Council Demands Elevated Rail Rethink for Crossing Project in Aspendale 2026

Key Points

• Kingston Council’s Advocacy: Kingston Council has officially called on the Victorian Government to reconsider its planned engineering approach for the Aspendale Level Crossing Removal Project.
• Preferred Solution: The council is advocating for an elevated rail-over-road solution instead of the rail-under-road trench design that was originally announced in 2022.
• Community Consultation: Extensive local consultation conducted by the council earlier this year attracted more than 540 submissions, revealing that 76 per cent (more than three-quarters) of respondents favor a rail-over-road design.
• Strategic Lessons: The council’s position is heavily informed by its experience observing how other level crossing removals have transformed neighbouring communities along the Frankston rail line.
• Nine Key Outcomes Demanded: Regardless of the final engineering method chosen, the council insists the project must deliver nine specific outcomes, including strengthening the neighbourhood activity centre, creating new public spaces, and promoting climate resilience.
• Official Submission: Mayor Georgina Oxley confirmed that the council has formally submitted its detailed advocacy position to the Victorian Government to foster constructive collaboration before final decisions are locked in.

Kingston Council (South London News) June 24, 2026 – Kingston Council has launched a formal bid to convince the Victorian Government to overhaul its infrastructure plans for the Frankston rail line, urging a shift from a subterranean trench to an elevated rail-over-road design for the upcoming Aspendale Level Crossing Removal Project. The decision to challenge the state’s existing framework follows a comprehensive local consultation process indicating overwhelming community opposition to the previously slated trench design. In a formal submission delivered to state transport authorities, municipal leaders argued that an elevated rail line would preserve local coastal aesthetics, prevent the physical bifurcation of the suburb, and unlock substantial tracts of new public parkland that a rail-under-road method would otherwise render impossible.

Why is Kingston Council demanding a rail-over-road design for Aspendale?

The primary driver behind the council’s refreshed advocacy is a distinct shift in community sentiment, paired with practical observations of completed rail projects across the metropolitan network. When the Victorian Government initially slated the Aspendale level crossing for removal in 2022, a rail-under-road trench was earmarked as the default engineering solution.

However, local assessments over the intervening four years have led municipal planners to conclude that a trench would negatively impact the long-term urban fabric of the suburb.

As reported by municipal staff in the council’s official briefing, local authorities have had the distinct benefit of monitoring various completed level crossing removals along the broader Frankston line.

These comparative case studies demonstrated that while trenches successfully remove the conflict between vehicles and trains, they often create stark concrete barriers, limit pedestrian visibility, and offer zero net-gain for community infrastructure. Conversely, elevated rail solutions implemented elsewhere have successfully modernised local stations while converting formerly industrial rail corridors into vibrant linear parks, playgrounds, and shared cycling paths.

Kingston Council maintains that the Aspendale project must be viewed through a holistic urban planning lens rather than as a isolated transport engineering task.

Local leaders argue that an elevated rail configuration is uniquely suited to the unique geographic constraints of the area, providing an opportunity to revitalise the local economy while preventing major structural disruptions to the sensitive coastal environment.

What did the community consultation reveal about local preferences?

The council’s updated policy position is anchored by the quantifiable outcomes of an extensive community consultation initiative executed earlier this year.

According to statistical data published within the council’s advocacy summary report, the engagement process attracted more than 540 formal written submissions from local residents, business owners, and regional commuters.

The core takeaway from this data is an unambiguous mandate for elevated rail: 76 per cent of all respondents explicitly stated their preference for a rail-over-road engineering solution. The qualitative feedback detailed within the submissions highlighted a collective desire among locals to protect the existing coastal character of Aspendale.

Residents expressed significant concern that a deep concrete trench would act as a permanent physical and visual divider within the community.

Specifically, the feedback strongly emphasised the necessity of maintaining seamless, intuitive connections between the local shopping village, the residential zones, the beach, and the Aspendale Lifesaving Club. Respondents noted that an elevated rail line would allow for open, ground-level thoroughfares, thereby facilitating safer, unrestricted access for pedestrians and cyclists moving toward the coastline.

What are the nine key outcomes Kingston Council demands for the project?

Kingston Council has made it clear that its cooperation with the state government hinges on the fulfillment of strict community criteria.

The local government entity declared that no matter what final engineering solution is ultimately deployed by state contractors, the delivery body must guarantee nine specific structural and environmental outcomes:

• Strengthen the neighbourhood activity centre: Ensuring that the final design integrates seamlessly with local retail strips, driving foot traffic to small businesses rather than bypassing them.
• Better connect people to the coast: Eliminating visual and physical blockades to ensure residents can easily walk from transit hubs to the beachfront.
• Create new public realm and open space: Maximising the retrieval of land underneath or around the infrastructure to construct communal parks, gardens, and plazas.
• Make getting around safer: Redesigning traffic intersections, pedestrian crossings, and commuter drop-off zones to completely eliminate vehicular-pedestrian conflict points.
• Complete Kingston’s cycling network: Integrating dedicated, grade-separated bicycle paths into the project footprint to bridge existing gaps in the regional network.
• Secure the rail corridor as a habitat corridor: Protecting local flora and fauna by ensuring urban design choices foster ecological connectivity along the rail line.
• Balance parking with place: Delivering sufficient commuter and shopper parking infrastructure without sacrificing the aesthetic quality or pedestrian utility of the public realm.
• A distinct Aspendale Identity: Avoiding generic, cookie-cutter station architecture in favour of bespoke design choices that celebrate the area’s coastal heritage.
• Promote climate resilience: Utilizing sustainable, low-carbon materials and designing water sensitive urban drainage systems capable of handling long-term climate pressures.

