Melbourne’s booming west has marked a major milestone, with the opening of the new Melton Station and the removal of another 2 dangerous and congested level crossings, making Melton boom gate free.
The new elevated Melton Station opened to passengers this morning following a 3-week construction blitz, with trains now running on 2 new rail bridges over Exford and Coburns roads.
The milestone marks the 93rd and 94th level crossing removals, following the recent removal of level crossings at Ferris Road, Melton and Hopkins Road, Truganina, making travel safer and more reliable across Melbourne’s west.
More than 73,000 vehicles travelled through the 4 level crossings every day, with drivers facing frustrating delays when the boom gates were down for nearly half an hour in the morning peak.
The new accessible Melton Station features 4 platforms with lift and stair access via a 16m wide underpass, which will also provide locals with a safer way to cross the rail line.
The bigger and more modern Melton Station has been designed for the area’s continued growth, with longer platforms for 9-car VLocity trains set to run to Melton from next year, boosting capacity by 50% on peak services.
The station has also been future proofed for Melton Line electrification, enabling Metro services to use 2 of the platforms in the future and electric trains to be housed at the Cobblebank stabling yard being built east of the station.
The Australian and Victorian governments have jointly funded $152.7 million for development work to finalise designs, scope and costs for Melton Line electrification, with site investigations already underway.
When fully completed early next year, the new Melton Station will feature an air-conditioned waiting room, upgraded toilets, and a 7-bay bus interchange.
More than 900 commuter car parking spaces will open over the coming months, and the station precinct and surrounding areas will also be landscaped with more than 670 native trees and 180,000 native plants, shrubs and grasses.
With trains now using the new station and traffic travelling on the boom gate free Exford Road, Coburns Road will close to traffic at the rail line from Sunday 6 September to Thursday 24 September to remove redundant rail infrastructure and reconstruct the road.
