Thursday, 31 October 2024

 Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (17:26): (905) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and it can concerns the rebuild of Montmorency station, which is about 12 ‍months old. I raise this matter because, as members would know, I do not have a railway line in the City of Manningham – the only municipality in metropolitan Melbourne without a heavy railway line into it. So most of my constituents, when we are talking heavy rail, will go to Blackburn station, or many of us in the northern half of Manningham will head to Montmorency, which is about 5 or 6 ‍kilometres across Fitzsimons Lane over the Yarra River. Montmorency station was rebuilt by the government at some considerable cost, and blowout, and reopened around 12 months ago, although the claims before the 2018 and then the 2022 elections to duplicate the line to Diamond Creek have not eventuated. In fact they eventuated only to Montmorency. The station was rebuilt.

Growing up in Montmorency, I remember Monty station some years ago was a single-platform station on a curve. It had burnt down in the mid-1980s. It was a very small, very rickety station which was rebuilt a number of times. This time it has been rebuilt in what considerably many locals think is an overbuild, but that aside, my issue is around the rebuild of the station and the awnings of the station, which are quite high and on a pronounced angle. I understand this is becoming a feature of design for new station construction. The problem with the station construction is, though, that on hot days and then again on wet days it does not provide the cover from the elements that it is designed to do. Many residents who are getting the train are obviously an older demographic, particularly Montmorency, which is an older demographic in the City of Banyule. Many residents who go to use the station of course are standing, waiting for the train. The old platform had awnings up for most of the platform, and they were able to keep people protected from the elements – the new one does not.

A lot of money has been spent on rebuilding this station for a worse outcome. It now has the people using it, with patrons on both the down and the up platform, which is the city-bound and the Hurstbridge-bound, exposed to the elements where they previously were not. Again, I say a lot of money has been put into rebuilding this station for a very high, very pronounced awning that does not provide protection from the sun in summer and the rain in winter. I ask the minister to review that design standard and/or rebuild that awning and, if that is not financially possible, to rebuild that standard and to ensure that this does not happen again so I am not stuck with the failure that is now Montmorency railway station.