By Alana Mitchelson
A PETITION advocating for the upgrade of one of Pakenham’s most dangerous level crossings has been launched to prompt State Government action.
The campaign supports the widening of McGregor Road at the railway crossing to eliminate the bottleneck, reduce traffic delays and improve safety.
State Bass MP Brian Paynter, whose office launched the petition, has called on the State Government to take immediate responsibility.
“This 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,” Mr Paynter said.
“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 drives over the crossing about 10 times a day and has seen the bottleneck and signal issues cause “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 has 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.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan 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.
