By Alana Mitchelson
ADVOCACY for the upgrade of one of Pakenham’s most dangerous level crossings is stronger than ever after a double fatal at a Surrey Hills crossing earlier this month.
The petition supports the widening of McGregor Road at the railway crossing to eliminate the bottleneck, reduce traffic delays and improve safety.
Residents’ concerns for the “dangerous” level crossing have grown since the tragic death of two Camberwell women when their car became trapped on the tracks and was crushed by an express train.
State Bass MP Brian Paynter, whose office launched the petition, has called on the State Government to take immediate action.
“This is what we’re worried about,” Mr Paynter said, reflecting on the recent Surrey Hills incident.
“McGregor Road is a major bottleneck causing disruption to local residents and business alike. It also puts public safety at risk with our emergency services having difficulty moving through the area at certain times.
“I get a number of calls and emails each week from residents who are not only frustrated with the bank up of traffic around the McGregor Road rail crossing during peak periods, but are concerned about the risks people take as they weave in and out of the boom gates when they are down.
“The Andrews Government forgot about Pakenham when they were handing out contracts for rail crossing upgrades. It’s not good enough to leave McGregor Road on the backburner.”
Pakenham resident and driving instructor Elaina Haig said she drove over the crossing about 10 times a day and had seen the bottleneck and signal issues causing “extreme” congestion and safety concerns.
Ms Haig has recorded that on 27 July and 4 August, the boom gates were lowered but no train passed the crossing, inconveniencing motorists.
“I’ve waited up to 20 minutes for imaginary trains to go past. Then it’s like a Mexican stand-off of who’s going to drive around the boom gates and across the tracks first because everyone’s just over it.
“Once you’re there, you’re stuck and you’re forced to do something dangerous or illegal,” she said.
“I had to cancel one of my driving lessons a couple of weeks ago due to a delays of over 20 minutes – with no trains going past, which left me at a $55 loss.
“It’s not good for my business, not fair for my students, emergency vehicles, buses, and people trying to get to work on time or people picking up children from school.
“It’s getting worse and worse. But no one’s been run over, so we’ll just have to wait until that happens and fix it afterwards, I guess. I can’t help but feel like that’s their attitude.”
Resident Carole Maybus said she used the road daily and had witnessed many near misses.
“I’ve seen a lot of people rear ending into the car in front of them along McGregor Road from as far back as Heritage Springs because people are frustrated and travelling at 70km/h,” Ms Maybus said.
“When you see child seat restraints sitting on the road and paramedics assessing young children, it’s quite upsetting. It scares me.
“Since the duplication of McGregor Road, the problem has been magnified. I believe the council should have lobbied harder for the State Government to widen the crossing when they duplicated McGregor Road.
“Now when, and if, they widen the crossing, it’s going to cause double the inconvenience for roadworks.
“It can take a minimum 25 minutes to get from Park Boulevard, opposite Heritage Springs, to reach the crossing because of the bottleneck.”
Nearby resident Bernard Kearney said there were also “serious“ safety concerns surrounding the Rogers Street right-hand turn immediately after the level crossing when travelling north towards Pakenham from the freeway.
“There’s going to be a serious accident there one day – there’s going to be a fatality with a train,” Mr Kearney said.
“I’ve seen the back of a car on the tracks because there are about four cars wanting to turn right at Rogers Street. There should not be any entry there.”
Cardinia Shire assets and services general manager Mike Ellis said that since 2009 the council had spent $8 million to duplicate McGregor Road from the Pakenham Bypass to the Princes Highway and that it was the State Government’s responsibility to extend duplication through to the crossing.
“Duplication of the crossing will improve safety and provide greater access to business and residential areas in the Pakenham CBD, which will flow through to increased business activity and employment,” Mr Ellis said.
On behalf of the Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan, a department spokesman said the signals at the McGregor Road crossing were operating normally and posed “no safety risk”.
“We’re focused on removing 12 level crossings between Pakenham and the city and upgrading signalling along the corridor to relieve congestion and run more trains for local passengers,” he said.
“The crossing at McGregor Road will be considered for removal in future budgets beyond the removal of the first 50 crossings.”
In 48 hours, the Upgrade McGregor Road Crossing Facebook page received about 300 likes and more than 100 people had signed the online petition.
For more information visit the Upgrade McGregor Road Crossing Facebook page or view the petition at www.surveymonkey.com/r/C3C53CT.
