This article returns to the Changing Melbourne series that began a whole year ago! January 2017 marks the conclusion of community/road disruptions in the Bayswater area; the latest milestone in the program of level crossing removals.

This website/page documents all official announcements and progress of the work. Whilst Bayswater is not a regular place that my commute takes me through, it is interesting that I had two recent experiences where the September ~ October visit transpired right before the road closures and my second and most recent visit was in the 2017 new year, timely for seeing first-hand the result and finished station and new grade-separated roads.

The Bayswater project in its entirety covers the grade separation of both Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road, along with the construction of new station complex and realignment of adjacent railway sidings. With the contract awarded to a local business in late 2015, the first quarter of 2016 was when community engagement and design finalisation took place. Planning was a collaboration between the Level Crossing Removal Authority, local Knox City Council and VicRoads. The Knox City Council in particular had strategic plans for the Bayswater community, with the central activity hub ringed by the triangle that the two main roads form with the railway. This video was prepared and serves well to highlight the outcomes of design and collaboration:

Minor preparation work took place throughout 2016, in June and August. On these occasions, one of the major thoroughfare roads was closed to traffic. In June Scoresby Rd was closed as engineers began their work on the level crossing. This closure fortunately was contained to the intersection/level crossing itself and did not prevent access to Power Rd by southbound traffic nor Station St by northbound traffic. The August weekend disruptions saw Mountain Highway itself closed to traffic, and in both cases, the preparatory work ensured that services that were located beneath the road surface, including sewerage and piping, were all identified and ready for transitioning. The critical mission here is to verify electricity, telecommunication, water and sewerage services can all be contained within the future bridge arch that supports the road. In the worst case, level crossing projects have to face part of the gas mains/distribution network. This is the exact challenge that faced the program at Grange Road, Carnegie – and a major reason why SkyRail/constructing overhead was chosen. After all, relocating the gas mains network is a super expensive and disruptive effort – something in the order of $100Ms+ not to mention the inconvenience suffered by Melbourne households who temporarily lose their gas service.

The main bulk of construction work at Bayswater began from 15 October, after the old Bayswater station served the last train to traverse the level crossings and closed for good. For a short fortnight period in October, whilst Bayswater station was removed, trains continued to traverse the entire railway line and skipped the station. It was only since November that bus replacement services were introduced and the railway tracks could be removed, paving the way for non-stop excavation work. Demolition work of the two level crossings, railway track and station complex was swift and easy compared to the next phase of the project where 63,000 cubic metres of dirt was excavated out of the ground. On the website, the anecdotal reference for comparison is 25 Olympic-size swimming pools! The six week period had practically non-stop work take place on site:

• Excavating down to the new railway track level followed by laying out the new sleepers, track and overhead power cables.
• Simultaneously excavating a new level railway track, with three/four approaches on either side of Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road. The milestones in this sub-project that mark its completion are where both sides below a road meet and the road bridge is formed.
• Construction of the Bayswater station from the bottom up: central platform and pedestrian access entrances, followed by the concourse overhead.
• Resurfacing the main roads and installation of new traffic light controlled intersection for Mountain Highway and Station St.
• Station fitting
• Carpark resurfacing and bus interchange delineation
• Landscaping

The station constructed follows the old layout where there is a single central platform. Whereas the original access was via a subterranean walkway, the new station features a long gentle-sloping ramp which ensures full accessibility for commuters. The upper concourse provides a large open area for people arriving or leaving. On the Station St side of the station concourse, a large stairway and wheel-chair ramps provide access back to the street level. As part of the holistic design, a new set of traffic lights controls vehicular access from Mountain Highway to Station St.

Attention is given to the car-park facilities to ensure buses have a dedicated interchange zone nearest to the station, before the designated car-park.

My Wishful Thinking

While the new Bayswater level cross removal project has completed successfully, on time and, as far as I can tell, on budget, I do wish the designs and subsequent construction could have been extended further. When visiting the station and standing inside the upper level concourse, I see missed opportunities to expand the construction to perhaps cover over the section of railway/station between the station entrance and Mountain Highway. A small arcade of shops and lease–able space surely could fill the void present now. It may be nice to gaze out the window opening to see Mountain Highway, but that whole stretch of open space with the station and tracks one floor down could have been enhanced in value by covering it over with a small area that would become lease-able for retail and/or commercial purposes.

I get frustrated that for all the level cross removal efforts, pedestrian access traffic to and from stations are generally left out of the consideration that whilst the focus of grade separation is train from vehicular traffic, surely pedestrian traffic could also be grade separated. It only makes sense to invest more into dedicated access routes for pedestrians since future growth will require the eventual construction… It may be incredibly future-sighted, but the effort is well worth the spend now in 2016-2017. To this end, a consistent above-ground pedestrian overpass for Station St would make logical sense to extending the current station access, which will enable pedestrians to safely cross Station St to the shops opposite the station.

The second area where pedestrian access could be grade separated from vehicular traffic are the two road bridges over the new railway tracks. This idea may have been implemented and I simply have not seen the detail or observed it for myself, but adding a pathway under Mountain Highway and Scoresby Road adjacent to the new lowered railway tracks would help connect pedestrians to either side of the roads. I suspect, that since a traffic-light controlled intersection has been added to facilitate access between Station St and Mountain Highway, pedestrian use of the same intersection is an alternative solution for now.

In years to come I suspect that should pedestrian traffic continuing growing, these ideas will be validated and locals will wish the extra work had been completed now as part of the recent work. Given the general approach and outcomes we have seen in all the various level crossing removal projects, it would appear that a minimalist approach has been adopted in the planning stages. I advocate the case that it will be more economically beneficial to pursue more holistic grade separation ideas and get them all implemented now, in one project.