Level crossing update 2020

I generally prefer rail over but I reckon that burying Brighton Beach Station (#51) could provide potential for great value capture at that spot for beachside commercial and residential rather than the current open air parking lot.

It’s great progress, although I’m still puzzled why Glenferrie and Tooronga Roads weren’t done together with Toorak Road

The crossing at Macaulay station – soon to be the most dangerous remaining LX in Victoria – is pretty much impossible to remove as it currently stands, due to the proximity to the creek on one side, and Citylink directly above it.

I was talking about this with some people a few weeks back, the only obvious way to separate it would be to realign the whole section from Flemington Bridge to between Macaulay and NM about 20m to the east, then raise it. But would be very expensive and require significant property acquisition, albeit mostly industrial.

Regards Evans Rd – this one isn’t really to do with the safety of the rail crossing. The issue was that the Evans Rd was a convenient through route for traffic heading towards Frankston etc, but the Evans Rd / Sth Gippy Hwy intersection was a dangerous mess, so VicRoads closed Evans Rd past Lynbrook so that only local traffic would get on and off there. Once Evans Rd was closed to through traffic, they also closed the LX, staying that way for 15+ years.

Now they’ve rebuilt the Evans Rd / Sth Gippsland Hwy intersection, and reopened Evans Rd to through traffic, rebuilding Evans Rd LX as a major thoroughfare in the process. There’s a ton more road traffic than when it originally closed due to all the new estates in and around Lyndhurst/Cranbourne West etc.

@Expat – should be possible to fix Macaulay by two methods:
a) elevate the railway east of and parallel to Citylink, over the former goods tracks; or
b) divert away from Royal Park to North Melbourne, instead running under The Avenue – Royal Pde – William St, then perhaps forming the St Kilda line.

@LouisC – I also prefer road-under for Brighton Beach, although others have raised concerns re sea level rise. That’s outside my area of expertise, although I did a quick check and my guesstimate is that the road surface would be about the same height as the water at 4°C global temperature increase. Either way, you’d need to extend the Platform 1 track south about 50m as part of the works, because that would give an emergency stopping distance beyond the platform and therefore allow trains to enter the platform faster, clearing the city-end junction quicker and reducing the risk of blocking ex-Sandringham trains.

@Daniel – the LNP proposal wasn’t crossings they would separate – it was crossings they wanted Labor to include in the budget released a few days ago. No evidence yet that, if they won government in 2022, they’d even continue the LXRP program (or any of the other ongoing works); until I hear otherwise I’m going to assume their previous policies stand, including east-west link and the road intersection separation program.

Re: Macaulay Station and LX, how high is the City Link tollway? Is it not possible to do something similar to Circular Quay Station in Sydney and add the train viaduct directly underneath the tollway?

We’re confusing two separate crossings here – the Macaulay Rd LX at Kensington station is potentially doable, but from what I understand the problem is maintaining access to the goods yards. Whereas the Macaulay station one at Macaulay station (under CityLink) is very difficult. Realigning the line to the east to run next to CityLink instead of under it would involve bulldozing a lot of industrial sites – possible but expensive. The other suggestion is as David mentioned, you could turn it into a metro tunnel from Flem Bridge, via Arden (probably close the current Macaulay entirely), then reemerge in the yards north of Nth Melb. But that’s also an enormous project, possibly not worth the money it would cost.

@hisashi it’s quite low – not much vertical clearance above where the wires are already. Couldn’t raise the link while keeping it underneath.

Assuming I can compare Risk Scores using a ratio scale – Macauley Rd crossing at Kensington station is 3 times as dangerous as that at Macauley station, even though they are only 500 metres apart. I imagine the main reasons for this would be the higher frequency of trains on the Craigieburn line (including expresses, Seymour/Shepparton trains, Racecourse/Showgrounds trains, and freight trains), and probably more vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the shopping strip area (even if the same amount of through traffic). I did wait once for a late night goods train to go through the crossing north and then reverse back through south to shunt to the siding.

Compare to the two crossings on Anderson Rd, Sunshine – again about 500 metres apart, but much closer in their risk rating, with the one on the Ballarat line being 20% more dangerous.

I wouldn’t think closing Macauley Rd at CityLink was a viable option – it’s part of the 402 bus route, and for vehicle traffic would just force more onto Racecourse Rd or rat run through to Arden St, where there’s another level crossing (which has a much lower risk score probably because of lower traffic volumes).

I was quite peeved that they never bothered duplicating the Upfield line while they’d removed the Camp Road Level Crossing.

@phil Yes it would’ve been handy if they did it at the same time as removing the crossing, I guess funds can only stretch so far. Grateful though that they at least they left room so when it is eventually duplicated the overpass won’t need to be touched.

Daniel, do you think the removal of level rail crossing will remain a priority? I would like to see the Westgarth crossing removed.