The new Parkdale station - Day One

A look at the first day of the new Parkdale station on the Frankston line, which opened earlier in the month. 

The station is open for passenger service but it will be a little while until all passenger facilities and access points will be available. It needed to be rebuilt as part of the level crossing removal at Parkers Rd. 

Very significantly Parkdale was built 'rail over', despite 'Save Parkdale' objectors who wanted the rail sunk. Walkers accessing the shops from the residential area to the east can do so directly without backtracking or changing levels. When done this will be at two points, north and south of the station, with access to the platforms from both. And there is pretty good visibility across the corridor, with elevated rail better than long fences and blank walls. Even on the first day, where it was still a noisy building site, the comments I heard were positive. 

Parkdale's public reception has been much better than Chelsea's level crossing removal and station rebuild. There the rail was partly sunken and sightlines across the rail corridor were reduced. Also walkers had to climb bridges (via steps, ramps or lift) to cross the rail corridor. Not only that but Nepean Hwy (where the shops are) has no pedestrian crossing lining up with the station's main footbridge and lifts. Thus it's an indirect, unshaded and unsheltered walk for local residents, train users and bus passengers alike visiting the shops or beach, and it's not uncommon for people to jump the long dividing fence that got erected. 

Effectively Chelsea's level crossing removal spent hundreds of millions to replace one divide with another, as you can see in 'Hot, Wet and Disconnected' below:  

The Chelsea community is currently advocating with local MP Tim Richardson and road safety minister Melissa Horne in fixing a mistake their project created by installing a sensibly located pedestrian crossing to restore direct access across the rail corridor at Chelsea. 

Let this be a cautionary tale. Listening to a noisy minority does not always give the best outcomes. And even when a decision has been made (eg rail over versus under) other design considerations (like the placement of pedestrian crossings) can make, or in Chelsea's case, break a project. This experience shows that supposed experts (like the LXRP and its processes) can't always be trusted if their ranks are stacked with traffic engineers who don't 'get' local walkability and access needs.