New community spaces now open

The Victorian Government is removing 17 dangerous level crossings, including Cardinia Road as part of a $16 billion investment to upgrade the Pakenham line that will improve safety, reduce congestion and allow more trains to run more often.

The Cardinia Road level crossing is now gone for good, with traffic travelling over the new Cardinia Road bridge.

We've opened the new open space underneath the Cardinia Road Bridge. The community space includes areas for netball, basketball, skating and running.

A new path that is wide enough for both pedestrians and cyclists connects the new space to local streets and the train station.

Community Celebrates

To say thank you to the community for their understanding and patience during our works, we invited locals to celebrate the launch of the new open space. The day was lots of fun and included free coffee, food trucks, goodie bags and family friendly activities - including a magic show.

Consultation

We consulted with the community in 2020 to help develop this project. We heard from 500 people and their feedback helped us to shape the final design.

Following community consultation, we:

• added lighting and CCTV under and around the new bridge
• increased our landscaping plans so there is now over 38,000 trees, shrubs and grasses around the project area
• found the best design for the new walls in the open space.

Safety

We've installed CCTV cameras throughout the new open space that will be monitored by Victoria Police in Pakenham. The cameras will help to create a safe environment for everyone to enjoy.

Exercise

We've built a variety of sport and exercise spaces underneath the new road bridge. The line markings includes running tracks, basketball, netball and foursquare.

Thank you

On behalf of the Cardinia Road Level Crossing Removal Project, we would like to thank you for your patience and cooperation during construction.

Project benefits

• Dangerous level crossing gone
• Reduced travel time for the 23,000 drivers who use Cardinia Road every day
• Safer paths for pedestrians and cyclists
• Open space for locals to enjoy
• 300 additional commuter car spaces being built

New car park for commuters

The Victorian Government’s Car Parks for Commuters program is working to deliver over 11,000 new and upgraded station car spaces across the network. This will free up local streets and make it easier for passengers to catch the train.

Rail commuters at Cardinia Road Station are set to benefit with parking to be boosted by 50%. A new and upgraded car park will be built, with 300 spaces, and a further 6 accessible spaces created in the station’s southern car park, taking total capacity for the station to 871 spaces. ​

In addition, new features will include:

• new lighting
• CCTV cameras
• connecting pathways and landscaping.

Works have started and will finish in late 2021.

Next up in Pakenham

As part of the Victorian Government's investment to upgrade the Pakenham line, we're removing the final 3 level crossings in Pakenham at McGregor Road, Racecourse Road and Main Street.

We're removing the level crossings by raising the rail line over the roads, creating new community spaces for locals to enjoy.

We'll build a new Pakenham premium station that will provide better connections between metropolitan and regional train services along with upgraded facilities and improved security.

We're also building a second station at Pakenham East and the metropolitan rail track will be extended by 2km.

We'll start construction in mid 2021 with the boom gates gone in 2023/24 and the new stations complete in 2024.

Project timeline

*Timeline above subject to change