Major parties on track to promise more than $90 billion in rail upgrades ahead of election

MORE than $90 billion worth of rail upgrades have been pledged by Victoria’s political parties — and there’s more to come. LIST: Compare what the major parties have promised so far.

MORE than $90 billion worth of rail upgrades have been pledged by Victoria’s political parties — and there’s more to come.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy visited Geelong and Ballarat on Wednesday to spruik his $19 billion plan to bring 200kmh trains to regional cities.
As revealed by the Herald Sun, the ambitious promise would see train travel times slashed to 32 minutes on some services between Geelong and Melbourne.

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But the Andrews Government said voters could not trust the opposition’s promise, given it had failed to deliver on projects like Doncaster rail when last in power.

Questions have been raised about how quickly 35km of metropolitan tracks between Sunshine and Wyndham Vale could be replaced, in order to speed up trains to Geelong and reach the travel times promised by Mr Guy.

But the Opposition Leader said the program would be delivered if he wins the election, and that Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had expressed interest in contributing to the scheme.

This would help reduce the state cost of the proposal, which comes on top of tens of billions of other rail infrastructure promises made by the major parties.

Once Labor’s promise to kickstart a $50 billion suburban rail loop if re-elected is included, there is more than $90 billion of projects on the table.

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Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, with Liberal candidates Brian McKiterick and Andrew Katos, at Geelong Train station. Picture: Alison Wynd

Premier Daniel Andrews said Mr Guy’s plans were “irrelevant” to his agenda and regional rail lines were already being upgraded — through a $1.75 billion partnership with the Commonwealth.

He also suggested the rail spendathon wasn’t over yet, even though Labor has a long list of ongoing projects.
“We will add to that list, both in terms of regional rail and many other projects, between now and November 24,” he said.

Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said if the election was a referendum on infrastructure delivery and agendas then “bring it on”.

Premier Daniel Andrews dismissed the opposition’s rail announcement. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith

Ms Allan said the lack of detail in Mr Guy’s plan meant it was already “unravelling before our eyes”.

Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Adrian Dwyer said the project was a “bold agenda” but said we should be “cautious about how quickly trains can be on the tracks”.

“Attention will need to turn to the detailed planning and funding arrangements for the regional rail network plan,” Mr Dwyer said.

Infrastructure Victoria was not consulted on the Opposition’s plan but said in a statement that its role was to advise on projects at the request of the “government of the day”.

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