The secret rail plan to tackle ‘crush' hour in Melbourne's north and west
A secret government report warns passengers will face 'crush' conditions at train stations across Melbourne's fast-growing northern and western suburbs without an urgent overhaul of the rail system.
The ambitious blueprint, which supports electrification of the Melton and Wyndham lines and extending the Upfield line, forecasts that without any action within the next five to 10 years, dozens of commuters will be left stranded on platforms every time a train comes.
But the plan – which was the catalyst for the state and federal governments' $4 billion revamp of Sunshine Station – poses financial and political challenges for the cash-strapped Allan government.
The price tag for the works is estimated to be comparable to the $34.5 billion first stage of the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). The report also refers to a proposal that would require people travelling from Ballarat to switch trains to go to the city.
It raises sensitive political choices for a government committed to the SRL and wary of upsetting regional Victoria, but also under pressure to deliver on plans for the west first proposed in 2018.
The urgency of the plan, which seeks to make public transport in Melbourne's west and north comparable to services long-enjoyed by commuters in more established parts of the city, is revealed in a letter written by Victoria's most senior transport bureaucrat and obtained by this masthead under freedom of information laws.
'The report's key finding is that due to significant population growth in the north and west of Melbourne – more than twice the population of Canberra is forecast to move into this region in the next 15 years – there is an urgent need to begin detailed development of rail capacity-boosting projects in the north and west,' then Department of Transport secretary Paul Younis wrote in a letter to his Commonwealth counterpart a year ago.
While the Albanese and Allan governments refused to release the plan to this masthead under freedom of information laws, a dozen industry and government sources, including some of the document's contributing authors, confirmed its existence.
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