IT will be standing room only for Melbourne-bound commuters on the Ballarat line once the Regional Rail Link opens in 2015, according to a V/Line report.
Western Metropolitan Greens MP Colleen Hartland said a “damning” strategy document obtained under freedom of information called for the line to be duplicated and electrified from Melton to improve capacity and reliability.
The document described train services to Rockbank, Deer Park and Ardeer as “sparse and unattractive to users” and said the car parks at Deer Park and Melton must be expanded.
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“This area is the fastest-growing in Australia yet is only serviced by an infrequent country train,” Ms Hartland said. “Patronage on the Melton line is set to double by 2024; that’s less than 10 years from the opening of the Regional Rail Link.”
Melton’s new suburb of Toolern is forecast to have 60,000 people by 2030.
“If this report is anything to go by, there may not be a functioning public transport service for this huge community,” Ms Hartland said.
The report said peak-hour services for Melton and Bacchus Marsh were “well short” of being sufficient to cater for forecast demand.
The report said a second platform was needed at Bacchus Marsh and a crossing loop at Ballan to cope with disruption.
Patronage on the Ballarat line has increased 71 per cent in the past five years.
Bacchus Marsh commuter Emma Brelsford said she planned to start driving to work due to the poor train service.
“It’s not just the capacity that makes the Ballarat line shocking, but things like signal failures at Sunshine station make me late and surely that’s to do with ageing infrastructure,” she said. “They should have electrified the Melton line in the 1980s.”
Melton Labor MP Don Nardella called on the state government to duplicate the line and fund “desperately needed” upgrades.
“[Premier Ted] Baillieu scrapped the plans and funding to duplicate and electrify the rail line to Melton and to build the Toolern and Caroline Springs rail stations. This secret report highlights the serious consequences.”
