Rail experts are calling on the state and federal governments to ensure electrification of the Melton line is ready to go in a decade as Melbourne’s west continues to burst at the seams.
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On Tuesday Premier Daniel Andrews put the issue of western suburbs public transport growth on the table while announcing the consortium for the $518 million upgrade to the Ballarat line.
Among the funded upgrades will be the duplication of track between Deer Park and Melton, which the Premier trumpeted as “paving the way for future electrification to Melton”.
Melbourne Metro chief executive Evan Tattersall, whose organisation is in charge of the line upgrade, described the investment between Deer Park and Melton as “future proofing” for electrification, because “population growth is enormous (in the western suburbs) and extending electrification services out to places like that in the future are very likely”.
However, neither major party is yet to even put a timeline on the need for electrification, let alone pledge the funding.
While the issue has been in the public consciousness for more than a decade, its development is currently hindered by the completion of the Melbourne Metro project, which will free up significant space within the city loop. The giant project will remove the Cranbourne/Pakenham and Sunbury lines from the existing city loop, which will open it up for addition suburban services.
The almost $11 billion project is not expected to be completed until 2026, pushing any further western addition to the suburban train network beyond a decade.
Both Infrastructure Victoria and Australia have listed the project as a priority, with the national body specifying earlier this year it would hope to see the development within the next 10 years.
The calls come as both Spring Street and Canberra battle with the rapid growth of Melbourne, in particular in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Population growth in the corridor between Bacchus Marsh and Melton is expected to charge ahead at a rate of 3.9 per cent each year until 2031, the second higher growth rate in greater Melbourne.
Audit data from Infrastructure Australia shows demand on the Melton line is expected to grow to three times its current capacity in the coming 14 years.
Dr John Stone from Melbourne University’s Architecture, Building and Planning Department said while the government’s recent spending was an acknowledgment of the imminent problems population growth presented, it was playing catch-up for past funding shortfalls.
“Looking at that western suburbs growth and all the increases in capacity on the books at the moment, Melton electrification being one of them, all of those things are not anywhere near going to keep pace with pop growth,” Dr Stone said.
“We do need to think about how we accelerate that growth of public transport and the announcement of this expenditure (on the Ballarat line) is a recognition of how these problems are already upon us.”
While both major parties have so far shied away from setting a date for Melton electrification, in 2016 the Victorian Greens called for a commitment from the Andrews Government.
Advocacy groups such as Committee for Ballarat have also consistently highlighted the need for the development, which will take a large chunk of passengers off the Ballarat V/Line service.
The last electrification project to Sunbury cost the state government $270 million in 2008.
Ballarat Public Transport Users Association convener Ben Lever said providing a dedicated Melton suburban service would provide huge benefits to Ballarat commuters. “It’s really important because Ballarat commuters do like to have express services but we can’t have too many because it makes the line unusable.”
Melton answer by year’s end
he state government will develop a five-year infrastructure plan in response to Infrastructure Victoria’s 30-year strategy by the end of the year, which will include an answer to the Melton electrification dilemma.
The state planning body recommended the line to Melton be electrified in the next 10-15 years in its 2016 strategy in order to cope with the unprecedented population growth in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
So far neither the state government or opposition or the federal government have pledged to funding the electrification.
Acting Public Transport Minister Jaala Pulford said the imminent Ballarat line upgrade “will increase the reliability of services for Melbourne's west and pave the way for extra services and the future electrification of the line to Melton”.
The $518 million upgrade will deliver 18 kilometres of duplicated track between Deer Park and Melton, allowing for more services to Melbourne’s expansion corridor.
