By Cam Lucadou-Wells
The last four sets of boom gates on the Dandenong-Cranbourne railway line will be removed by 2025, the state ALP party has pledged.
And it won’t be all sky rail.
If re-elected, the State Government will remove level crossings at Webster Street in Dandenong, Greens Road in Dandenong South, Evans Road in Lyndhurst and Camms Road in Cranbourne.
On 5 November Premier Daniel Andrews announced the plan at Dandenong railway station, currently shut down for works to cater for the coming high-capacity metro trains.
Webster Street crossing would likely be removed by a “hybrid” solution – rail being raised over a lowered road, Mr Andrews said.
The Greens Road grade separation would consist of a rail bridge over road.
Crossings at Evans and Camms roads would be replaced by road bridges over rail.
It’s part of a $6.6 billion promise to remove 25 further level crossings by 2025, including four in Pakenham using ‘elevated rail’.
The Cranbourne-line removals would free nearly 40,000 vehicles a day stuck at the intersections, the Government claims.
Sixteen near-misses and a fatality had been recorded at the Greens Road crossing since 2012.
No property was expected to be acquired as part of the project, Mr Andrews said.
It comes on top of a $750 million pledge to duplicate the rail track between Dandenong-Cranbourne – a project that would employ at least 1000 jobs.
The duplication would ensure 10 minute train services on the line, with $7 million planning for an extension to Clyde, he said.
The Government had removed 11 level crossings as part of the ‘sky rail’ project between Caulfield-Dandenong.
When asked how the Government could afford the project, Mr Andrews stood on a record of four consecutive budget surpluses.
“The real question is what would our economy and communities be like if we didn’t get on and build the sort of infrastructure we’re talking about?”
That included road, rail, hospitals and schools that should have been built 20-30 years ago, he said.
Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams said the crossing removals would rid Greens Road and Webster Streets of a “congested nightmare”.
Cranbourne Labor candidate Pauline Richards said the project would make the Cranbourne line the first in Melbourne to go “level crossing-free”.
In contrast, the Opposition has pledged to extend the track – without any new level crossings – to the new housing estates in Cranbourne East and Clyde.
The $487 million project would include an electrified double line with two new stations and grade separations at the South Gippsland Highway, Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road, Broad Oak Drive and Berwick-Cranbourne Road.
Opposition public transport spokesperson David Davis said the City of Casey had “substantial population growing pains” that needed “immediate government action”.
“We need to ease the population squeeze which is why I am so focused on planning for population growth so every Victorian can enjoy living in their communities.”
Cranbourne Liberal candidate Ann Marie Hermans said she and the community were disappointed that Labor wouldn’t extend the track to Clyde.
“As I door knock throughout Cranbourne East and Clyde North, many people voice their frustrations about unreliable packed trains, long commutes and the desperate need for a train station in their local area.”
Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the “under-cooked and under-funded” Opposition plan would not enable 10-minute services to Cranbourne.
