Source: http://www.ffrr.footscray.org/latest-news/ministerguytoissueearplugstofootscrayresidents
Timestamp: 2013-05-24 07:56:27
Document Index: 678724780

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 5', 'art 6', 'art 7']

Minister Guy to issue ear plugs to Footscray residents? - Fair-go for Footscray Rail Residents
posted Apr 8, 2012, 3:59 PM by Site Editor
An article in today's Age reveals that noise levels for the Deer Park to Werribee section of the RRL will exceed acceptable levels, prompting the Planning minister to instruct the RRL project team to find a way to reduce the noise. This is a sensible outcome, but we in the Footscray section are left wondering why the Minister has shown no such interest in solving the same problem in Footscray; even though this section will carry far more trains and is far more densely populated.As mentioned in the Age article, an advisory committee report into Stage Two of the $5.3 billion regional rail link was uploaded, without an announcement, onto the website of the Department of Planning and Community Development late on Thursday, on the eve of the Easter break. The report, prepared for presentation to the Minister for Planning, recommends maximum noise limits of 60db on average for the Deer Park to Werribee section, which is well below the noise levels predicted for Footscray.
The Minister for Planning, Mr Guy, responded last week by directing the Regional Rail Link Authority directing to come up with a new noise mitigation plan by March next year. For the residents of Footscray, it looks like we'll be lucky if Mr Guy issues us with ear plugs.The current government is no better than the last in the way they treat Footscray residents as second-class citizens. Is this because Footscray is a safe Labor seat, whereas the suburbs in RRL Section Two are swinging seats? Advisory Committee Report - Part 1 (PDF - 875 KB)Advisory Committee Report - Part 2 (PDF - 796 KB)Advisory Committee Report - Part 3 (PDF - 1.2 MB)Advisory Committee Report - Part 4 (PDF - 1.9 MB)Advisory Committee Report - Part 5 (PDF - 197 KB)Advisory Committee Report - Part 6 (PDF - 927 KB)Advisory Committee Report - Part 7 (PDF - 397 KB)
Minister's Directions for Operational Noise Response (PDF - 1.2 MB)Minister's Directions for Construction Noise Response (PDF - 365 KB)
THE authority in charge of building a major rail line through Melbourne's west has been ordered to come up with a new plan to cut noise levels after experts found that thousands living near the line
would be condemned to excessive noise from high-speed trains.
It found that noise mitigation plans for the 30-kilometre stretch of track through existing and planned suburbs between Deer Park and Werribee's west, were ''extremely limited and … an
inadequate response to the anticipated levels of noise''.
''While already there is some limited housing abutting the project area … it is proposed that, within a few decades, along perhaps half of its length, there will be thousands more nearby dwellings,'' it said.
''Without significant mitigation measures being adopted along the project area boundary, much of this housing will experience unacceptably high levels of train noise.''
The report by four government-appointed planning experts was given to Planning Minister Matthew Guy in January. Last week he wrote to the Regional Rail Link Authority directing it to come up with a
new plan by March next year.
The report's authors said their findings had implications for the start of the railway's construction and that the state would have to pay the cost of cutting noise, such as building barriers and cuttings.
Mr Guy was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a government spokesman blamed the previous state government for the planning failure, which is set to add further cost to a project that has
already blown out by about $1 billion.
Former planning minister Justin Madden spared the regional rail link from an environmental effects statement on the condition that a satisfactory noise mitigation plan was put in place. But the opposition said that as the Coalition went ahead with the project it had inherited it must make sure to lessen the impact of noise.
The report predicts that the promised rail link to Avalon airport will also use the regional rail link and so contribute to the high noise levels, as will an expected increase in V/Line trains that are expected to travel at up to 160km/h along the line. It found the Regional Rail Link Authority's noise mitigation plan did not take into account future increases in V/Line patronage.
When completed in 2016 the regional rail link will separate Geelong and Ballarat trains from metro lines, reducing rail congestion in the western suburbs.
Regional Rail Link spokesman Simon Breer said the panel's
report would not delay the project's completion, because the authority would write a new noise mitigation plan during construction.
''The minister has determined that the authority can respond to the requirements in two parts. This will enable construction works to proceed while post-completion operational noise management is being finalised,'' Mr Breer said.http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/cut-the-noise-planners-for-new-railway-are-ordered-20120406-1wh5l.html