Level Crossing Removal Project

The Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) is a program of the Government of Victoria, Australia, to remove 110 level crossings and rebuild 51 railway stations in Melbourne.

After pledging the removal of 50 level crossings at the 2014 Victorian state election, the Andrews government committed $2.4 billion in the 2015–2016 budget to remove the first 20 crossings by 2018. The next 30 crossings were funded through the privatisation of the Port of Melbourne. Prior to the 2018 state election, the government committed to remove a further 25 level crossings, using a new prioritisation framework. In 2021, the government announced a further ten level crossing removals and four level crossing closures would occur by 2025, bringing the total planned level crossing removals to 85 by 2025. In 2022, the Andrews government announced the removal of an additional 25 level crossings by 2030.

Previously its own administrative agency, in 2019, the LXRP became a project within the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority, an office of the Victorian Department of Transport. As of December 2022, 67 crossings have been removed and 34 train stations have been rebuilt as part of the project.

Background

When Melbourne's rail network was built, many road-railway crossings were via level crossing rather than bridges or underpasses due to the city's flat topography and sparse population. As traffic levels increased, these became bottlenecks for road and rail traffic, limiting the speed and frequency of train services. In 1954, the State Government established a committee to look at the removal of level crossings at Clifton Hill, Elsternwick, Footscray, Moorabbin, and Newport. These projects were completed by 1960.

In 1983, the level crossing at Station Street, Box Hill, was removed. Other level crossing removals include Dorset Road, Boronia, in 1998 and Middleborough Road, Laburnum, in 2007. In the early 2010s, level crossings were removed at Nunawading (2010), Springvale (2014), Sunshine (2014) and Mitcham (2014).

As of 2014, there were 170 level crossings left on Melbourne's rail network and 228 places where railways had been separated from roads; by the end of the Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP), less than 60 level crossings will remain. Over two-thirds of these grade separations were constructed between 1863 and 1918, with fewer than one level crossing removal per year between 1918 and 2015. The commitment by the government to remove 110 level crossings over sixteen years, by 2030, represents the fastest rate of crossing removals in Melbourne's history.

History

2014 election commitments

In June 2014, five months prior to the Victorian state election, VicRoads compiled a report of the most dangerous level crossings in Victoria and handed it to the Napthine Liberal-Nationals government. In its 2014 state election manifesto, the then Labor opposition announced that, if elected, it would remove 50 level crossings by grade separation, with 20 to be removed by 2018. Although the majority of crossings announced by Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews were included in the priority list, ten of the crossings highlighted by VicRoads were not on the opposition's list. The sites of all 50 level crossing removals were progressively announced over the following two years after the election of the Andrews government in November 2014.

In September 2016, the Port of Melbourne lease concluded, providing $9.7 billion for infrastructure, including funding for the remaining 30 level crossing removals to be completed by mid-2022.

2018 election commitments

In October 2018, the LXRP surpassed the State Government's 2014 election commitment of removing 20 level crossings by 2018, having officially removed 29 crossings. In the lead up to the 2018 state election, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews pledged to remove a further 25 level crossings across Melbourne at a cost of $6.6 billion. The locations of the additional removals were announced progressively over the course of 2018 and 2019 through a new prioritisation framework based on safety, congestion, and proximity to emergency services.

2021 additional commitments

In July 2021, the State Government announced the removal of an additional ten level crossings and four closures by 2025 at a cost of $2.5 billion. These removals will include the reconstruction of five stations across the network, with stations to be rebuilt at Croydon, Keon Park, Narre Warren, Parkdale, and Ringwood East. At the conclusion of these additional 35 removals, the Pakenham, Cranbourne, and Lilydale lines will have no level crossings for their entire length, with these announcements pushing the number of crossing removals to 85 by 2025.

2022 election commitments

In the lead up to the 2022 state election, the Andrews government announced a further 25 level crossing removals, bringing the total number of removals to 110 by 2030. Many of these removals will be delivered together and include a number of closures. In September 2022, the premier announced eight crossings would be removed in Brunswick on the Upfield line. The eight crossings would be removed by 2027 and would include the rebuilding of Jewell, Brunswick, and Anstey stations. The government announced elevated rail would be built along the corridor from Royal Park to Moreland Road, meeting the elevated rail built as part of the 2022 level crossing removal works, and would include an upgrade of the Upfield Bike Path.

