Mordialloc electorate level crossing removals
Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (11:23): It is a busy time in the Mordialloc electorate as we are getting on with the removal of dangerous and congested level crossings. Of course in 2014 we started that journey, with the removal of level crossings in Cheltenham, Mentone, Edithvale, Chelsea and, on the edge of my electorate, Bonbeach. Well, we have not wasted a moment as we get on with removing those level crossings and making the Frankston train line level crossing free by 2029. Those works are well underway in Parkdale, with the removal of vegetation and with a slew track being established to allow the workers safe access to that site during that time. And while we see that some of the vegetation that has been there for some time has been lost – and that has been of great concern to our local community – we know that with a hundred thousand trees, plants, shrubs and grasses coming back into that community, it will be one of the greenest spaces that is being created into the future. It is making our community safer and more accessible and allowing us to run more trains more often.
Importantly, as well, it is a really exciting time as we have the hoarding go up and the announcement that the boom gates will be gone by 2024. Next year we will be level crossing free in Parkdale for the first time since the township came through. We will be building a brand new station and allowing more access through that community. Tens of thousands of vehicles pass through here each and every day, with pedestrians and cyclists moving in and around this community. We need to make it safer and more accessible for the future, and that is exactly what the Andrews Labor government is doing by making the Frankston train line level crossing free.