Wednesday, 12 November 2025

 Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:59): (1949) My constituency matter is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport. A local constituent, Mrs Nichols of Frankcom Street in Blackburn, has lived in the same house parallel to the Belgrave and Lilydale line for some 49 years and is used to the ordinary sound of passing trains. However, in the past 12 months Mrs Nichols has noticed a significant increase in the noise on one particular section of the outbound track outside her home. The noise reaches over 97 decibels. I wrote to the minister on this matter in August, and I thank her for her response saying there was a known track defect and scheduled track renewal works had been brought forward from March 2026 to October 2025. However, Mrs Nichols has advised me that the sound is still as bad. Could I ask the minister once again to please take a look into this matter so that Mrs Nichols can again peacefully enjoy her home?