Pakenham Station will open tomorrow, Monday 3 June following a major upgrade, along with a brand-new East Pakenham Station that extends the metropolitan train line by two kilometres into Melbourne’s newest suburb.
East Pakenham delivers a direct connection into a growing community, set to accommodate around 7,200 new homes in the coming years – putting more houses close to transport connections, schools and jobs.
The new East Pakenham Station will also provide better connections for regional Victorians – with dedicated V/Line tracks to cut congestion and improve service reliability on the Gippsland Line.
All Pakenham Line services will run through to the new stations, with five-to-10-minute frequency during weekday peaks, and 20 minutes during off-peak periods.
Over the coming months, work will ramp up to create what the state government is calling “six MCGs of new open space” below the two-and-a-half-kilometre rail bridge between McGregor and Racecourse Road – with the design including a shared use path as well as a basketball court, playground and parklands set to open later this year.
Ahead of the opening of the new stations, three level crossings in Pakenham have also been removed.
Some 63,000 vehicles used Pakenham level crossings every day, experiencing frustrating delays when the boom gates were down for 30 per cent of the morning peak.
A crew of 200 people worked around the clock throughout May to get rid of three boom gates at Main Street, McGregor Road and Racecourse Road.
Only three level crossings remain on the Pakenham Line. They will be removed to make the rail line boom gate-free – with passengers on the Pakenham Line also set to benefit from the Metro Tunnel when it opens next year.
