Cranbourne Line Duplication finished ahead of schedule

The Merinda Park Station has opened a year ahead of schedule as part of Melbourne’s Cranbourne Line Duplication project.

Eight kilometres or track duplication between Cranbourne and Dandenong has been laid, along with the removal of a level crossing at Greens Road.

A new timetable will see trains arriving at stations on the line every ten minutes in the morning peak for passengers travelling from Cranbourne, Lynbrook and Merinda Park.

Around 2,000 crew have clocked up roughly 170,000 hours – working day and night since early January to complete the track duplication, level crossing removal and new station.

“We’ve promised to remove dangerous and congested level crossings, so you can spend less time in traffic and more time with your loved ones – and we’re smashing our targets,” Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews said.

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“Fifteen level crossings are being removed on the Cranbourne line, with 13 already gone for good, and two more will make the line level crossing-free by 2025, changing the way people live, work and travel.”

More than 22km of Australian steel, 20,000 tonnes of ballast and 16,000 concrete sleepers have been used to duplicate the single line track between Cranbourne and Dandenong, including building two new rail bridges over Eumemmering Creek and Abbotts Road, with the duplication paving the way for a future rail extension to Clyde.

Along with the Cranbourne Line Duplication, the Metro Tunnel will create capacity for 121,000 extra passengers every week on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines during peak periods and cut travel times by up to 50 minutes a day.

“Whether it’s delivering the Line Upgrade, removing two more level crossings on the Cranbourne Line to make it level crossing free, the Metro Tunnel or suburban roads – we’re delivering our promises to slash travel times in the Southeast,” Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said.