By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM Council has called on the State Government to stop dragging its feet and start funding projects to improve resident’s safety.
Following the death of a 65-year-old Truganina woman after the car in which she was a passenger was hit by a freight train at the Cherry St railway crossing late last month, Councillor Shane Bourke has called for action.
Last month’s fatality was followed by another dangerous incident when a car struck a boom gate at the same crossing last Wednesday morning. No one was injured in the incident but police and a tow truck were required to remove the car.
Cr Bourke said the accidents were a timely reminder of how dangerous all three of Wyndham’s level crossings were.
“I think in short whether it’s a Cherry St crossing, whether it’s a Hoppers Crossing crossing, whether it’s a Werribee St crossing, we need a hand to be able to get those rectified,” Cr Bourke said.
“It’s astounding that after all this time that we still haven’t got funding for that.”
Cr Bourke said that by not funding improvements, the State Government was effectively ignoring Wyndham’s pleas.
“It’s outrageous I suppose we really should be saying that the government thinks that we’re not important enough for the safety of our community,” he said.
“You only just need anything to happen on those crossings, and we saw that on Friday. We need to call on the State Government to deal with that and to get off their butts and actually do something and not for them to just rely on a council to do it all.”
