AUSTRALIA
Sustainable He says raising the rail line rather than lowering it has benefits from an environmental sustainability point of view , including not needing to move infrastructure , like gas or water mains , or dig up contaminated material that ’ s been in the rail corridor for a long time .
“ All we do is once we actually elevate the train line ,” he says , “ is strip the surface off , so get rid of any of the nasty stuff , and then reinstate a beautiful linear park . And we can actually improve the natural environment .
“ One of the key design elements is capturing all of that storm water run off from the elevated structure , so from the bridge up in the air , and using it to irrigate the linear park .”
It ’ s a game of many parts involving stakeholders from councils , Vic Track – who own the land asset – and Metro Trains , who run it . Summers believed it will be the local councils who are ultimately responsible for maintaining each element , “ because it ’ s their constituents that will actually be using it ”.
An initial payment of $ 15 million , funded through the Level Crossing Removal Project , will be set aside exclusively for maintenance .
“ It ’ s been hard ,” he admits . “ Trying to find that balance between green open space , plus car parking and playgrounds to support the rail environment and get the right mix . But another opportunity that comes with this linear park is we can actually replant trees . If you put a ditch in the ground , there ’ s no opportunity to really landscape . But we can replant thousands of plants that can grow to a mature height because the train line is now up in the air , which creates an ecological corridor for flora and fauna .
“ One of the key concerns from residents is there might be a community of birds or wildlife that live in an adjacent park . But by elevating the train line and reinstating a linear park , we ’ ll actually draw more wildlife to the area .”
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