Call for Bendigo line airport diversion

The Rail Future’s Institute’s honourary secretary Bill Russell said the government should be reserving land and planning for the project as a matter of urgency.

“It’s a project that’ll take eight to 10 years to bear fruit but we believe the government should be looking at the need to make the reservations and develop the plan because it really needs to be the next project after the the completion of Melbourne Metro in 2026,” he said.

“Because the lead time for these projects is so long, the time for taking heed of the warning signs is now.”

Mr Russell said “booming growth” in the western suburbs of Melbourne meant the Regional Rail Link, which services Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong and now carries 17 trains per hour between Southern Cross and Sunshine, was close to reaching capacity.

“Eventually the Bendigo line needs to be diverted through the airport with a branch coming off at Clarkefield so the first step for that is to create a new pair of tracks going to the airport from Sunshine,” he said.

“That would carry the airport shuttle between Tullamarine and the city but it would also carry the Bendigo train and mean that wouldn’t be delayed by suburban trains between Sunbury and Sunshine.”

Mr Russell said it was only a matter of time before overcrowding issues currently being experienced on the Geelong line found their way to the central Victorian corridor.

“It’s upon us in the next two or three years really because we are so close to capacity and obviously there are a number of short-term fixes that will need to be implemented in the next several years,” he said.

“At the moment the Geelong people are bearing the brunt rather than the Bendigo people because the Geelong people’s train service is now slower than it was in 1958 because it’s doing such a huge job of work.”

Public Transport Users Association regional spokesman Paul Westcott backed the idea as a “creative solution” to overcrowding on the line in the “medium to long term”.

“If there was an agreed route for the airport line it probably would have been built already but the problem is there hasn’t really been an agreed route or the route that’s been suggested is a bit indirect,” he said.

“So this is a creative way of overcoming that by ensuring that this line to the airport becomes not just a dead-end track at the airport but is linked in with the rest of the system at the airport end.

“It not only allows for the airport rail to be built but unlike a stand-alone line it would allow for increased capacity and more flexibility for Bendigo line trains so it’s certainly well worth being considered.”

Mr Russell stressed his comments were not a criticism of the Regional Rail Link, which he said had been a “great success”, but it was being overwhelmed by the pace of growth on the lines.

“We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with the regional rail link as a concept or implementation at all, we’re just saying it’s drawn immense patronage in a very short time,” he said.

“If we didn’t have it we’d be in complete chaos but now we’ve got it we have to go to the next stage.”

Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said Public Transport Victoria’s Network Development Plan proposed for future airport services to run from the city via Sunshine, enabling passengers to transfer to the Bendigo line.

“We're building the project that makes the rail line to the airport possible – the Metro Tunnel,” she said.

“The Metro Tunnel creates space to run more services to the suburbs and regions, and paves the way for expansion of the network to the airport and elsewhere.”