The second stage of the Hurstbridge Line Duplication will deliver further improvements, including more train services, less crowding on peak trains and better connections to public transport in Melbourne’s north east.

Thanks for your patience while buses replaced trains on the Hurstbridge and Mernda lines in January and March.

Over summer, works took place in the inner areas, including Victoria Park, East Melbourne and Clifton Hill junction. For more information on these works see our 2021 snapshot.

Work continues along multiple locations of the rail corridor in Greensborough, Montmorency, Diamond Creek and Wattle Glen to prepare for major construction. These works will continue throughout 2022.

From Friday 4 March to Sunday 6 March we closed the Hurstbridge Line between Macleod and Hurstbridge stations. We got on with drainage, retaining wall construction, car park works, Plenty River Bridge works, piling, rail signalling and earthworks.

More trains, more often

On average, trains will run every:

• 7 minutes from Greensborough
• 10 minutes from Montmorency and Eltham
• 20 minutes from Diamond Creek, Wattle Glen and Hurstbridge

More car parking for Greensborough Station

In exciting news for commuters in Greensborough, a new 100-space car park and bus interchange will be opened at Greensborough Station as part of project, which will give people in this growing area more options to park and catch the train and connect with other essential services.

Landscaping and seed collection for the future

In early 2021, our ecologists began collecting local seeds to be used in our future landscaped areas.

The seeds have been given to specialist nurseries for propagation. Once grown, the plants will be used by the project, with any left over to be given to council and local community groups for use.

Trees and plants have been chosen to reflect the local landscape and values. All the trees and plants are Australian native plants, with many indigenous to the local area. When the project is finished, we’ll have planted close to 3000 trees and nearly 40,000 plants along the Hurstbridge Line between Greensborough and Montmorency and Diamond Creek to Wattle Glen.

Bringing extra colour to endangered species awareness

Following the discovery of the Eltham Copper Butterfly in the project area for the first time in 40 years, we invited local primary school students to participate in a butterfly colouring competition.

Students from St Francis Xavier Primary, Diamond Creek East Primary and Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Diamond Creek completed the activity, with some outstanding entries.

To support local traders, we sourced prizes for the winners from Were St Trading in Montmorency, including multi-coloured chalk and a rainbow crystal growing kit. Thank you to all the students who participated.

If you want to have a go at colouring in the Eltham Copper Butterfly yourself, you can view and download the Eltham Copper Butterfly factsheet.

2022/23 works program for Hurstbridge Line Duplication

Works will continue on the Hurstbridge Line Duplication, with the rail line closed for major works in mid 2023.

The discovery of the Eltham Copper Butterfly resulted in the program of works changing. When coupled with COVID-19 construction impacts, this meant the timing of the major rail shut needed to change to avoid clashing and impacting other projects, including Metro Tunnel.

After completion of this final rail closure, more train services will be running on the duplicated tracks in 2023.

Landscaping and other project completion works will be finished by the end of 2023. We look forward to sharing more information with the community as our works progress.

We thank you for your understanding and patience while we get on with the job of delivering one of the biggest investments in the Hurstbridge Line in decades.

Stakeholder Liaison Group

The Greensborough and Montmorency Stakeholder Liaison Group (SLG) has welcomed 3 new members for Montmorency, representing local traders and the wider community.

Members have been meeting and giving the project team their local perspectives on project works and how to minimise construction impacts.

The next SLG meeting is being held in March, with meetings held every 6 to 8 weeks.

Snapshot of 2021 works

Our construction team has been working hard to deliver:

• 6km of trenches to lay the combined services routes including power and communications cabling
• 32 crossings under the rail line for power and communications cabling
• 118 piles for overhead rail signals and power, hardstand works for the Plenty River rail bridge and works at Greensborough Station
• tree and vegetation removal within the rail corridor
• 10 bores drilled across the project sites
• rail corridor safety fencing installation, and road barrier placement to create safe work areas
• track and drainage works to help protect the project from storm water
• access tracks for construction vehicles and equipment into the rail corridor.

What to expect in 2022

The project will focus on progressing the following milestones in 2022:

• Plenty River Bridge installed
• Greensborough Station concourse built
• Diamond Creek Station platform 2 upgraded
• Montmorency Station city bound platform works begin

Montmorency public artwork online engagement

To build on the identity of the new Montmorency Station precinct, we’re installing specially commissioned public artwork at the intersection of Station Road and Were Street. We’re working with 4 shortlisted artists, and experienced art curators on the proposed artwork.

Thank you to Montmorency locals and the wider community for attending our ‘Meet the artists’ virtual community session in October. We also received your feedback from our Engage Victoria online survey, telling us your preferences for design, material, style, and narrative of the proposed public art.

Feedback from the online session and survey has been provided to the shortlisted artists for their consideration in their final proposals. Information on previous community consultation, including a survey from October and November 2020, was also given to the artists.

Find out more in our Montmorency public artwork consultation report.

Second Kiss and Ride drop off zone opens at Greensborough Station

After listening to community feedback, we've opened a second pick up and drop off zone at Greensborough Station.

Located at the offset car park on the corner of Flintoff Street and Para Road across from Greensborough Station, it is in addition to the existing zone at Flintoff Street near the medical centre on Para Road.

The new drop off zone will remain in place until the project is finished.

Sugar glider factsheet now online

Want to know more about the sugar gliders living near the Hurstbridge Line? The new factsheet and kids factsheet about the sugar gliders that live near the Hurstbridge Line is now available on our website.

The factsheet includes information about their diet, behaviour and other interesting facts.

In 2021, we met with local interest groups to discuss sugar glider habitat connectivity and identify opportunities to support their connectivity. We will use findings from those conversations to guide us on ways to help promote sugar glider connectivity in the project area.

Find out more in our sugar glider fact sheet.

Big Build summer progress

Thank you to the Melburnians in the city’s north east for planning ahead and allowing extra travel time during Victoria’s Big Build summer of works.

The extensive package of works in Melbourne’s north east included the Fitzsimons Lane Upgrade, early works for the North East Link Project and inner-city works as part of the Hurstbridge Line Duplication Project.

The summer works program and your patience meant up to 6 months of work was done in 6 weeks on some projects.

Project timeline

2019

• Site investigations
• Community consultation

Early 2020

• Site investigations
• Planning consultation

Late 2020

• Community consultation
• Station precinct layouts announced
• Enabling works started

2021

• Station designs released
• Construction begins

2022

• Construction continues

2023

• Major construction
• Duplicated track complete
• New stations open.