How are council leadership framing the negotiation with the Victorian Government?

The municipal leadership is positioning this advocacy campaign not as an aggressive confrontation, but as an invitation for constructive, evidence-based intergovernmental collaboration.

As reported by council communications officers, Kingston Mayor Georgina Oxley stated that:

“Our role is to speak up for our community and advocate for the best possible outcome for Aspendale. Since this project was first announced, we’ve had the benefit of seeing how other level crossing removals have transformed neighbouring communities, and we’ve heard overwhelmingly from local residents about what matters most to them.”

Mayor Oxley further elaborated on the long-term urban legacy of the impending construction works, emphasizing that level crossing removals represent a rare, irreversible structural intervention in established suburbs. As recorded in the council’s official media log, Mayor Oxley stated that:

“That’s why we’re calling on the Victorian Government to collaborate with the council and reconsider the current approach and seriously examine a rail-over-road solution that would better connect our community, create valuable public space and deliver lasting benefits for Aspendale.”

The Mayor stressed that because Kingston Council has encountered a high volume of these state-led infrastructure interventions, its staff possess unmatched localized expertise regarding the direct social impacts of rail construction. As noted by Mayor Oxley:

“Having experienced more level crossing removals than any other council, we know they are about much more than transport infrastructure. They are once-in-a-generation opportunities to improve how people move through a neighbourhood, strengthen local shopping areas and create better public spaces for the community to enjoy. Based on what we’ve heard from residents and what we’ve learned from other projects, we believe a rail-over-road solution offers the greatest opportunity to achieve those outcomes. The Victorian Government has an opportunity to work with us and deliver a project that not only removes a level crossing but also leaves a positive legacy for Aspendale for decades to come.”

Background of the Aspendale Level Crossing Removal Project

The level crossing removal at Aspendale is part of the Victorian Government’s broader, multi-billion-dollar Level Crossing Removal Project, managed by the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA). Launched over a decade ago, the overarching state initiative aims to eliminate high-congestion bottlenecks across metropolitan Melbourne to improve safety, increase train frequencies, and reduce traffic delays.

The Frankston Line has been a primary focus of these state efforts, owing to its historic abundance of standard boom-gate crossings intersecting busy coastal arterial roads. In 2022, the state government formally announced that the Aspendale crossing would be removed, alongside several others, to make the Frankston line completely bottle-neck free.

At the time of the initial announcement, preliminary state engineering assessments favored a rail-under-road trench design. This choice was largely influenced by early-stage geological and visual impact assessments common to initial project screenings.

Over the years, however, the municipal territory overseen by Kingston Council became a primary testing ground for both major engineering methodologies: trenches (as seen in stations like Edithvale, Chelsea, and Bonbeach) and elevated rail sky-rail structures (as seen in locations further up the line like Carrum).

This extensive regional history provided both council planners and local citizens with concrete, real-world examples of how each engineering type impacts local commerce, wind patterns, noise distribution, and property connectivity, ultimately prompting the council to officially revisit its endorsement of the trench methodology.

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Prediction: How this development can affect the local community and stakeholders

If Kingston Council’s advocacy successfully compels the Victorian Government to pivot toward an elevated rail-over-road design, the structural shift will directly transform the daily lives of Aspendale residents, local business owners, and commuters.

For local residents and property owners, a shift to an elevated rail line will directly affect property dynamics and visual amenity. Those living in immediate proximity to the rail line may face altered visual horizons compared to a trench solution, which stays hidden below ground level.

However, this will be offset by a significant reduction in the long-term structural disruptions typically caused by deep trench excavations, which often require extensive piling, groundwater management, and prolonged road closures during the construction phase.

For pedestrians, cyclists, and the broader community, the selection of an elevated rail design will unlock hectares of brand-new, contiguous public open space beneath the tracks.

This will likely result in the creation of a dedicated linear park and a completed regional bicycle trail, allowing families and fitness enthusiasts to traverse the suburb safely without encountering vehicular traffic.

The preservation of ground-level continuity means access routes to the shopping village, Aspendale beach, and the local lifesaving club will remain open, spacious, and highly visible, fostering increased community cohesion.

For local businesses within the neighbourhood activity centre, an elevated rail project will alter economic outcomes. While the construction phase for an elevated station is generally faster than digging a trench—potentially minimizing the duration of disrupted foot traffic—the long-term payout lies in urban integration. Ground-level rail station precincts typically enjoy higher visibility and foot-traffic accessibility, preventing the “ghost-town” effect that can occasionally occur when transport infrastructure is sunken and walled off from nearby commercial strips.