FRANKSTON Council has officially decided not to take a stand against sky rail on the Frankston line after councillors voted to defer a stance on the contentious possibility of elevated rail as part of the separation of rail and road at level crossings.
A packed public gallery, including Liberal state Upper House MP for the South Eastern Metropolitan Region Inga Peulich and anti-sky rail protesters, at last Monday evening’s public council meeting heard councillors debate whether council should now formally oppose elevated rail along any section of the Frankston line or wait until the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) release options for level crossings removals in July.
Councillors voted 5-4 to postpone a decision on a notice of motion raised by Cr Rebekah Spelman calling on council to oppose sky rail.
“I’ve spoken to hundreds of people in Frankston who are dead set against it,” Cr Spelman said.
“The overwhelming response that I’ve received is a big fat no to any consideration of an elevated rail.”
Crs Brian Cunial and Glenn Aitken argued they opposed sky rail but believed it was better to wait until official options to remove level crossings are on the table next month.
Mayor Cr James Dooley reckoned elevated rail will not be built all along the Frankston line.
“It will depend on geology and cost. I don’t believe for one minute that we’re going to see 15 kilometres of sky rail from Mordialloc to Frankston.”
Labor Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan says every level crossing along the Frankston line to be removed will be assessed on an individual basis.
Cr Suzette Tayler predicted property prices near elevated rail would plummet and crime and graffiti would be rampant.
“We need to cut it off now. You don’t leave it to fester because the government will take it over. We need to put our hand up now and say there’s no sky rail for Frankston. It’s really important to our residents and we’re supposed to listen to our residents.”
Cr Darrel Taylor said he supported the level crossing removals program but did not back sky rail since it was not an option discussed before the 2014 state election.
“I feel really sorry for people in Seaford and along the Frankston line … they are devastated. They’re putting their hard earned into property, they’re renovating and there’s going to be a 20-metre high concrete monstrosity running straight past their back door.”
He said a lot of young people and families had moved into the Seaford area recently.
Cr Michael O’Reilly, who lives in Seaford, said many people would prefer to leave level crossings in place rather than have elevated rail loom over nearby homes.
“This is infrastructure that is going to be around for a hundred years and doing it on the cheap is not the way to go in the long term.”
When given his opportunity to speak Cr Colin Hampton moved an amendment to Cr Spelman’s notice of motion to defer
“At this point in time I have no opinion one way or the other about what happens with sky rail or underground or road over or road under. We’ve had two meetings with the crossing authority and at these meetings we’ve had no detail,” Cr Hampton said.
“They’ve said they’ll be coming back to us with more detail including schematic drawings and I’m obliged as a councillor to take all of this onboard to make a decision.”
He said it would make council’s case “stronger” if sky rail is opposed after all options are outlined by the LXRA.
Crs Sandra Mayer, Hampton, Dooley, Aitken and Cunial voted to defer a decision until council’s 18 July meeting.
Crs Taylor, Tayler, O’Reilly and Spelman opposed the deferral.
Decisions on whether elevated rail or road under rail is more appropriate are still to be made for crossings at Balcombe Rd (Mentone), Charman Rd (Cheltenham), Edithvale Rd (Edithvale), Eel Race Rd (Carrum), Seaford Rd (Seaford), Skye/Overton Rd (Frankston), Station St (Bonbeach), Station St (Carrum).
Road under rail works are underway at three level crossings at North Rd (Ormond), Centre Rd (Bentleigh) and McKinnon Rd (McKinnon).
Kingston Council decided to oppose any plans for sky rail along the Frankston line at a public council meeting last month.
1 Comment
With regard to SkyRail about 10 years ago your Mordialloc predecessor reported the former Chelsea Council had received a Report regarding the high flood risk to the Mordialloc to Frankston residential area due to it being low lying with a high water table that would be at a higher risk of flooding due to rising sea levels.
The current railway line between Mordialloc and Frankston is built on an existing sandbar and as a result many properties in this section are lower than the existing railway line, which by the way predates most properties in this area.
An elevated railway from the Nepean Hwy railway bridge at Mordialloc to Frankston would be an economically cost effective solution that would allow for the free flow of vehicle and pedestrian traffic underneath. It would also allow for alternative accessible land use adjacent to the elevated railway. Noise reduction by placing the railway within a U section, as is done with elevated highways, and other noise reduction techniques would result in a reduction in rail noise.
The argument about railway diesel exhaust ignores the fact that this has existed on this line since the 1960s and the fact that adjacent road vehicle diesel exhaust is at a greater and daily increasing level due to the increase in the numbers of diesel road vehicles. Also the Victorian Railways and successors went over to composition brake blocks in the early 1970s.
Finally the previous Bolte Government of the 1960s had also proposed an elevated railway for the reasons stated above but the local councils strenuously opposed this so the Bolte Government abandoned their plans. As a result traffic congestion is, and will increase and there is a limit on improving the suburban train frequency whilst level crossings remain.
I also find it interesting that the noskyrail.com.au website lacks a postal address or an ability to send a comment to the Convenor Simon who has no surname.
Regards,
Philip Miller formerly of James Lane Mordialloc