The state government plans to build a residential tower up to 13 storeys high above the Frankston railway line in Melbourne's south-east to help pay for its level crossing removals, in a strategy it wants to replicate across Melbourne.

The apartment building with street-level retail would be built on North Road above Ormond station, and in a first for Melbourne's mostly low-rise suburbs, will be built directly over the railway tracks. It would be significantly taller than other buildings in Ormond.

The deck on the which the building would stand has just been built during the 37-day shutdown of the Frankston line between Caulfield and Moorabbin to remove three level crossings.

The line is due to reopen in a much transformed state on Monday.