Rowville-Rail-Study-Final-Stage-1-Report-FINAL

Final Stage 1 Feasibility Report
A Rowville rail line concept
required at or close to the tunnel portal locations, which would appear to be possible.
Access to and from the temporary areas for spoil removal and materials delivery would
require careful traffic and access management techniques, given the high levels of traffic
on the affected roads. Maintaining traffic flows on Monash Freeway and Eastlink in
particular would be a high priority given their regional significance.
Viaduct sections – standard construction techniques would lend themselves to the
limited space available in the Wellington Road environment. However the exposed nature
of the elevated sections would require special visual, dust, noise and vibration controls as
well as access arrangements for construction workers.
Stations – underground stations in Wellington Road would require temporary lane
closures and/or diversions to enable cut-and-cover construction, and the high water table
would probably entail waterproofed, retained temporary cuttings. The preliminary concept
for Huntingdale station presents some significant challenges but a feasible staging
method has been identified.
Temporary land – areas for construction work sites appear to be available, subject to
detailed planning and negotiation. As with the main construction areas, access to
temporary land would need to be carefully considered given the heavy traffic in the area.
The constructability review has established that building the rail link would involve substantial
engineering challenges with associated impacts and issues to be addressed. All issues
appear to be manageable using well-established techniques, but the complexity and scale of
the project should not be underestimated.
6.4.1 Timing
As stated above it is expected that construction of the rail line would take four years. If a
decision is made to proceed, then we expect that at least another three to four years would
be required before construction starts, to develop a detailed design, obtain necessary
approvals, acquire land or property and tender for the construction contract. This suggests
that the earliest achievable opening year would be 2020.
It would be important to coordinate the project with other initiatives, especially upgrading the
Dandenong line and implementing the the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel because without
these it would not be possible to run a fully-fledged service on the Rowville rail line in any
case. We consider that the Dandenong line upgrade should be given a high priority because
of its benefits for Cranbourne and Pakenham services and improved conditions for road
traffic at the level crossings along the route, as well as making Rowville rail line services
possible.
Given that the Rowville rail line may not therefore be operational for another ten years or so,
it is also important to continue to improve other public transport in the area. A significant first
step has been made by making the Huntingdale-Monash University shuttle bus service
permanent, but other initiatives could include:
upgrading the passenger facilities at Huntingdale station (they are substandard and need
urgent, substantial improvement given the large numbers of people interchanging
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