A month of concentrated construction work will help remove boom gates at a level crossing in Melbourne’s north before Christmas, public transport minister Jacinta Allan has said.
Construction will take place from November 15 to December 18 to allow the removal of boom gates at Camp Road in Campbellfield, one of the 50 level crossings targeted in the Andrews Government’s major removal program.
The work will see up to 300 people working on the project at its peak, lowering the rail line under Camp Road, and building a new road bridge over it. 85,000 cubic metres of soil to will be excavated to create the rail trench.
Two 100-tonne piling rigs will also help prepare the road bridge foundations.
Camp Road will be closed at the level crossing for a little over a fortnight to allow for the work, while the Upfield railway line will be closed between Coburg and Upfield stations, with buses replacing trains for a little over a month, before services resume on December 18.
The project will be fully complete – including finishing touches and landscaping – by early 2018.
“Soon this dangerous level crossing will be history, putting an end to the frustration and delays experienced by the 20,000 drivers that rely on Camp Road every day,” Allan said.
“We’re getting on with removing these relics of the past – we’ve already removed ten, and the Camp Road crossing will be gone by Christmas.”
That photo looks like a single line in a narrow trench. Is this infrastructure upgrade being undertaken solely for the benefit road users? Is the same mistake being made here as it has been
on the Caulfield to Dandenong “Rail Upgrade” which benefits road users only and essentially leaves the south eastern rail corridor with the same capacity as it had 100 years ago?