The construction team would like to thank everyone for their patience as the Pakenham Line was closed recently. While you were on the bus, workers hit the tracks around the clock in June to continue removing three level crossings at Main Street, McGregor Road and Racecourse Road, and building new stations at Pakenham and East Pakenham.
On the busiest days of the June construction blitz, 500 people were working across the Pakenham site.
The team installed new track out to the new East Pakenham Station site, including overhead wiring and signals. This paves the way for construction to begin on the new station platform.
Crews replaced 7000 tonnes of ballast under the rails, and removed more than 7km of old rail track, while installing new track at the eastern and western ends of the site.
Adorning the elevated rail viaduct at McGregor Road and Main Street, the new architectural screens were also installed last week.
Over the coming months, the Pakenham team will continue installing concrete segments which make up the elevated rail line, then they’ll shift their focus to completing the new stations ahead of opening next year.
The project will remove the level crossings at McGregor Road, Main Street and Racecourse Road by building an elevated rail bridge over the roads, with six MCGs worth of community open space created underneath for everyone to enjoy in 2024.
On the Pakenham Line, 22 dangerous and congested level crossings are being removed, with 13 gone and another 9 underway.
While trains weren’t running on the line, major works kicked off at Brunt Road in Beaconsfield, with piling complete to create the foundations for the new road bridge over the Pakenham Line.
At Webb Street, Narre Warren, crews continued work to remove the dangerous and congested level crossing and build a brand-new Narre Warren Station, by working around the clock to prepare the foundations for the new overhead signals and install new underground cabling that will power the trains.
