Fears of a sky rail at North Williamstown station have been quashed, with the state government on Friday announcing the rail line will be lowered under Ferguson Street.
As reported by Star Weekly in September, Hobsons Bay council had formally endorsed rail under road as the community’s preferred option for the level crossing removal at Ferguson Street.
More than 800 submissions were made during two rounds of community consultation in November and March, with strong support for a rail-under-road design.
Williamstown MP Melissa Horne said the government had listened to the community.
“A rail under road design is what the community wants and now it’s time to get rid of this dangerous and congested crossing for good,” she said.
The project will include a new North Williamstown station with lowered platforms, plaza areas and landscaping, the government said.
Community feedback is being sought on “the look and feel of the new station precinct, how spaces around the new station can be improved, landscaping options, design themes, fencing preferences and ideas for public art”.
Williamstown Crossing Group spokesman Lorenzo de Falco, who is also on the council’s Ferguson Street Williamstown Level Crossing Community Interest Group, said the community clearly wanted rail under road and to preserve North Williamstown train station.
“We always advocated rail under … we think it’s the right thing to do in regards to grade separation,” he said.
“And of course we want to ensure that the station precinct is preserved as well as possible.”
The Level Crossing Removal Project had earlier ruled out options to raise or lower the road because of property acquisition and impacts to connections for pedestrians, cyclists and road users.
More than 110 trains and 22,000 vehicles pass through the crossing each week day, according to government figures.
The crossing was the scene of a double fatality in the 1990s and has had five near-miss incidents in the past decade.
Construction at Ferguson Street will begin in early 2021 and the level crossing will be removed in 2022.
