V/Line still working through Lydiard Street options, six months after crash

Having been out of action since May 30 when an out of control train slammed into the gates, destroying the southern gate, the intersection remains closed to traffic. The main entrance to the apartments is through Nolan Street.

The previous City of Ballarat council unanimously voted for the gates to be recast, but to date, V/Line has not been able to provide clarity about when they might occur.

Save Our Station president Gerald Jenzen said all had gone quiet on when the gates would be recast, or removed, and the intersection would open.

"I would have thought with the Quest Apartments opening soon they would be pushing for a resolution," Mr Jenzen said.

"As a group, we've spoken to our parliamentarians, but at this stage they haven't promised anything.

"We're waiting on the budget in a couple of weeks to see if there is anything they are going to do with the station. We're hopeful we'll see some clarity, but we haven't been told anything as yet."

Mr Jenzen said it wasn't just the gates that needed some clarity, but also how disabled access would work at the station going forward, issues relating to the bus station and also traffic lights on Nolan Street.

He said he was also keen to know when Nolan Street would be able to reopen to traffic.

"No-one was told Nolan Street would be closed, usually there's a notice that they've closed the road for two weeks, but we heard nothing on that," he said.

V/Line said the work was still continuing as to what the best course of action would be for the site going forward.

A spokesperson said V/Line continues to work with the Department of Transport to determine the best options for the Lydiard Street level crossing.

"We know the community has a keen interest in the Lydiard Street level crossing and thank them for their patience and understanding while work progresses to determine the best options for the future," a V/Line spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, monthly statistics reveal a slight reduction in performance on the Ballarat line throughout October as more travellers take to the rail network since the gradual lifting of restrictions have come into place.

In October reliability on the Ballarat line was 95.9 per cent - falling just short of the 96 per cent target for the first time since February this year.

V/Line said reliability was largely impacted by a network-wide communications fault on October 17, which resulted in no trains being able to operate on the network for most of the day.

Of the 1653 services scheduled on the Ballarat line in October, 68 were unable to run as scheduled.

For the month, 95.7 per cent of Ballarat line services arrived and departed within five minutes and 59 seconds of timetabled times, exceeding the 92 per cent target.

"In recent weeks following the easing of restrictions in regional areas, and now Melbourne, we've seen a slight increase in patronage, however this still remains much lower than normal," the spokesperson said.