Surrey Hills and Mont Albert will be safer and better connected with works fast-tracked to remove 2 dangerous and congested level crossings with a rail trench and build a new premium station – with boom gates gone for good in 2023.
The rail trench design with a new premium station will ease congestion, improve safety, and deliver more frequent services for Surrey Hills and Mont Albert.
Extensive engineering and technical investigations found removing the level crossings at Union Road, Surrey Hills and Mont Albert Road, Mont Albert with a rail trench and consolidating Surrey Hills Station and Mont Albert Station into a single premium station, will reduce construction impacts, avoid acquiring homes and businesses, and more trains more often when the station opens.
Building a new modern premium station in a central location on the straight section of track will provide opportunities to improve pedestrian and cycling connections across the rail line, making it easier for people to get to the Hamilton Street shops. It also means the Mont Albert station building will be refurbished and relocated within the precinct for community use.
The new station platforms will be located less than 150m from the current Surrey Hills Station and less than 400m from the current Mont Albert Station. There will be entrances at both ends of the station platforms, so for most people this will mean no more than an extra 5 minute walk.
The design is also the best way to meet modern safety and accessibility standards. The existing stations are built on curved sections of track which obscure sightlines for train drivers and create a dangerous gap between the carriages and platforms.
Importantly, the design avoids compulsory acquisition of homes and businesses, speeds up construction, and reduces disruption to the local community.
With roads, businesses and homes so near the curved rail line, building 2 new stations is impractical as it would mean closing Beresford Street permanently, compulsorily acquiring homes and businesses, relocating residents for up to 10 months and would result in station platforms a daunting 12 metres below ground level at Mont Albert.
Over summer, locals may notice workers conducting further geotechnical investigations which will be used to inform the detailed design of the project. Local community members now have an opportunity to share their ideas about the look and feel of the new station and other aspects of the on Engage Victoria.
Fast-tracking will bring hundreds of jobs to the area during construction to support the Victorian economy, as well as making Surrey Hills and Mont Albert safer and easier to get around. Early works will start in mid 2021 with major construction starting 2022.
Tragically there were 2 fatalities at Union Road in 2016 when a train and car collided and there have been 8 near misses at these dangerous and congested crossings since 2005.
Around 22,000 vehicles travel through the level crossings each day, with the boom gates down for up to 40% of the 2-hour morning peak when up to 61 trains travel through them.
