Four level crossings in Melbourne’s leafy south-east will be the first to go as the Andrews government begins the heavy lifting on its signature election promise to remove 50 across Melbourne within eight years.
Contracts have been awarded to remove crossings at Burke Road in Glen Iris; Centre Road in Bentleigh; McKinnon Road in McKinnon; and North Road in Ormond.
John Holland, which has a stake in Metro Trains, and KBR will together remove the crossings at a cost of $524 million.
It is expected the crossings will be gone by 2018 and work will begin at Burke Road within weeks. Planning work on Burke Road began under the former Napthine government.
Removing the level crossings will require the demolition and reconstruction of four railway stations at Bentleigh, Ormond, McKinnon and Gardiner.
Three of the four crossings sit within the ultra-marginal seat of Bentleigh, which Labor holds with a 0.8 per cent majority.
The government said 350 jobs would be created by removing the four crossings.
Premier Daniel Andrews and Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan made the announcement at McKinnon Street, a classic suburban shopping strip in Melbourne’s affluent south-east, with the Frankston rail line running through its heart and small businesses lining McKinnon Road on either side.
The crossing was ranked just 84th on a Department of Transport priority list created in 2010 but is located a short distance south of North Road, which will also go.
Mr Andrews acknowledged there would be major disruption along the Frankston line but said he expected communities would understand it was for a good cause.
“There will be significant disruption, we’ve been very clear about that, but we’ll do everything we can to try and minimise that,” Mr Andrews said.
“I think passengers as well as road users know that there will be disruption in really taking a big step forward, getting rid of these deadly and congested level crossings.
“There will be proper consultation with business, residents. All of those issues will be dealt with in a respectful way.”
This story first appeared in The Age
