Victoria’s incredible progress to the project focused on removing dangerous and congested level crossing, has eliminated a total of 54 level crossings right now, giving peace of mind to all citizens since progress has been made in an incredible way, advancing the project a year earlier than expected.
Weeks ago, the goal was incredibly reached after the elimination of the level crossing at Bondi Road, Bonbeach, and four more level crossings in Chelsea and Edithvale.
A total of 85 level crossings are planned to be removed in Melbourne by 2025, which is expected to improve safety for both drivers and pedestrians, reduce congestion on these critical roads, and create capacity for more trains with new technologies to travel more frequently.
This project continues with the respective developments located at Manchester Road, Mooroolbark and Maroondah Highway, Lilydale, and two new train stations open for passengers in Lilydale and Mooroolbark in November 2021.
These new stations have been equipped with new lifts and stairs, platforms with canopies to protect people from any event that could be harmful to users, accessible entrances and staff available 24 hours a day, providing the security demanded by citizens.
Victorian Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Jacinta Allan, said, “We said we’d make the Lilydale line level crossing free by 2025 and that’s exactly what we’re doing – now we’re two level crossings down from reaching that milestone, which can’t come soon enough.”
Victorian Deputy Premier and Member for Monbulk, James Merlino, said, “We’re thrilled these dangerous and congested level crossings are now a distant memory – they’ll slash travel times and make roads safer for 53,000 motorists that use them each day.”
One of the great updates that this project will have for the citizens of Mooroolbark is the progress of work on the 900-space multi-level car park at the Mooroolbark station, the largest to be built under the Victoria passenger car park program, This car park will have CCTV system and state-of-the-art lighting, this will double the number of passenger parking spaces when it opens in 2022.
From Monday 22 November, train services will resume along the full length of the Frankston line, which is one of Melbourne’s busiest, and the new Edithvale, Chelsea and Bonbeach stations will open after ten weeks of major works.
The incredible effort of the workers eliminated five level crossings by lowering the Frankston line below the local road network and in three railway trenches, each approximately 1 km long and up to 7 m deep.
Four new road bridges were built above the trenches at Edithvale Road, Edithvale, Argyle Avenue, Chelsea, Bondi Road, Bonbeach – and the new east-west link across the rail corridor at Thames Promenade, Chelsea.
While the stations are in operation, crews will remain in the area until mid-2022, finalizing details on parking, planting, and landscaping around the stations, including more than 800 trees and 85,000 shrubs, ground covers and grasses to enhance the appearance and improve the environment around these projects. The project will also provide space for walking and biking to create more than 11 km of continuous shared user routes from Edithvale to Frankston.
The boom gates at Edithvale, Chelsea and Bonbeach had previously been down for up to 40 per cent of the morning peak, causing delays for commuters including drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
In addition, more than 40,000 commuters use the Frankston line every day and current network plans to increase the number of trains running on the Frankston line meant the boom gates would be down for even longer without the project.
Work on the project will continue into 2022, including new car parks, community open spaces, landscaping and artwork.
