Another 4 dangerous and congested level crossings will be gone early next year, well ahead of schedule.
A series of major road and rail closures will enable construction crews to safely and rapidly remove level crossings at Blackburn Road in Blackburn, Heatherdale Road in Heatherdale, and Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road in Bayswater.
From 15 October, Bayswater Station will close and be demolished, making way for a bigger, better station that will open in mid December. Belgrave Line trains will run express through Bayswater during this time, with buses running from stations either side.
In early November, the Belgrave Line will close between Ringwood and Belgrave for a 37 day construction blitz that will see 63,000 cubic metres of soil and rock – equal to 25 Olympic-size swimming pools – excavated to lower the rail line, before building the road bridges and safely running trains under Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road.
This huge construction effort will also have an impact on the road network. Scoresby Road will be closed at the level crossing from 2 to 19 November, and Mountain Highway will be closed from 20 November to 23 December.
Buses will replace trains between Box Hill and Ringwood stations for 34 days from 27 December 2016 to 29 January 2017 while 800 workers lower the rail line under Blackburn and Heatherdale Roads, upgrade Blackburn Station, and build the new Heatherdale Station.
When this work is complete, these 4 level crossings on the Belgrave-Lilydale Line will be gone, and the upgraded stations will be open. Finishing works on the stations – including car parks and landscaping – will continue throughout 2017.
Visit our planned travel disruptions page for details of the closures.