreland level crossings also exceeded three months.

The only way to reduce the period of disruption would have been to build adjacent to the current railway line, which would have meant taking homes, businesses, parkland and trees, according to LXRP.

Whitehorse City councillor and Telstra engineer Andrew Munroe also fancies himself a creative commuter. He has tried six routes so far as he struggles to make it from his home in Blackburn to council meetings and his city office on time.

“I’m probably more creative and adventurous than most, partly because I’m time-poor. I’ve got to get to council on Monday nights, and I don’t have time to muck around.”

A journey that used to take him between 45 minutes and an hour has now doubled thanks to delayed bus replacements, road congestion and frantic jumping from his car to trams, trains or buses.

Though frustrated, Munroe conceded he was now well-versed with software such as the PTV app and had opened his mind to alternate transport that he would have otherwise avoided.

“I have found the buses along the freeway quite efficient,” Munroe said. “Those buses are not packed ... [they] have been pretty much on time.”

He could not say the same for replacement buses.

“You don’t know how long the gap is between [bus-replacements],” Munroe said, adding that road congestion due to Big Build closures meant they were often delayed.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said replacement systems were usually under-resourced and lacked sufficient staff, causing long waits and crowded services.

“There are few words that strike fear into the hearts of train passengers as much as ‘rail replacement buses’,” Bowen said.

“Delays are exacerbated by a lack of on-road priority for buses ... some passengers have understandably given up and taken to their cars, which has the effect of making traffic worse for everybody.”

Removal of the Mont Albert and Surrey Hills level crossings is expected to be completed two years ahead of schedule in 2023.

Work is underway at 18 level crossing sites, with the next to be removed at Mt Derrimut Road, Deer Park in April.

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