Geelong-Melbourne public transport plan: Train is number one with a bullet

YOUR commute could be about to get a lot faster with a proposal for high-speed rail connecting Geelong and Melbourne in just 17 minutes gaining Federal Government interest.

MegaRail is yet to determine how the proposal for a single high-speed rail line running trains at 350km/h will be funded.

A PROPOSAL in its infancy for high-speed rail connecting Geelong and Melbourne in 17 minutes has gained Federal Government interest.

The group behind the proposal — also connecting Melbourne and Dandenong — say the service could attract 24,000 passenger trips per hour in peak periods and is billing it as a congestion buster.

But MegaRail is yet to determine how the proposal for a single high-speed rail line running trains at 350km/h will be funded.

Project lead and former Victorian Department of Transport project manager Jeff Moran said 16-car trains on the future train line are proposed to accommodate expected demand.

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“The project is not fully developed and assumes use of the existing rail corridor. There’s a lot of work to be done.

“In concept this stacks up but it needs to be refined before anyone will spend money on it,” Mr Moran said.

The MegaRail group made up of engineering academics, transport consultants and rail experts will put its proposal to Federal Government next month, and hopes to gain a share of $20 million to develop a business case for the project.

The group was established after the Federal Government set aside money to investigate rail improvements between capital cities and regional centres in the May budget.

Trips on the Geelong line made up about 44 per cent of those taken across the ­regional network last year and patronage on the line has risen 95.7 per cent between 2012 and June 30 this year.

More than 680,000 passenger trips were recorded on the Geelong line in September.

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According to the Federal Government’s faster rail prospectus released in September,

train speeds of “up to 100 to 160km/h are potentially achievable” if existing rail lines can be upgraded.

“While the benefits of high speed rail are easy to visualise, what is not always well

understood is that our existing regional rail services run at well below the speeds and frequencies that conventional rail can achieve,” the report said.

Public Transport Users Association Geelong convener Paul Westcott said the project seemed “optimistic” at this stage.

“There are a lot of questions that need to be answered before this can go ahead. It seems impossible to fit in high-speed tracks in built-up metropolitan areas.”

Last month V/Line boss James Pinder admitted for the first time nine-carriage trains on the Geelong line are a possibility.

But while Mr Pinder said the train carrying about 660 passengers was possible, he said it was not a current priority.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics Melbourne’s population is projected to rise to at least 7.6 million in 2061 and Geelong’s population is tipped to reach more than 320,000 in 2036.

Originally published as Geelong-Melbourne public transport plan: Train is number one with a bullet