It's been in the planning phase for some time - I was interested to see the protest movement against the new line sprung seemingly from nowhere (or perhaps with some help from the Liberal opposition?).
Methinks Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has been dumping some dynamic lifter on the 'grass roots' movement that seems to have emerged - it's certainly got the right stench.
Funny how Mr Skyscraper seems to have developed a sudden allergy to concrete rising out of the ground.
This stretch of railway line has been a running sore for more than a decade and at least Andrews is now trying to do something about it. Napthine et al had four years of twiddling their thumbs and now they have the temerity to speak out against it? What's their alternative plan?
Napthine's plan was much more palatable for the Dandenong corridor and actually had a proper funding process attached to it. There's no real funding for much of Labor's current crossing plans & construction of current ones were all Liberal projects with the exception of Bentleigh & McKinnon.
Now, plenty of left-leaning teenagers here supporting this project.
A little history lesson. Bracks tried to excite the voters over 11 years ago with plans to quadruplicate the Dandenong line. So, Labor had their chance for 11 years to do something. Did nothing at all. Murrumbeena has been a nightmare for well over 15 years.
Hong Lim (member of Clayton, Labor) said there wasn't any need to remove Clayton Road level crossing over the years, despite significant outrage not only by the public, traders but also emergency services who are always held up there heading to Monash or other areas north of the crossing.
Skyrail has only been considered now as Andrews has no money left. The community wasn't even consulted either, so you can expect this project to be significantly delayed & very unlikely to be completed by 2018. Without consultation and due process, you can't call these people "NIMBYs". In fact, one major issue is shading and loss of sunlight including solar panels rendered useless, so off your high horses.