Murrumbeena residents Karlee Browning and Tracey Bigg attend a protest earlier this month against a proposed elevated railway line. Credit:Penny Stephens The well-organised campaign saw members of the No Sky Rail group dressed in red clothes and 'engine driver' hats hand out flyers to locals and urge them to keep fighting for their neighbourhood. In the park, awnings were set up with booths for signing a petition against the proposal, a register for those wanting to volunteer and an information centre. Locals, councillors, politicians and environmentalists took centre stage in front of the Murrumbeena Scout Hall, speaking about the damage the proposal will do to the community and its suburban ambience.

Some of the residents who spoke at the meeting said they felt betrayed by the lack of consultation, especially from their local member, Oakleigh MP Steve Dimopolous. The proposed elevated rail line that would be built in Heatherton. The residents said the community was being used as a guinea pig by the state government to try out the project. Construction on three sections of line from Caulfield to Cranbourne and Pakenham will begin on the line this year, according to the state government. An artist's impression of the proposed new Murumbeena railway station.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said it was amazing to see the spontaneous protest. Mr Guy said everyone wanted to see the level crossings removed, but it needed to be done in a "proper way". "A proper way is to do it underground," he said. The Murrumbeena Road level crossing is notorious for creating long traffic jams. Credit:Michael Clayton-Jones "Level crossing removal is the right thing to do, but doing it on the cheap at communities' expense is not. "You need to stand united, and together and make sure this campaign continues because otherwise this proposal that has been put forward - it's no guarantee it won't follow its way down the Frankston line, through sections of the Hurstbridge line ..."

A new park that would be created under the planned rail line. Mr Guy's comments were met with loud cheers and applause an shouts of "hear, hear". Cassandra Williams who was there with her husband, David, and three children said the consultation process had been a joke. A map of the sections of proposed elevated rail line. "We are not directly on the train line ....[but] a nine-metre structure, you are going to see it for kilometres," she said.

"To have a nine-metre structure smack bang in the middle of our community is horrendous. It will be here for 100-plus years. Glen Eira Environment Group co-ordinator Paul Caine said the park had Red River Gums that were of significance and needed to preserved. "Whether the rail goes over or under, they should be retained," Mr Caine said. "They bring a wealth of bird life to the area." The proposal has already drawn criticism, with some affected residents holding a community meeting in a Murrumbeena park on Sunday to discuss how to prevent the project.

No Sky Rail president Karlee Browning said she had grave safety concerns regarding the proposal. Ms Browning, who lives one metre from the existing railway corridor, said at least 200 houses in just her neighbourhood would be affected by the proposal. "The thing that no one has talked about so far is ... that there could be a freight-train derailment," she said. "We are talking 80,000 tonnes of fully laden freight potentially falling from a nine-metre-high elevated lines onto homes." Ms Browning said she also had fears about privacy and the effect on property prices.

"I am also concerned about how this would impact my overshadowing," she said. "I have got $6000 worth of solar panels on my house that actually face the north, which is where this would come. "You'll directly look from top of this nine-metre structure into my swimming pool, where my children and my family play in the backyard. "I am worried about the safety and privacy of my children, that they are not going to be preyed upon by paedophiles looking into the pool when they are swimming." Ms Browning said she also feared that the current rail line would be turned into car parks, rather than the promised parks.

"I want [the government] to take it back to public consultation on whether we want an above-ground or below-ground [train]," she said. Ms Browning said a petition with 2200 signatures would be presented in the Parliament on Monday to let the government know that "2200 people to date do not want this". "They [the residents] have had no consultation, they have not been asked, they have had no say," she said. Three sections of the railway line along the Dandenong railway corridor will be replaced with new elevated tracks - dubbed 'sky trains', but not to be confused with an airport line - that would run along the viaduct above the existing railway line. Premier Daniel Andrews said the project would create a quieter rail line. In a statement, he said community consultation had been ongoing since April, with more than 1500 pieces of feedback informing the designs that were released on Sunday.

Mr Andrews said the next phase of consultation would begin immediately, with the project team speaking to thousands of locals about the designs and giving the community a say on uses for their new open spaces. Nine level crossings will be removed and five new stations will be created as part of the project at Carnegie, Murrumbeena, Clayton, Hughesdale and Noble Park. A consortium of CPB Contractors and Lend Lease have been awarded the contract to build the project, which is due to be completed by November 2018, in time for the next state election. As the elevated rail lines would be built above existing railway lines, the existing train services would not be disrupted by the construction. The elevated railway line would also free up public open space, Mr Andrews said.

"This tired and ugly rail corridor will become one of Melbourne's largest community open spaces, with room for parks, playgrounds, netball courts and thousands of new car parks," Mr Andrews said. However, the state opposition has already criticised the elevation proposal. When it was first proposed in January, the Opposition said it would create vulgar "eyesores" several storeys high that would divide neighbourhoods. The Victorian government has promised to undertake community consultations to refine the designs and determine how the new public space underneath the railway would be utilised, but local residents have already written petitions to state MPs to be presented when Parliment resumes on Monday, claiming the empty space under elevated railway lines will become ghettos and havens for crime. Elevated rail lines can be less intrusive than building a trench to remove level crossings, according to RMIT urban designer lecturer Ian Woodcock, who told Fairfax that in cities like Berlin and Vancouver elevated rail lines actually "maximises the connection at ground level".

Elevated rail already exists in sections across Melbourne, including between West Richmond and Clifton Hill, through Hawthorn on the Lilydale/Belgrave lines and through Balaclava on the Sandringham line. Under the plans, the longest section of elevated rail will run over 3.5 kilometres built between Grange Road in Carnegie and Poath Road in Hughesdale. A 2.7-kilometre stretch of elevated rail will be built between Corrigan and Chandler roads in Noble Park. A further two-kilometre elevated structure will run through Clayton between Clayton and Centre roads. Barricades will also be put in place to ensure passengers on elevated trains cannot see into nearby houses.

The new train stations will be longer to accommodate longer trains and will be accompanied by signalling upgrades that will carry an extra 11,000 passengers during peak hour on the lines which currently carry more than 60,000 passengers daily. The level crossings due to be removed include some of the city's worst traffic bottlenecks in Murrumbeena and Clayton. A Metro Trains spokeswoman said Metro could not comment on the project, which would be overseen by the Level Crossing Removal Authority. - with Anna Whitelaw