Feature Image: c. 1900-1906 photograph looking east towards Ballarat Railway Station. Source: State Library of Victoria

V/Line has applied to Heritage Victoria, seeking to replace, relocate and decommission elements of the replica heritage swing gates at the Ballarat Railway Station level crossing on Lydiard Street. The plans seek to retain the originally temporary boom gates that were installed while a permanent solution for the damaged swing gates was investigated. The National Trust has objected to the application, maintaining that reconstruction/reinstatement of the swing gates in their original location and in working order, is the only outcome that will achieve the ongoing conservation of one of the state’s most significant railway precincts and satisfy community sentiment.

The Ballarat Railway Complex was classified on the National Trust Register at the State level in 1958, making it one of the earliest places classified by the National Trust in Victoria.  

Since the incident of a train derailing due to brake failure and crashing into the Lydiard Street replica swing gates on 30 May 2020, the National Trust has been actively campaigning for their reinstatement in active use. On 29 April 2021, we wrote a letter to The Hon. Ben Carroll, Minister for Public Transport which conveyed our concerns regarding the proposal to replace the existing gates with temporary boom gates.  

On 10 August 2021, we made a submission to Heritage Victoria regarding the permit application for temporary storage of the Lydiard Street replica heritage gates. We did not object to the permit, but submitted that the removal of the gates would adversely impact on the Ballarat Railway Complex as a whole, as was noted in the Heritage Impact Statement by Lovell Chen, July 2021:  “the removal and storage of the sector gates and the original cast iron posts, will reduce the completeness of the station complex thereby affecting the significance of the registered place.” 

The resulting permit allowed for the temporary removal and storage of the replica heritage gates with conditions that an options paper assessing the feasibility of returning the level crossing to its earlier operational form with the timber sector gates in active use be provided to Heritage Victoria. It was also stipulated that this document “should demonstrate that community consultation has formed part of its preparation.” 

In March 2023 the National Trust made a submission to the Lydiard Street Level Crossing Engagement for which the resulting survey did not provide an opportunity to make focused comment on options for reinstatement of the replica heritage gates. Instead, only two “supported options” were available for feedback from the community, neither of which involved replacement of the gates in active use.  

The National Trust was concerned to find that community consultation had been conducted after V/Line came to a decision on its “supported options”. As community consultation was not conducted prior to the selection of the five options assessed, the opportunity for community views and consultation to meaningfully impact the assessment of options reported on had been removed. Additionally, the community consultation for the Lydiard Street Level Crossing Engagement did not provide an opportunity to view or comment on the Options Assessment Report or the heritage consultant review as was required by the 2021 permit. 

While arguments provided by V-Line against re-instating the replica heritage gates indicated safety risks highlighted due to the V/Line passenger train crashing through the gates in 2020, it was noted in that “the heritage gates were not at fault in that instance”.  

We also found the argument that “Reinstating the replica heritage swing gates in a functional capacity is not the safest possible solution for this crossing and therefore it is not being considered further”, to be an over-simplified assessment for not considering their reinstatement. 

In addition, we believe arguments provided against re-instating the replica heritage gates due to impacts on the transport network are insufficient, as these issues had not been raised in all the time the gates had been in operation (prior to their removal after the derailment and damage of the gates) despite the Ballarat Railway Complex having operated with swing gates in place since the 1800s. 

Read our full submission here.