By XAVIER SMERDON
TWO of Wyndham’s three rail crossings will be removed at a cost believed to be around $240 million if Labor wins the next election.
Last week Labor launched its 2014 election campaign by announcing it would remove 50 of the state’s worst level crossings.
It has also promised to build a West Gate Distributor from the West Gate Freeway to the Port of Melbourne that it is claimed will take 5000 trucks a day off the bridge.
The ambitious program will be funded by the sale of the Port of Melbourne, which is expected to garner $5 to $6 billion, and will see the Cherry St and Cottrell St rail crossings replaced by rail-under-road or rail-over-road systems.
The Hoppers Crossing Geelong Rd rail crossing could be revealed as another one to go when another 10 crossings are announced before November 2014.
Member for Tarneit and shadow treasurer Tim Pallas told Star that 20 crossings would be removed in the government’s first term if they were elected while the remaining 30 would be done in the next term.
He said the last one would be started by the end of their second term.
“If you want to find one thing that irritates people the most in Melbourne, it’s probably the failure for road and rail networks to work together seamlessly,” Mr Pallas said.
“We will stand behind this plan and demonstrate that it is do-able.”
But Chairperson for the Wyndham Transport Advisory Committee and former Wyndham Mayor, John Menegazzo, said he still thought the Napthine Government’s plan of an East West Link was the way forward.
“For Wyndham itself I think the East West Link is going to be better at reducing congestion,” Mr Menegazzo told Star.
“I applaud the Opposition for coming up with a plan to remove the rail crossings, but there are still a lot of deficiencies in that plan as far securing the costs goes.
“At the moment it is still just a plan and there is a lot of meat missing from that plan.”
Mr Menegazzo said that something “absolutely” needed to be done about Wyndham’s rail crossings, but he still needed to be convinced that Labor’s option was viable.
Mr Pallas said while traffic around Melbourne would be effected during the construction phases of the crossings, he was confident it could be managed.
“This is a real challenge, and we know that. That’s why we say that there will be less done in the first term than the second term,” he said.
“We need to manage it properly and minimise the impact on the local community.
“The question is, is it worth it, and I think the answer would be unambiguously yes.”
