Engineering, Passenger Rail, Rail Supply, Rolling stock & Rail Vehicle Design

Work begins on Cranbourne-Pakenham upgrade

18 stations will have extended platforms to cater for Melbourne’s 65 new high capacity metro trains, Victorian public transport minister Jacinta Allan has said.

Allan formally opened works on the upgrade of the Cranbourne-Pakenham metro train line through Melbourne’s south-east on February 16.

The $660 million upgrade includes more than 70 kilometres of new overhead power lines, 20 new or upgraded substations, and the duplication of a section of track in South Dandenong to boost reliability and support more services.

It will also extend 13 station platforms along the line, which will add to 5 extra-long stations being rebuilt as part of the significant level-crossing removal project already underway on the line.

Allan said the upgrade project would be delivered alongside the level crossing project and the Metro Tunnel project.

The new platforms will be 20% longer to cater to the new HCMT trains being delivered under a contract won by Downer.

Allan asked for commuters’ patience while the works are underway.

With the combination of nine level crossing removals, new trains and infrastructure upgrades, the Andrews Government believes the Cranbourne-Pakenham line will be able to carry 11,000 more passengers each peak period – a 42% increase.

“It will mean some disruption,” Allan said. “But after years of inaction and neglect, we’re getting it done.”

“We’re building Melbourne’s first high capacity train line and creating thousands of new construction jobs,” Premier Daniel Andrews weighed in.

“Bigger trains, better stations, and no level crossings will get tens of thousands of  people in Melbourne’s south east home safer and sooner every day.”