The removal of some of Victoria’s most dangerous and congested level crossings is closer than ever with the completion of a massive winter construction blitz on four level crossings along the Belgrave/Lilydale line.

From 2-10 July, 800 staff worked around the clock, carrying out piling, drainage and other significant work to remove level crossings at Blackburn Road in Blackburn, Heatherdale Road in Ringwood, and Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road in Bayswater.

At Blackburn Road, 250 15-metre deep piles were driven into the ground to form the walls of the new rail cutting.

More than 190 soil nails were installed at Heatherdale Road to reinforce the walls of the rail cutting. Drainage works were also undertaken, and power lines were relocated.

In Bayswater, nearly 60 piles were installed, which will form part of the new station concourse and the retaining walls for the rail cutting. Bridge foundations were also installed at Scoresby Road during the busy nine-day construction campaign.

To enable these works to take place safely and efficiently, sections of the Belgrave/Lilydale line were closed and hundreds of replacement bus services transported more than 160,000 commuters to where they needed to go.

This morning train services resumed as planned on the Belgrave/Lilydale line, with Heatherdale Road to also reopen after continued road works on 18 July.

Major level crossing removal works have also ramped up at Centre, McKinnon and North Roads on the Frankston line, and at Main and Furlong Roads in St Albans.

Major construction will soon begin on the removal of nine level crossings between Caulfield and Dandenong, as part of the Andrews Labor Government’s Level Crossing Removal Project, which will get rid of 50 of Victoria’s worst crossings.

Quotes attributed to Member for Eastern Metropolitan, Shaun Leane

“These four dangerous and congested crossings are among Victoria’s worst. They clog streets, put lives at risk and hold our train system back. They need to go and we’re getting on with removing them.”

“The huge amount of work carried out over the last eight days lays the foundation for the next major construction blitz in summer, and the removal of these dangerous and congested crossings next year.”

“Our assault on dangerous and congested level crossings is unprecedented. Only 10 level crossings have been removed in the past decade – we’re removing 20 in four years and 50 in just eight. We’re getting it done.”