Darren Goldman arrives at the Rail Cafe about 5.40am most weekdays, ready to give his early bird caffeine-addict clients their first fix of the morning.
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“I have people waiting for me when I get here,” he said, laughing. “I get out of the car and get ambushed.”
The barista steps inside the small, stand-alone wooden box, adjacent to the city-bound platform of Murrumbeena Station, and often doesn’t step out again until after lunch.
Business ramps up as the morning progresses and the Dandenong line trains come and go. Mr Goodman has made as many as 60 coffees in a single hour - one per minute.
And once Metro staff leave the station he becomes a kind of de facto rail employee, offering everything from directions to change for Myki top-ups.
“I like this little outside social area - it has great street exposure,” he said. “Labourers pop in. Passers-by with prams and dogs say hello. Even drive-by traffic stops. It’s a beautiful view with 100-year-old trees.”
But it is also a view that he may have to relinquish following the release of initial concept plans for the redesign of the station.
The level crossing at Murrumbeena Road, consistently named by RACV congestion surveys as one of the worst in Melbourne, needs to be removed.
The exact physical shape of the redesign would seem a trifling matter - as long as it keeps cars moving - but the blueprint is no small consideration for Mr Goldman.
He was busy serving customers last week when the design was unveiled, featuring a new station building, new bicycle park, new forecourt - but no Rail Cafe.
“I’ve been told my lease will be renewed next June into 2016 - but from the concept plan it looks like this is going to be demolished,” he said. “There might be a cafe on the platform or inside the new building. But no guarantees, and nothing in writing.”
Mr Goldman bought his little coffee stand in 2010 after stints working for various catering companies and coffee shops.
He was looking for a small business, and found a profitable one with low overheads close to home. That livelihood is now threatened.
The development is one part of an overall Dandenong line upgrade (including similar projects in Carnegie and Clayton) estimated to cost more than $2 billion.
Construction is due to start next year and be completed by 2019, including a point during which the line will be shut for up to six weeks.
When Premier Denis Napthine visited the station last week, he stopped in for a coffee (flat white, no sugar) and Goldman raised his concerns.
“And he said he had just come from Footscray station, where they saved the Olympic Doughnuts guy during that redevelopment. He said I should be fine, but we’ll see.”
Mr Goldman will attend one of the public consultations at the Carnegie Community Centre later this month, now that the long-awaited redevelopment plans are out.
“It looks like something is really going to happen now, and it’s getting more serious,” he said. “I’m definitely worried.”
konrad.marshall@fairfaxmedia.com.au
@KonradMarshall
