The Victorian Government has awarded two level crossing removal contracts for the Ferguson Street site in Williamstown, and the Glenroy Road site.

The $192 million Ferguson Street contract was awarded to an alliance comprising McConnell Dowell, Arup, Mott MacDonald, Metro Trains and the Level Crossing Removal Project, and will create 600 local jobs at peak construction.

The signing of contracts paves the way for construction teams to start setting up two site compounds from mid-January: on Kororoit Creek Road, near the Champion Road roundabout; and on Power Street near North Williamstown Station.

The site set-up will take place from mid-January to late February 2021, during which time locals and visitors to the area are being advised to look out for reduced speed limits and intermittent traffic stops.

These compounds will provide a base for workers, materials and equipment throughout the project, and include office space, car parking and storage areas.

Having them located close to the level crossing removal works allows us to get the job done as quickly and safely as possible, both for construction workers and the broader community.

The dangerous and congested level crossing at Ferguson Street will be removed by lowering the rail line into a trench and building a new North Williamstown Station. Boom gates will be gone for good by 2022.

The Glenroy Road contract will go to an alliance of John Holland Group, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) and Metro Trains Melbourne.

The rail line will be lowered into a trench and a new station will be built slightly east of the current rail line, so trains can keep running for the majority of the works, minimising disruption.

Early works have been progressing well at Glenroy, with a small tunnel boring machine, known as a TBM, currently digging a 370m-long tunnel eight metres below Waterloo Road. This will house drainage systems for the new Glenroy Station.

Over summer, work crews will undertake piling works in and around the rail corridor and begin to reconfigure the existing Glenroy Station so that it can continue to operate through much of the construction phase.

This will include building temporary customer facilities and changing access to the platforms, as well as demolishing the existing eastern building. This paves the way for work to begin on the new trench later in 2021. There will be several road and rail closures as this work takes place.

Glenroy Road will be closed at the level crossing from Thursday 7 January to Sunday 28 February. Detours will be via Camp Road in the north and Gaffney Street in the south.

The Glenroy Road level crossing will be removed, and the new Glenroy Station open for passengers in 2022.