Final Dandenong corridor construction blitz, upgrade of service frequencies announced

The final construction blitz and shutdown of rail services on the Dandenong corridor to enable the final section of the level crossing removal projects in the area to be completed has been announced.

From May 29th to June 17th buses will replace trains - the Level Crossing Removal Authority has not announced between which stations the railway line will be shut down, instead simply referring to 'sections of the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines'.

At the completion of the shutdown, the new Murrumbeena and Carnegie stations will be opened for passengers and all four level crossings between Caulfield and Oakleigh will be gone.

The track will be opened on June 17th through Hughestdale Station, however the station itself will not be open for passengers - the Level Crossing Removal Authority says that work will continue on that station, post-shutdown, and will be opened to the public 'later in the year'.

The State Government has also confirmed that in the budget, set to be released next week, $572 million will be allocated to upgrade rail infrastructure from the City to Pakenham/Cranbourne.

Upgraded power infrastructure and the official allocation of funds for the already announced high capacity signalling system will be funded.  The State Government also says this will help pave the way for the duplication of the Cranbourne line and will kick off the detailed investigative work on the Sunbury line to allow the new fleet of High Capacity Metro Trains to run on the line.

Together with the Metro Tunnel, and new high capacity trains, the works will transform Melbourne’s busiest train lines – delivering more services, better reliability and room for an additional 234,000 peak passengers every week from Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham.

The existing project to remove the level crossings between Caulfield and Dandenong has included the delivery of upgraded power, new track, longer platforms and modernised signalling.

This new project will expand these upgrades along the entire corridor to ensure new, high-capacity trains can reliably run all the way from Cranbourne and Pakenham to Sunbury – linked through the CBD by the Metro Tunnel.

Spring Street media release

With the completion of Dandenong corridor's level crossing removal programme, Spring Street has announced trains will run every 10 minutes beyond the peaks on weekends.

Between 7pm and 10pm, trains between the city and Dandenong will run every 10 minutes - this is an increase in post-peak services from 3-4 trains per hour (15-20 minute frequencies) to 6 trains per hour.

Lead image credit: LXRA on Facebook.