Footscray residents from Railway Place and the surrounding streets have been working together since early April 2010.
2013
- Campaigning for improvements to Fordham Reserve and pedestrian/cyclist/car access within Footscray commenced!
2012
- Participation in regular Council and RRL meetings
- Met with Marsha Thompson, State Government and RRL members to discuss possible noise mitigation strategies for Footscray.
- Commented on the State government's draft noise policy.
- Met with representatives of the Maribyrnong-City work package alliance regarding the design of the rail flyover to be built on the Footscray side of the river.
- Communicated with Council and RRL regarding pedestrian safety concerns around Footscray station.
2011
- Corresponded with State and Federal government representatives and media about the RRL noise impact assessment report and air quality issues.
- During this period Fair Go For Footscray were dealing with the aftermath of having homes acquired by the RRL.
2010
14 April: Sent questions to the Department of Transport about the Regional Rail Link planning process.
26 April: Distributed a flyer to 200 households in our neighbourhood and spoke to 65 households. 95% of people actively support our campaign. Download the flyer in English and in Vietnamese.
1 May: Visited the Transport Hub on Irving Street, Footscray, where Department of Transport staff could not answer any questions.
5 May: Sent letters like this to the following political representatives, asking them to meet us to discuss impacts of the Regional Rail Link:
- the Victorian Minister for Transport, Martin Pakula
- the Victorian Minister for Planning, Justin Madden
- all six other state and federal elected representatives for the region
- all seven of our local councillors
13 May: Met with Marsha Thomson, member for Footscray, who visited the neighbourhood to hear our concerns and promised to raise our case with the Minister for Transport.
20 May: Met with Nicola Roxon, federal representative in the lower house. Provided her with details of our campaign and possible route options.
10 June: Conducted our own analysis of a key possible route for Regional Rail Link through Footscray - the Bunbury Street tunnel. Railway Place residents in the media on Jon Faine 774, Channel 7, 9 and 10 evening news, the three local papers and the Age.
15 June: Met with Colleen Hartland, local Upper House member for the Greens, who offered to raise the issue during Parliamentary Question Time.
17 June: Received a rejection of our Freedom of Information request from the Department of Transport and released a media release to share our disappointment.
21 June: Met with City of Maribyrnong Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Acting CEO who told us they are not willing to make public their views on the Regional Rail Link and its likely impacts on the ratepayers of Footscray.
24 June: Attended a sitting of the Upper House, where Colleen Hartland MLC questioned the Minister for Transport, Martin Pakula, on the lack of transparent planning around Regional Rail Link. We were directly assured by Martin Pakula that an announcement on the Regional Rail Link will be made within weeks.
In September 2010 the State government announced the final alignment of the RRL; 78 properties were acquired (residential and business). In Footscray, most of these properties were located on Buckley Street (on the other side of the station to Railway Place). Properties on Railway Place were not acquired.