Wednesday, 18 June 2025

Western Metropolitan Region level crossing removals

Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (18:31): (1733) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure regarding activities with the removal of level crossings in the west, particularly boom gates along the Melton railway line. The action I seek is for the minister to prioritise the removal of the level crossings at Leakes Road, Troups Road North, Paynes Road and Mount Cottrell Road in Rockbank as part of the Melton line level crossing removals. Rockbank is one of the fastest growing suburbs in Melbourne’s west, and in two decades it is expected to be home to some 25,000 residents, a 198 per cent increase on the current population data. This means more families, more traffic and more cars on Rockbank’s roads. The aforementioned level crossings are currently not scheduled for removal with other crossings along the Melton line. To futureproof the suburb from gridlock and improve safety, the minister should equally prioritise these crossing removals. Given the Allan Labor government has no current plan to remove the level crossings in Rockbank, could the minister please update my constituents and the City of Melton as to when they will be considered for removal?

Boom gates at Leakes Road near Rockbank station are currently down around 28 minutes in the morning peak while trains pass by. These level crossings carry approximately 9000 vehicles each day. In the next six years the number is anticipated to increase to a massive 20,600 per day. Nearby on Paynes Road, boom gate traffic modelling commissioned by the City of Melton showed that this will increase to over 9000 vehicles per day in just five years once the area explodes in population, with future developments coming online. At Mount Cottrell Road, Melton South, boom gates are down for the same time as others, but concerningly there have been two crashes at this site, including one serious collision and one fatal in the years preceding the pandemic. These sites carry about 1500 cars per day, and with the same modelling done by the council, the volume will increase to over 9300 per day by 2031. So could the government please include these four level crossings as part of the future work that they intend to undertake along the Melton line and provide the necessary funding to include them for removal at the earliest possible opportunity?