Thanks damooops - it's nice to know somebody is reading my posts. Like you, I would love to see some photos or progress reports of the Springvale grade separation.
I toured the works today.
The station building has grown massive roofs, high up above each of the platforms (and protecting the ramps from the elements). Whether those down on the platform will be protected from rain coming in at an angle remains to be seen, but you can see a shelter down at platform level which will keep a few people dry:
[img]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u23/duttonbay/Mitcham%20Road%20Level%20Crossing%20Removal/20131201-104107_zps7d08afca.jpg[/img]
This view looking along the platforms shows the equivalent shelters at the up end of the up platforms. I guess one of these is for wheelchair passengers:
[img]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u23/duttonbay/Mitcham%20Road%20Level%20Crossing%20Removal/20131201-104406_zps9d99269b.jpg[/img]
Some idea of the height of the station building and roofs can be gauged from this view, The bullnose awning lower right is the shelter over the old bus stops (from memory):
[img]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u23/duttonbay/Mitcham%20Road%20Level%20Crossing%20Removal/20131201-104616_zps1d8d04b4.jpg[/img]
The trench on the up side has been lowered by another slice, with shotcrete applied to stabilize the cutting walls:
[img]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u23/duttonbay/Mitcham%20Road%20Level%20Crossing%20Removal/20131201-121630_zps37e3b37f.jpg[/img]
Up at the corner of Calcutta and Simla Street, the bridge providing access to the car park is moving ahead. From this angle you can see that the water main and car/pedestrian bridges are not parallel, something I had not noticed when viewing them from the platform:
[img]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u23/duttonbay/Mitcham%20Road%20Level%20Crossing%20Removal/20131201-122212_zps39a36bfa.jpg[/img]
Rooks Road was meant to be closed for road traffic for the weekend, but it was open by the time I got there, soon after 12:30pm. The work was presumably the installation of piles driven into the road along the line of the to-be-dug cutting wall:
[img]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u23/duttonbay/Mitcham%20Road%20Level%20Crossing%20Removal/20131201-123709_zps8a24574e.jpg[/img]
Here you can see how the piles, visible by the fresh tar over the top, line up with the concrete wall beyond, on the up side of Rooks Road. There's not enough room here to dig a trench beside the active railway line, so come January and the shut, Rooks Road will be closed, a trench dug wide enough of two tracks (gradually moving into alignment with the existing line), and a bridge erected:
[img]http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u23/duttonbay/Mitcham%20Road%20Level%20Crossing%20Removal/20131201-123750_zps0d7fbc4d.jpg[/img]