The State Government has announced it will remove the last four level crossings along the Cranbourne line including a duplication of the track starting next year.
These works include building a new Merinda Park Station with two new platforms and better facilities for the 1,100 passengers who use it each weekday.
The line upgrade will be delivered in stages and cost more than $1 billion. The duplication will also enable trains to run every 10 minutes.
Work is already underway to build a new road bridge over the rail line at Evans Road, with the Greens Road level crossing in Dandenong South the next to go.
A new rail bridge over the road will replace the Greens Road level crossing with detailed investigations confirming this as the most suitable design.
Work will start in 2020 and the crossing will be gone by the end of 2022.
Work will also start next year to construct eight kilometres of new track between Dandenong and Cranbourne, removing single-track bottlenecks that stop running more services.
These duplication works – including the rebuilding of Merinda Park Station – will be completed by 2023.
Eleven level crossings have already been removed on the Cranbourne line, with further technical investigations and community consultation to come for crossings at Webster Street in Dandenong and Camms Road in Cranbourne.
These crossings will be removed by 2025 to make the Cranbourne line the first to be level crossing-free.
About 39,000 vehicles currently travel through the remaining Cranbourne line level crossings each day, and that figure is forecast to grow by about 41 per cent to about 55,000 by 2026, the Government says.The Government says the Cranbourne Line Upgrade, together with the Metro Tunnel, will boost reliability, frequency with room for 121,000 extra peak hour passengers each week and travel times cut by up to 50 minutes a day.
It also paves the way for a future extension of the line to Clyde, with planning underway.
The Labor Government is also upgrading Thompsons Road and Hallam Road and delivering significant power, signalling and platform works to enable the rollout of bigger, better trains.
“This unprecedented investment in rail and road for Melbourne’s booming south east is vital to allow locals to get home safer and sooner,” Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan said.
Cranbourne MP Pauline Richards said: “This is exciting news for our community – delivering a brand new station and room for more trains, more often.”
