No More Train Trenches!

Have you heard? Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allen are planning to get rid of 50 level crossings in Melbourne. And to keep their union mates happy - the ones who didn't get the job of digging East West Link - they're planning to sink more train lines and stations into trenches below ground level.

Dandenong, Frankston and Mernda - you're all in their sights.

Our suburbs deserve better

Train trenches are disruptive to dig. Just ask the residents in Ormond, McKinnon and Bentleigh. Trackside trees have been removed. Bike paths and local roads have been closed. Deep drains are being dug. There's noisy drilling and pile-driving, all day and weekends. Train lines have been closed, causing weeks of disruption. Millions of tonnes of dirt and rock will soon be trucked through local streets. And it'll be stored on public parks for up to a year, destroying the local community.

Train trenches divide communities forever

When it's finished, the excavated train trench will be a scar that cuts through the suburbs forever. It will accumulate rubbish. It will be at risk of flooding. It will be a magnet for graffiti and tagging. It will present a very sad but real opportunity for troubled individuals on the brink of suicide. We deserve better than this.

Train trenches never get built over

You might have heard that the space over a train trench can be used. Don't be fooled. In the rare cases when train trenches get built over, it's not for community benefit - it's for shops, or monstrous apartment towers. That's because decking over train trenches is expensive, and only greedy profit-making developers can ever afford to do it.

Train trenches are noisy

If you thought it was unpleasant living near a train track with grass, shrubs and trees alongside, wait until you live near a solid concrete trench. The hard sloping surfaces reflect noise up and out - directly into the homes of nearby neighbours. And with more trains, longer trains, 24 hour trains, and VLine and freight trains, living near a train trench will be a very unpleasant kind of hell.

Train travellers deserve beautiful train lines

We deserve beautiful views from the train when we travel. When new freeways are built, they are adorned with beautiful trees and shrubs, colourful decorative walls, and even elaborate roadside artworks. Eastlink and Peninsula Link provide beautiful vistas for drivers - why shouldn't train travellers expect the same? But the most recent level crossing removals like Springvale Rd and Burke Rd gave us bland perforated metal cladding, grey spraycrete retaining walls, and the biggest imaginable canvas for tagging and graffiti.

Train travellers deserve better stations

We wait long enough for trains - why shouldn't we be comfortable while we wait? We deserve proper shelter, with protection from the wind and the rain. But the most recent level crossing removals like Springvale Rd and Burke Rd gave us windy dark desolate stations in holes below the ground, and partial weather shelters with gaps that let in the rain.

Train travellers are not sewer-dwelling rats

Tell Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allen you are tired of being treated like a sewer-dwelling rat, and you don't want any more level crossing removals to be sunk below the ground in sub-standard concrete train trenches.

Tell them you are tired of ugly train trenches destroying your suburb, and you expect much better.

Tell them you want the best of modern rail, modern stations, beautiful views as you travel, and improvements to the community where you live.

Tell them you want to enjoy your train journey, and you want to love the public spaces where you live.

Tell them enough's enough - sign this petition to stop Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allen from digging up your neighbourhood and burying your station in a train trench.

No more Train Trenches!