News

Jul 30, 2023

$10.5m funding to reopen Ballarat rail crossing where train crash closed Lydiard Street

Ballarat's replica heritage Lydiard Street gates are set to go, with the state

Ballarat's replica heritage Lydiard Street gates are set to go, with the state government announcing a new fully automated level crossing system will be installed by mid-next year.

The crossing, next to Ballarat train station, has been closed for almost 12 months after a runaway train crashed through the wooden gates — replicas of those from the 1800s — in May last year.

During a visit to Ballarat, Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll said the $10.5 million investment would go towards a temporary "half-boom barrier crossing" that would allow the road to reopen within six months.

A new system will be built by mid-2022.

Mr Carroll said work would begin immediately on the temporary solution so the road could be reopened as soon as possible — hopefully by September or October. 

"We know Lydiard Street is a very important historical precinct, not only for here in Ballarat but essentially the whole Victorian railway," he said.

"It goes back to the 1860s, but unfortunately too a lot of the signalling and operation goes back to the 1860s as well."

Currently, the gate system is operated manually from Melbourne.

Mr Carroll said while preserving heritage was important, the old-style gates culd not be replaced and a new system must be built.

"The automated system will bring Lydiard Street in line with every other signalling system that we have throughout our state," he said.

"Safety needs to come first and foremost but we're equally mindful of the heritage of Ballarat — that's why I'm very pleased to say we have engaged heritage consultants."

"We're working very hard to ensure that those gates still remain part of the Ballarat precinct and feel incorporated and that the community can still pay homage to that unique system that's operated here for so long."

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Ballarat City councillor Samantha McIntosh said it had taken the state government too long to come up with a temporary solution.

"It's a shame that this interim solution couldn't have happened a year ago. It's been a dreadful shame that our community hasn't had access to Lydiard Street."

Cr McIntosh said she was "very disappointed" the state government was walking away from integrating the old-style gates into the new system.

"Our community want the gates protected, they want to see the gates operating in some form," she said.

"The issue was about the fault of the train, not the fault of the gates. I certainly believe over the time the focus has been shifted to be on the gates — not for the right reasons."

Nick Foa from the Department of Transport said the old gates, which took two minutes to open and had to be monitored via CCTV in Melbourne, were responsible for 60 per cent of delays on the Ballarat line.