A critical milestone was ticked off after a major construction blitz was successfully completed across 3 level crossings in Melbourne’s west.
Works were completed around the clock from 9pm Friday 16 July to 5am Monday 26 July requiring the closure of the Geelong and Ballarat Lines, as well as road closures at Fitzgerald Road and Robinsons Road.
Key works at Robinsons Road included building a new rail bridge to carry trains while construction crews excavate the new road underpass over the coming months.
At Fitzgerald Road, 3m trenches were dug through the road to relocate essential services and utilities in preparation for the new road overpass.
More than 200 hours of construction were completed in total.
We thank the community for their patience while we completed these works.
The construction blitz is part of works that will see the Geelong and Ballarat lines become level crossing free between Deer Park and the city by 2024.
The boom gates can be down for up to 45% of the morning peak at Ardeer, with 37 trains running through the crossing, delaying tens of thousands of passenger and freight vehicles every day.
Removing the crossings also removes the risk of delays to train services caused by level crossing faults such as boom arms damaged by road vehicles.
The Level Crossing Removal Project is removing 75 dangerous and congested level crossings across Melbourne, with 46 already gone for good. In 2021 we’re removing one level crossing on average every month.