In October 2022, the government committed to removing an extra four level crossings on the Ballarat line between Caroline Springs and Melton stations by 2028. Proposed removal methods for the level crossings at Exford Road and Coburns Road is by constructing a rail trench and lowering Melton station, while the roads will be elevated over tracks to get rid of the Hopkins Road and Ferris Road level crossings. Seven more crossing removals and two closures were announced in October 2022 for the Frankston line. These level crossings would be removed by 2029 and would make the line level crossing free for its entire length. Four stations will be rebuilt as part of the removals at Highett, Mordialloc, Aspendale and Seaford.

On 21 and 25 October 2022, the Andrews government announced an additional two level crossing removals for the Sunbury line and one on the Hurstbridge line. These crossings are located at Old Calder Highway and Watsons Road, Diggers Rest, and Ruthven St, Macleod. These crossings will be removed by 2026 via the construction of a road bridge for the Sunbury line removals and a rail bridge for the Hurstbridge line. At the conclusion of these removals, the Sunbury line will be fully level crossing free.

The government announced an additional three removals and two closures on the Werribee line on 27th October 2022. Along with the four already removed on the Werribee line, these removals would make the line level crossing free by 2030, and allow for additional services and the construction of the Geelong Fast Rail project. The crossings at Hudsons Road, Spotswood, Maddox Road, Newport, and Maidstone Street, Altona. These crossings will be removed with a combination of rail over and road over, and will include a newly elevated Spotswood station. The crossings at Anderson Street, Yarraville, and Champion Road, Newport will be closed during the project. Pedestrian links will still remain with a plan to upgrade local roads to accommodate the closure of these crossings.

Governance

The Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) was formed in May 2015 as an administrative office of the then-new Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources to deliver the project.

Later, the LXRA led delivery of other rail projects, including extension of the South Morang railway line to Mernda, upgrades of the Hurstbridge and Cranbourne lines, as well as a rebuilt Frankston station. The authority also delivered a new stabling facility north of Wyndham Vale station and train storage at Kananook.

The LXRA was abolished as an independent administrative office following the 2018 state election, and its functions were absorbed into the newly formed Major Transport Infrastructure Authority at the Department of Transport.

Architecture and urban design

The LXRP has used several different design approaches to removing level crossings, tailoring designs to different urban settings around Melbourne. Most projects, particularly those in the denser inner- and middle-suburbs, have involved lowering the rail line into a trench or elevating the rail line above the road. Some projects in outer suburbs, such as Gap Road near Sunbury station or Station Street near Beaconsfield station, have involved lowering or raising the road without altering the existing rail corridor. This is enabled by the additional space surrounding the railway line.

As noted by University of Melbourne researchers in 2016, the scale of the project had significant urban renewal implications for the city:

Each crossing removal affects, on average, at least a kilometre of rail corridor and, within the urban area, this usually includes a station. In some instances, topography has required the removal of more than one crossing to meet rail engineering requirements as well as longer sections of corridor becoming part of the works. On the face of it, this means that the current seventy-five crossing removals could result in seventy-five kilometres of transformed rail corridors and fifty-seven new stations – more than a quarter of Melbourne’s total.

The researchers emphasised the urban benefits from new elevated rail over trenched rail, including the creation of new parkland and open space, arguing wider benefits could be achieved beyond reducing traffic congestion. One study examined the local public health positive and negative impacts from the removal of level crossings on the Upfield line, including significant construction impacts. The study found that by improving road connections the project could help induce more car usage, but that this could be offset by improvements to pedestrian and cycling connections.

File:New and old Moreland Stations during Level Crossing Removal Project, Coburg (51794614947).jpg, alt=The old heritage station is placed in front of the new black rail bridge., Moreland railway station shows the integration of the heritage station into the new elevated design.
File:New Coburg Station main entrance (51794618747).jpg, alt=The entrance to the elevated Coburg station with a sign reading 'Coburg', Entrance of newly elevated Coburg railway station.
File:Reservoir railway station level crossing removal 2020.jpg, alt=The newly elevated Reservoir railway station in the background., Newly elevated Reservoir railway station