Rail crossing open, finally

ABOUT one-year, five months, fifteen days, sixteen hours and 30 minutes after the Lydiard Street rail crossing was closed due to train crash, the throughfare reopened to traffic.

Work to reopen the level crossing hit fever pitch over the weekend as crews rushed to install what are being described as temporary boom gates with the road reopened to traffic at 4pm on Monday.

“We thank the community for its ongoing patience, as crews worked around the clock over the weekend to safely re-open Lydiard Street to traffic,” said Minister for Public Transport Ben Carroll.

“Our next steps will be working closely with the community and the City of Ballarat on plans for a long-term solution that recognises the history of Ballarat’s railway precinct.”

The State Government has set aside $10 million for both the temporary boom gates and the “long-term solution.”

It’s not clear how much was spent on the boom gates so far.

On about 11.30pm on 30 May last year and out-of-control V/Line train crashed into swing gates that were in place across the southern tracks just west of Ballarat Station.

The impact sent one person to hospital and destroyed one set of gates. The set on the north side of the crossing were undamaged and remained closed before being removed and storied.

An interim Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into the crash found that a series of “wheel slip events” and breaking issues led to the train hitting the gates before they had closed.