 | This article needs to beupdated. The reason given is: the plan has been reworked with there no longer being separation between Regional Rail Link and metropolitan electrified services. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2023) |
| Western Rail Plan | |
|---|---|
 A schematic diagram of the Western Rail Plan. The blue dotted lines represent the planned electrifications | |
| Overview | |
| Status | High speed rail cancelled |
| Website | Official website |
TheWestern Rail Plan is a proposed metropolitan rail infrastructure project inMelbourne, Australia. The project was initially announced during the2018 Victorian state election by the State Government. It includes the electrification of two currently existing regional lines toMelton andWyndham Vale, and other network capacity upgrades.[1]
The electrification to Melton is part of Stage 3 of thePTV Network Development Plan.[2] Staging of the works component of the plan are being developed alongside the business case for theMelbourne Airport Rail Link.
In 2023, in the wake of the abandonment of the Geelong Fast Rail proposal, the Victorian Government denied reports that theWestern Rail project had been cancelled, saying instead that it was a "work in progress". The plan now is for suburban trains to run on the same tracks as theRegional Rail Link, instead of segregating them.[3][4][5]
The Western Rail Plan was announced by theAndrews Labor government just over a month before the 2018 state election, and was one of a number of rail projects promised during the election campaign. One aspect of the plan, high-speed rail to Geelong, had been proposed by theVictorian Liberal Party on 3 October 2018, about two weeks before the Andrews Government revealed its Western Rail Plan.[6]
Plans for electrification were originally revealed byPublic Transport Victoria in the 2012Network Development Plan, which suggested that the line to Melton should be electrified within the next 15 years.[7] Wyndham Vale electrification was Stage 4, which meant the project would be undertaken within 20 years. However, in the revised plan, it was added to stage 3.
Six local governments along themain western rail line, theBrimbank,Melton,Moorabool,Ballarat,Ararat andPyrenees councils, initiated a campaign for the electrification toMelton in May 2018, around six months before the 2018 state election. Along with electrification, they called for 12 peak-hour electric trains from Melton, and off-peak services every 20 minutes by 2026, as well as 10-car trains and trains every 10 minutes in non-peak times by 2030.[8] A publication by theCity of Brimbank warned that if those measures were not taken, there would be chronic overcrowding.[9]
Planning for electrification to Melton and Wyndham Vale started in mid-2021 and was scheduled to be completed by mid-2023.[10]
Part of the line betweenMelton andDeer Park was duplicated during theRegional Rail Revival Project, and provision was made for future electrification and an increase in services.[11] Electrification to Melton would potentially triple the carrying capacity of the line, and allow up to 1500 people to travel on a single train.[12]
As part of the electrification, the Melton line would be quadruplicated, to allow the separation of regional and metropolitan services. Two level crossings located inDeer Park would be removed to facilitate running trains at a higher frequency.[13][14][15] There were plans for a station atMount Atkinson, as well as a station serving the Paynes Road precinct.[16][17]
The line to Wyndham Vale, which is part of the line to Geelong, was originally built under theRegional Rail Link project, and included including two new stations,Wyndham Vale andTarneit, which were opened on 21 June 2015.[18] Since the opening of those stations there has been patronage growth of 131%.[19] During construction of the Regional Rail Link, provision was made for other stations atTruganina, Tarneit West (Sayers Road), Davis Road and Black Forest Road.[20] As with the Melton electrification scheme, quadruplication of the line was proposed, to separate regional and metropolitan services. A rail link between Wyndham Vale andWerribee was also part of the project, with the potential for that link to become part of theSuburban Rail Loop. Prior to the2022 Victorian state election, theAndrews Labor Government announced that Tarneit West would be built and that planning works for Truganina would begin.[21]
The Geelong Fast Rail project was a proposal for high-speed rail to Geelong, via the direct Werribee-Geelong route, which had been by-passed by theRegional Rail Link,[22] as part of which, the line toGeelong viaWyndham Vale andTarneit was constructed.
The proposal envisaged more frequent and reliable regional services, with dedicated rolling stock capable of speeds of around 250–300 km/h (155–186 mph), far greater than anything operating in Victoria, along with a new transport superhub atSunshine to facilitate better integration of regional and suburban rail services. It was claimed that the high-speed service would entail a 32-minute journey between Geelong and Melbourne, although how that precise target had been arrived at was never explained.[23]
Daniel Bowen, spokesman for thePublic Transport Users Association, said the high-speed train project would boost regional development and relieve overcrowding and delays on city-bound trains from the west. The Andrews government gave $50 million to develop a business case, and theMorrison federal Coalition government promised to provide $2 billion for the project, provided the state government matched that investment.[24]
In November 2020, the state government agreed to match the funding, and both governments announced Stage 1 of Geelong Fast Rail. The works would include:[25][26]
Construction of the first stage Geelong Fast Rail was expected to begin in 2023,[25] and was to be built in conjunction with a Geelong line upgrade, as part of theRegional Rail Revival program.[26] In November 2023, theAlbanese government announced that federal funding for the Geelong Fast Rail project would be cut, which led to the project being cancelled.
The primary aim of the Western Rail Plan is to deal with the significant passenger demand on the growing western corridor, which had been expanding exponentially over the previous decade. That particularly followed the completion of the Regional Rail Link, which provided a route into the central Melbourne for passengers from the growing outer western suburbs, such as Tarneit and Wyndham Vale, who had previously had little or no public transport. The project aims to solve that problem by electrifying the lines to Melton and Wyndham Vale to take pressure off crowded regional trains, along with a high-speed rail service to Geelong cutting down travel times between Geelong and the Melbourne CBD. The project was welcomed by local councils along the affected lines,[27] as well as public transport advocates, such as the Rail Futures Institute[28] and thePublic Transport Users Association.[29]
However, the project was criticised for its lengthy timelines, with some saying the projected 2032 completion date was too far into the future.[30] Geelong and Wyndham councils were concerned that they would be under-served if new suburban services had share tracks with trains on the proposedMelbourne Airport rail link.[31] There was also concern that rapidly expanding housing developments inBacchus Marsh were not be included in the electrification proposals.[32] The president of the Rail Futures Institute, John Hearsch, said electrification beyond Melton would be necessary to properly serve the growing populations of Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh.[33]
