Elevated rail to replace five level crossings on Armadale line in Victoria Park and Canning

The State Government has announced plans to remove five level crossings on the Armadale rail line – promising to save commuters hours waiting at “pesky” boom gates. The crossings at Mint Street, Oats Street, Welshpool Road, Hamilton Street and Wharf Street will be replaced with elevated rail, Transport Minister Rita Saffioti announced today. “These level crossings are major congestion point across the suburbs,” she said. “On Wharf Street, for example, those boom gates are down for more than three hours every day.” Ms Saffioti said the were a source of frustration and the replacement program meant the public could “wave goodbye to those pesky boom gates”. The level crossings will be replaced by building a “single-structure elevated rail solution” over sections of the track in a project jointly funded by the Federal and State governments. New elevated stations will be built at Carlisle, Oats Street, Queens Park and Cannington. Welshpool station will be closed. The new elevated stations will move slightly from the current station locations. Carlisle station will move closer to Mint Street, while Oats Street Station will be moved to over the top of Oats Street. Queens Park Station’s entrance will relocate slightly and Cannington Station’s entrance is planned to face Cecil Avenue. The government has seen significant pushback from the Town of Victoria Park, which last year claimed it was “robbed” of the opportunity to speak on the project. Today, Ms Saffioti said the council had accepted the plan. “They (the council) are accepting that this project is going ahead, and they’re keen to work with us on what we can do to create more opportunities for community members,” she said. Elevating the rail-line will free up roughly six hectares of public open space. “We'll be setting up two new community reference groups to look at what we do with that public open space,” Ms Saffioti promised. “In Melbourne, we've seen opportunities to create new skate parks, cycle paths, community gardens.” Major works will begin in 2023 and are expected to take two to three years. In the interim, a contract for the key Western Power works – such as power line under-grounding – is due to be awarded later this year.