Creswick station renewal off the tracks

By Nick Higgins
Updated November 2 2012 - 12:23pm, first published September 2 2009 - 1:26pm

THE restoration of Creswick Railway Station was "back to square one" as a result of recent vandalism, a VicTrack spokesman said yesterday.Jason Murray said VicTrack, the owner of the station, had spent about $90,000 repairing the station in 2002.Mr Murray said in recent times a private tenant had occupied the station but when this lease arrangement ended in June, attacks by vandals had severely damaged the 1874 building.With passenger rail services scheduled to return to Creswick next year the Department of Transport plans to build a new platform opposite the existing station because of the cost of making the old station functional.VicTrack has estimated the cost of repairing the damage to be $40,000. The restoration several years ago did not include work on the interior of the building.Mr Murray said VicTrack would secure the building and planned to meet with Creswick residents to discuss a possible community use for the building.A department spokeswoman said upgrading the station to meet V/Line standards would involve "considerable time and expense, including heritage approvals"."Furthermore, the existing track through Creswick does not service the current station, as it has been realigned away from the station platform," she said."Building a brand-new platform will allow us to return services as quickly as possible for the benefit of the Creswick community."The new platform will include a passenger shelter and will be DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliant."While the costs for the new Creswick platform are still being finalised, we know it will be significantly less than completing a heritage restoration at the existing station."A Heritage Victoria spokeswoman said VicTrack, as owner of the station "has the same obligations under the Heritage Act as private owners. Section 160 of the Act states that the owner of a registered place or object must not fail to maintain that place or object to the extent that its conservation is threatened". She said Heritage Victoria had asked Victrack to secure the site "and it is understood this has occurred". "Heritage Victoria is working with the owners to find an appropriate use for the site."

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