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No level crossings between Caulfield and Dandenong.

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Cranbourne-Pakenham line commuters have been spared the pain of replacement bus services to access Melbourne, with giant cranes set to install massive sections of elevated track while trains travel as usual underneath. The cranes, weighing 230 tonnes each, will begin work near Murrumbeena station next month for what the government describes as an engineering first for Victoria.

The Murrumbeena and Carnegie station car parks will be closed from August until 2018, when the project is due for completion. Five elevated stations will be built on the controversial "sky rail" section of the Cranbourne-Pakenham line.

Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters that using the cranes would allow the railway line to continue operating.

Once the project is complete there will be no level crossings between Caulfield and Dandenong on the Cranbourne-Pakenham line.

The Murrumbeena station site is being used as a staging ground but Mr Andrews said there would be replacement car parking.

He said it was not feasible to use replacement buses so the line would not be closing while works were undertaken.

This will mean that passengers on the Cranbourne-Pakenham line will not face lengthy disruptions and replacement bus services as is happening on the Frankston line.

Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said it was also not an option to run trains underground on the sections of Cranbourne-Pakenham line to remove the level crossings.

She said there would be "significant improvements" to open space once the project was completed.

Opposition planning spokesman David Davis said the sky rail project did not have "proper planning behind it". Mr Davis said sky rail had influenced voters in some parts of the Chisholm electorate, where counting currently has the Liberal candidate ahead in what has been a Labor seat. However, Mr Andrews denied sky rail had resulted in a swing against Labor in Chisholm.

Other station car parks that will close partially include Noble Park, Clayton and Hughesdale.

The Andrews government has promised to remove 50 level crossings around Melbourne over two terms of government. Boom gates have already been removed at several railway stations including Bentleigh, McKinnon and Ormond.