South Morang Rail Extension Project overview

Melbourne's north, including the areas around Plenty Valley and South Morang, is booming. To serve this area, the single rail track between Keon Park and Epping has been duplicated and extended to South Morang.

This critical work will increase capacity, improve reliability and introduce extra services to meet the rapidly growing demand for public transport in Melbourne's north.

The South Morang Rail Extension Project was delivered by an alliance between the Department of Transport, Metro, VicRoads, AECOM and John Holland.

Major construction commenced in October 2010. Work between Keon Park and Epping, including track duplication and construction of new stations at Thomastown and Epping was completed by the end of 2011.

The full rail extension to South Morang was completed and the new line opened on 22 April 2012.

The project involves:

• 5 km of rail track duplication between Keon Park and Epping
• new Thomastown railway station with a second platform and a pedestrian overpass
• a significant boost to parking at Lalor and Keon Park railway stations
• upgrade and expansion of the Epping train maintenance facility, including new stabling roads. This allows for more trains to be stored and operated on the Epping line
• relocation of the existing Epping railway station to the north of Cooper Street, east of Davisson Street. The new premium railway station and rail line have been lowered beneath Cooper Street. Cooper Street in now a road overpass
• 3.5 km of new double rail tracks from Epping to South Morang
• new major road overpasses at Pindari Avenue, Mill Park and Civic Drive, South Morang
• two new rail bridges over Darebin Creek and Hendersons Drain
• a shared use path along the extended train line, connecting the new South Morang railway station with the existing bicycle network
• a new premium railway station at South Morang with parking for 450 cars, a safe drop off area, taxi rank, a bus interchange and bike cages.

Improvements to roads and public transport access include:

• a net gain of forty percent of car parking spaces along the rail line with extra parking at South Morang, Lalor and Keon Park railway stations
• the Epping railway station precinct accommodates five bus routes that travel through the Cooper Street and Davisson Street intersection
• the roundabout at Davisson Street and intersection at Dalton Road has been reconfigured with traffic signals and pedestrian crossings and the intersection of Cooper Street and Davisson Street was changed from the previous single lane to dual lanes
• a shared use path, on the south side of the new rail extension, connects pedestrians, walkers, joggers and cyclists between the new Epping and South Morang railway stations. The shared use path also connects into the existing shared use pedestrian 'super highway' from the Epping railway station precinct to High Street and Epping Plaza
• conversion of the Civic Drive and McDonalds Road roundabout to an intersection with traffic signals
• the new South Morang railway is an important integrated public transport hub with a major bus interchange that can accommodate growth in bus services into the future
• South Morang railway station also allows for future pedestrian connections between the Plenty Valley Town Centre to the southeast of the rail line and the City of Whittlesea Municipal Offices to the northwest.