Concrete is being poured for a new platform at Ballan, and a passing loop is under construction at Millbrook, as work on the Ballarat Line Upgrade continues.
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The new passing loop will mean the closure of the old loop, which stretches through historic stations at Bungaree and Gordon, but will save time for passengers and allow for easier timetabling.
The Public Transport Users Association’s Ben Lever said it was good to see the work progressing near Warrenheip, as the Bungaree loop was notorious for slowing trains down - it's about four kilometres longer than the new route to the south, which produces inconsistent travel times.
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“If you go direct or loop it’s different, so it maintains the ability for trains to pass each other, and go faster,” he explained.
“What they’ve said is when it’s finished, they'll be able to take trains more frequently - maybe 20 minutes at peak and 40 off-peak - right now it’s roughly every hour or 30 or 40 minutes, so it’ll be a big step forward in that sense.”
The line was shut down for a construction blitz at the beginning of February, but Mr Lever said it was good to see V/Line providing more accurate information regarding replacement buses.
"They’ve been putting specific timetables out for the buses, rather than being vague with when they'll be departing - it’s been good to see that communicated more clearly," he said.
The $500 million project also includes a second passing loop at Ballan, as well as an expanded Bacchus Marsh station and new stations closer to Melton.
The goal is to increase capacity on the line, in response to the population boom in the region.
New housing estates on the edge of the city are pushing westward, and some are promising train stations already - the separately-funded Cobblebank station, for example, will help take the pressure off the busy Melton station.
Mr Lever reiterated calls for future-proofing the line by electrifying it to at least Melton - this would prevent metropolitan trains slowing down V/Line trains, and open up the potential for high speed rail.
“They should be (quadruplicating) the line from Sunshine to Deer Park, that way the Ballarat trains and Melton trains can very much be separated from each other,” he said.
"Down the line, there’s some difficult sections that go over gorges and would need big bridges, but there’s some tracks on flat farmland and there’s some low hanging fruit that could be duplicated in the next round of updates."
Current works are expected to be finished by 2020.
Rail Projects Victoria and V/Line were contacted for comment.
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