GENERATIONS of history - family and local - could be lost if heritage-listed homes at Footscray's Railway Place are bulldozed for a new rail link.
The street is home to a number of families that have lived there for generations, others who are busily renovating their heritage-listed cottages and those who are welcoming a new generation of residents into the world.
Last month, they were among residents at 49 addresses to receive letters from the Department of Transport notifying them of its "intention to enter" their properties to carry out soil, water and groundwater testing as part of the planning work for the $4.3billion Regional Rail Link.
The rail link needs 50 kilometres of new track from west of Werribee to Deer Park and along an existing rail corridor through Footscray to Southern Cross station.
Railway Place residents are campaigning to have the one-route option, widening the existing rail cutting behind Railway Place, taken off the table.
The other option is including a rail tunnel as part of a new road tunnel from the Port of Melbourne to West Footscray.
Using an existing goods tunnel under Bunbury Street and bridge across the Maribyrnong River is a third option but it is not being considered at this stage.
Irene Rodrigues has lived in the same house in Railway Place for about 30 years. Her daughter and grandchildren live next door.
"I don't want this because my kids grew up here, my grandkids grew up here. My husband loved this place; he passed away two years ago. Everybody loves this place. I just hope they don't go ahead, we don't want to move," she said.
Many of the houses were built between the 1880s and 1920s and are covered by heritage overlays.
Lindy Benwell and her husband, with twins now 15 months old, have completely restored their historic cottage from the ground up, adding a double-storey extension on the back. It took more than a year to get plans approved - any extensions must not be visible from the street and the front of house must retain its original character - and they had to move out for five months during the building work.
It was finished in November last year. Last month, they discovered they could lose the lot. Their house is close to the existing rail cutting and widening it by the proposed 25metres would mean demolishing the home.
"We're not opposed to public transport and by no means do we want to stop it, but we want to find an alternative to knocking down houses," Mrs Benwell said.
Residents say former industrial land earmarked for development on the opposite side of the cutting could be used for new tracks.
Transport Department spokesman Rob Mair said the project was in design phase and the department was unable to say where land acquisition would occur.
"A range of complex factors and options are being assessed with regard to the alignment through Footscray. Regional Rail Link recently held a series of 'open house' sessions at the Victorian Transport Plan Info Hub, designed to give residents a general overview of the project during the early stages," Mr Mair said. "Once more detailed information about the design of the project is available, we will be sharing it with the community through information sessions."
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