A month-long closure of a portion of Melbourne’s Frankston line will help workers remove three level crossings, six months ahead of schedule.
A joint venture of John Holland and KBR is removing three level crossings on the Frankston line – one at North Road, Ormond, another at McKinnon Road, McKinnon, and the third at Centre Road, Bentleigh.
A section of the line will be closed from June 24 to July 31, to allow workers to lower the train line below road level.
Thousands of bus services will replace trains during the closure.
“When train services resume on 1 August 2016, the level crossings at these three sites will be gone for good and trains will travel under the roads,” the Level Crossing Removal Authority said earlier this month.
The closure will also allow crews to begin the three new station rebuilds under the John Holland/KBR deal – Bentleigh station, McKinnon station, and Ormond station.
“We’re not waiting for another near miss or another ambulance to get stuck at the boom-gates,” local member for Bentleigh Nick Staikos said.
“We’re getting rid of these dangerous crossings as soon as we can, to save lives, reduce congestion and improve public transport.”
The Level Crossing Removal Authority has also announced work will ramp up in July to remove four level crossings on the Belgrave/Lilydale split line, with buses replacing trains on certain sections from July 2 to July 10.
A project team of Laing O’Rourke, Fulton Hogan and AECOM is working on crossings on the Belgrave line at Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road in Bayswater.
A project team of CPB Contractors, Aurecon and Arcadis is working on crossings on the Lilydale line at Blackburn Road, Blackburn, and Heatherdale Road, Mitcham.
The Belgrave/Lilydale work in early July will focus heavily on piling activities, as well as the construction of road bridges in preparation of major works over summer, the Level Crossing Removal Authority explained.