In recent years Carnegie has been a suburb full of cranes and construction – the apartment blocks came first, followed in 2016 by the replacement of the level crossing by an elevated rail viaduct dubbed ‘Skyrail’.
Some locals aren’t happy with the elevated railway – Karlee Browning, No Sky Rail Group spokesperson in the Herald Sun.
It’s a visual blight on my property and I don’t want it. Nobody asked for my say — I have had no choice, I have had no voice in this whole consultation process.
I fear my property will be overshadowed, and for the privacy of my young children playing in the backyard and in the pool, and I hold grave concerns for the impact on my property value.
But the apartment blocks started arriving some time ago, like this six storey block opposite Carnegie station.
At the Carnegie the timber station building has gone, but the apartments still loom overhead.
Apartments also tower over the the concrete pylons that will support the elevated railway viaduct.
On the northern side of the tracks stands a five story high apartment complex, overlooking a future construction site.
Opposite the Grange Road level crossing is a ‘Remove Level Crossings / Rail Under Road / NoSkyrails.com’ banner on a side fence.
Backing onto the railway in Carnegie is this house, in the front yard stands a bike with a ‘rail under not over’ message.
At Carnegie a piling rig is visible over the house rooftops, boring foundations for the rail viaduct. Virtually identical piling rigs are used to create basement car parks at nearby apartment blocks.
This house at Carnegie also backs onto the railway line, where a three story high apartment building sits next door.
At Murrumbeena a ‘I didn’t vote for Sky Rail’ sticker is overshadowed by a four storey apartment development across the laneway.
On a third story apartment at Hughesdale a ‘No Skyrails – Rail Under Road’ banner is tied to the balcony railing. The apartment already overlooks neighbouring houses, but the new rail viaduct will looking back the other way.
Even if local residents got their way and the railway was put under instead of over, the suburb they were trying to ‘protect’ is already gone – their streets of single houses on quarter acre blocks will soon be full of multi story apartments.
Footnote
Over at Urban Melbourne, Alastair Taylor wrote:
Carnegie won’t be a “mostly flat” suburb for long – it even had multi-level higher-density development before the new residential zones were applied. The new residential zones are driving investment into this pocket of Melbourne and buildings of a similar height or even higher than the proposed Carnegie Station have either been constructed or have been lodged with Glen Eira council.
Also include is a list of proposed apartment developments – a dozen and counting.
I get your point, that the suburb is getting a lot of 4-6 storey apartment buildings (which are pretty ugly), but I suspect what they’re really arguing about is that they think a rail viaduct is ugly, while the apartments are more or less expected (though they probably think they’re ugly too). I guess its seeing a big difference between residential construction vs ‘engineering’ or ‘industrial’ construction.
Another way to think about it is that apartment development are happening all across Melbourne, but there isn’t a way for local residents to push back – only VCAT objections. They are just an inevitable conclusion.
Meanwhile level crossing removals are a government project, so screaming at the government via the Liberal opposition might change their mind, especially when you paint the rail under road alternative as technically possible.
I’ve got pretty strong opinions about their opinions… I find their concern about their ‘property values’ particularly repugnant. I have almost no hope of owning a property thanks to those that aim to squeeze every last dollar out of their investment. In an ideal world it’d be enough that they at least have a roof over their head.
Political persuasion aside (sort of), NIMBYism of this type always seems to showcase the average resident’s shortsightedness. ‘Put it underground.’ Wait, won’t that cost more whilst delivering effectively the same service? ‘I don’t care as long as it’s not peering into my back yard!’
I rather like the elevated rail, it’s a nice bit of engineering.
I also wholeheartedly endorse exposing the hypocrisy… Most of those apartment developments are downright offensive. Complaining about the Skyrail is a bit rich coming from those willing to accept those hideous concrete and render blocks. Yeesh.
The desire for local residents to fight to keep for what they already have isn’t unexpected – the reason they live there is because they like it! The problem comes when change is inevitable, but those affected want everyone else to bend over backwards to soften the blow.
All the rich people who complained are moving out now any way. Is just that one bloke with his bike left. I live right next to the railway line and hear all the trains. Will be much better once Skyrail is completed.
I’ve lived in Carnegie since 1982 and my one regret is that they have not put in provision for 4 tracks instead of 2. It is much easier and cheaper to do it in 2017. Do it once and do it right. In 10 years the residents and commuters will have to go through this whole disruptive process again to put in the extra tracks. The sky rail should have extended over Warrigal and North Roads. The aging road over passes could have been removed and the bottlenecked roads widened.
The Glenhuntly and Neerim Road crossings should have had sky rail as well. If the problem is that the 3 times a day steel goods train to Hastings can’t cope with gradient change with sky rail, then leave one rail line at ground level(for the goods), then swing it back onto the main lines at either end of the elevated section. There is ample room at both ends on Royal Ave and Leamington Cres. to accomodate this.
There were calls for the Koornang Road rail crossing to be removed in 1950!
I bet they would not believe its taken almost 70 years to happen.
The sooner all these rail crossing are removed the better.
Roller coaster grades aren’t really a problem – the rail under road grade separations at Ormond, McKinnon and Bentleigh do just that.