A plan to transform Ballarat's rail link with Melbourne has been thrown into doubt after reports that two proposed new rail lines in Melbourne's west have been scrapped.
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Under a $100 million 2018 election promise, the state government proposed to explore building two new metropolitan train lines, to Melton and Wyndham Vale, as part of the broader Western Rail Plan.
Once built the proposed lines would be separated from the Ballarat and Geelong V/Line trains, which currently share the same line with metro trains into the city, requiring regional trains to stop and slow down at each station.
In a story published by The Age on Wednesday, the newspaper obtained freedom of information documents from Rail Projects Victoria suggesting the plans for the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines were not going ahead.
The documents state "the provision of metropolitan services is highly likely to involve electrification on the existing RRL (Regional Rail Link) corridor through Sunshine Station."
Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan called The Age's story "incorrect" and said the documents obtained by the newspaper were internal planning documents which were not reflective of government policy.
The deputy premier was unable to give an exact date on when the Melton line would be electrified, and said electrification would come as a "sequence of investments" on rail in the west.
"I think this has been promised for so long, politically it is a disaster."
- Nick Beale.
Investments referenced included the removal of all level crossings in Melton, and the Melbourne Airport Rail link.
Questions have been raised about where any changes to the Western Rail Plan leaves commuters west of Sunshine station, with regional rail advocates holding hopes an extra track remains on the table for the Ballarat line.
Former Committee for Ballarat chair and rail advocate Nick Beale said he was "disappointed" by the news, and said duplication of the lines was crucial for running a fast and efficient service.
"The quadruplication between Melton and Sunshine, it doesn't address overcrowding, but it decreases the travelling time of every single train by about 15 minutes," Mr Beale said.
"It is about two minutes between stations, where you have to slow down, stop, pick up and get back to your 100km/h.
"That is a huge difference, when you compare how long it takes to get in by car. Everybody wants us to have a green economy, yet we are still encouraging cars. This at a principle level is wrong, it should be trains.
"I think this has been promised for so long, politically it is a disaster."
Public Transport Users Association Ballarat convener Ben Lever said the decision to electrify the existing Regional Rail Link was not surprising when considered alongside the Melbourne Airport Rail project.
Mr Lever expressed concerns about the timeline of any potential future electrification projects, which could be dragged out before any proper analysis of system constraints could be achieved.
"If they were going to do this electrification of Regional Rail Link within the next couple of years, we could look at the capacity constraints after that and provide further upgrades in subsequent years.
We are talking 2028 before any of this would start which is much too late.
- Ben Lever.
"Even doing this seems to be too far away. We are talking 2028 before any of this would start which is much too late.
"From my perspective, doing something as soon as possible is the really key priority, and we can look at further upgrades beyond that."
Mr Lever said he hoped more could be done in the short-to-medium term to remedy issues on train lines in the west of the state.
"They need to figure out a solution, maybe that means build extra tracks there, but it might just mean upgrading the signaling on the rail link so it can run more trains per hour," Mr Lever said.
"It would be relatively cheaper and get us a few more trains out of it, buy us a bit of time before we have to build something more expensive.
"The western side of Melbourne has been neglected a little bit in this process. We think projects like the West Gate Tunnel, which has blown out massively in costs, or the North East Link.
"These big expensive road projects that will make traffic worse by inducing more people to drive, these are the things that the government should be cancelling if they are wanting to make room in the budget for public transport in Melbourne's west."
Further information on the $100 million Western Rail Plan has been sought from the state government.
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