Trains can travel almost 100km across Melbourne’s rail network without any boom gates, with every set of gates now gone from the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Sunbury lines.
The last set of boom gates on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines at Webster Street, Dandenong have been dismantled, and the road is now permanently closed at the rail line.
It follows the Sunbury Line becoming boom gate free earlier this year.
This milestone means trains will travel boom gate free along the entire Metro Tunnel rail corridor, from East Pakenham and Cranbourne in Melbourne’s south east to Sunbury in the north west when the Metro Tunnel opens in December.
This will also allow more trains to run on these lines in the future, without creating extra congestion or delays for road users.
Getting rid of all 35 boom gates sets along the Metro Tunnel rail corridor – 8 on the Sunbury Line and 27 on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines – has eased congestion for more than half a million motorists that used these dangerous crossings each weekday, and eliminated a total of 23 hours of boom gate down time in the morning peak.
The 3 lines have seen huge transformations in recent years, including 14 new and upgraded stations as well as more than 24km of new and upgraded cycling and pedestrian paths.
The Pakenham and Sunbury lines received massive power and signalling upgrades to get them ready for High Capacity Metro Trains and the Metro Tunnel, while the Cranbourne Line Duplication allowed more trains to run on the busy line.
In Dandenong, more than 200 trains passed through the Webster Street level crossing each day, with the boom gates down for more than an hour during the morning peak, causing significant delays for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
Crews are continuing works to complete the new road underpass connecting the Princes Highway-Lonsdale Street to Cheltenham and Hammond roads, opening to traffic in 2026, 2 years ahead of schedule.
