Hurstbridge line overhaul if Labor wins election says Daniel Andrews
MORNING peak trains on the congested Hurstbridge line will run more often under a state Labor pre-election pledge to overhaul it, Premier Daniel Andrews has announced.
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MORNING peak trains on the congested Hurstbridge line will run more often under a state Labor pre-election pledge to overhaul it, Premier Daniel Andrews has announced.
STATE Labor has promised to overhaul the line so morning peak trains can run more frequently, if it wins the November election.
Premier Dan Andrews said after a $530 million upgrade morning peak trains could run every six and a half minutes at Greensborough and every 10 minutes at Eltham and Montmorency.
Greensborough station would be rebuilt, and 3km of track duplicated between Greensborough and Montmorency plus 1.5km between Diamond Creek and Wattle Glen.
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Mr Andrews said it would also allow morning peak trains to run every 20 minutes from Hurstbridge, Diamond Creek and Wattle Glen.
There would also be two extra Hurstbridge express services.
The project will create more than 950 jobs, with construction to start in 2020 and finish by 2022.
Eltham State Labor MP Vicki Ward said the line will finally have frequent services that are “expected and needed in a 21st century city”.
Mr Andrews said only Labor would deliver the next stage of the Hurstbridge line Upgrade with a new Greensborough Station and more trains, more often.
But it will not duplicate the section, about 200m long, over the Eltham trestle bridge.
Mr Andrews dismissed claims this would create a bottleneck and said the duplications would act as “overtaking lanes”.
“The hard work has been done to ensure that the new track, the upgraded track can be put in place without having to bulldoze the footy club, without having to bulldoze the childcare centre and without having to leave the historic trestle bridge to rot,” Mr Andrews said.
“This is a comprehensive, well-planned program to see communities right throughout the north get the public transport they fundamentally deserve.
“This is not half costed and half baked, it is instead the product of careful, expert work.”
Upgrading the Hurstbridge line and the future of the trestle bridge are shaping as key issues for Eltham — a marginal seat — ahead of November’s election.
The State Opposition announced in April that it would dedicate more than $300 million to duplicate the line between Greensborough and Eltham.
It promised to add a second bridge next to trestle bridge.
The single-track trestle bridge is Melbourne’s last remaining timber bridge on the electronic train network.
Shadow public transport minister David Davis said Mr Andrews and Ms Ward have been “too focused covering up Labor’s rorting” to address the transport crisis in the North East.
Liberal candidate for Eltham Nick McGowan hit back at the government’s suggestion that his party’s promises were under cooked.
“Locals have waited 40 years for duplication and now Labor has turned its back on this key marginal seat,” he said.
“Labor are so desperate they are now lying by saying we will let the trestle bridge rot when we have committed to not only retain but protect it.”
The state election will be held on Saturday, November 24.
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