A railway overhaul to connect Carlisle with East Victoria Park has come under fire, with major concerns about noise and aesthetics.
The State Government is proposing elevating the railway line and residents are concerned that noise will travel further or become louder.
Town of Victoria Park transport planner Caden McCarthy said there was definitely a negative response from the community, but that it wasn’t the vast majority of ratepayers.
“Until METRONET releases the designs, we will have a better idea of what the community overall thinks of the project,” Mr McCarthy said.
In the meantime he says: “METRONET have tried to involve the community in reference groups to try and mitigate some of their concerns.”
The State Government’s announcement was strongly opposed by some community members who say they would prefer an underground rail line. The underground option has been rejected by council on cost grounds.
Mr McCarthy said an elevated option has the benefits of public open space beneath the track.
“The town knows that there is a shortfall of public open space in that area and having elevated rail at least gives you space underneath,” Mr McCarthy said.
Mr McCarthy said that the level of investment into this infrastructure was unprecedented and could have a massive impact on the community.
The proposed changes to the railway line would see the suburbs of Carlisle and East Victoria Park become more connected and create better access to activity centres.
“Those two communities become neighbours again, which is a big benefit,” Mr McCarthy said.
The State Government recently announced that they had received $347M in funding from the Federal Government into METRONET to remove six level crossings on its proposed changes to the Armadale line.
A spokesperson for METRONET said removing the crossings “will improve safety, ease congestion, create more connections, revitalise the area and create versatile public spaces for the community.”
WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti has welcomed the decision to remove the level crossings.
“Commuters can finally say bye, bye boom gates – we’ve all felt the pain sitting at a level crossing waiting for one, two, sometimes three trains to pass by,” she said.