It may be ten years away and Governments might fly from any fraught utterances of such long term commitment but this milestone goal is so important to a future Ballarat it should be talked about now. The seemingly insignificant preliminary works announced this week may be only the first step in a much wider project to duplicate the line out to Melton and install passing loops but they are a vital part of a bigger infrastructure picture - without which banked-up trains might get slower not faster. The Government has not been shy about spruiking the largest investment in the line for a century but those who love the service and see how important it is for a thriving future Ballarat know it is only the beginning. What is important is these first steps are happening. Without that critical duplication to Melton the even more desirable quadruplicaton, allowing for two completely separate electrified lines to Melton and even more freedom for Ballarat trains, would not be possible.

But there is another catch in this big picture and it comes, according to rail authorities, from the interdependence of the metro and regional systems and most critically when all these added trains come rushing into the Melbourne CBD. The sub-hour trip was possible ten years ago, why not now?  The reality of unprecedented growth in the use of public transport growth in Melbourne has affected the ability to deliver better services in Ballarat. 

The Melbourne Metro Rail authority advocates the best solution to the clogged city loop is to build a layered system similar to highly effective European models.  The thinking goes that to add electrified services to Melton, (a game-changer for Ballarat expresses) this central heart must be freed up first and that takes the massive new Metro tunnel.  But the project is big, expensive and will take optimistically almost a decade to complete. Many might argue this is simply too long to wait but if it is really worth doing, it will be even more important to a growing Ballarat in 2025 than it is now.

Moreover if that seems a long way off for commuters, in planning and construction terms it isn’t. So the work on preparing and locking in the electrification to Melton and even the duplication to Bacchus Marsh should be thought about now.