By Ewen McRae
Victoria’s newest train station is set to welcome passengers in just over a month, with the official opening of Cobblebank station announced last week.
A major construction blitz in coming weeks will prepare the station for its first passengers on December 2. The station is the biggest component of the half-billion dollar upgrade to the Ballarat line and stations.
Work on 18 kilometres of duplicated track between Deer Park West and Melton has begun in preparation for the station’s opening.
Signalling upgrades and works at Ballan, Bacchus Marsh and Wendouree stations is also taking place.
Acting premier James Merlino said the Cobblebank station was an important step in delivering improved services for the growing region.
“The opening of Cobblebank station is a major milestone in delivering the Ballarat Line Upgrade,” Mr Merlino said.
“[It] will mean more frequent and reliable services for passengers in Melbourne’s growing western suburbs.”
The new station will bring with it a new timetable, including two extra peak services each day and new bus services for surrounding suburbs.
Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the construction was moving along on schedule.
“This construction blitz is the final push before opening Cobblebank station and means we’re well and truly on the way to delivering better services for passengers on the Ballarat line,” Ms Allan said.
New bus services will also start running from December 2, between Cobblebank station, the newly rebuilt Rockbank station and nearby Aintree, with services every 40 minutes.
Following completion of works on the Ballarat Line Upgrade at the end of the year, there will be a further commissioning and safety testing period to bring the remaining infrastructure online and enable more services to be introduced in 2020.
