New train stations, tram extensions, rapid-fire buses: Here’s what Melbourne needs and where

Melbourne’s west urgently needs new train stations and an electrified Melton line, while the city’s tram lines should be extended and rapid bus routes built to run every five minutes, according to a plan to fill in the public transport system’s missing links.

Rail passengers on the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines will struggle to get a seat by the 2030s, even with the delivery of longer V/Line trains expected by 2028, according to modelling by Infrastructure Victoria as part of a draft 30-year strategy to be released on Tuesday.

The Western Freeway will be over-capacity in the next five to six years, and crowding on peak-hour Melton trains will increase by 50 per cent between 2031 and 2041, the report has found.

To prevent this, it recommends work to electrify the metropolitan rail out to Melton should begin by 2030, allowing for more frequent services for Melbourne’s rapidly growing west, where 860,000 people are expected to live by 2041, up from 450,000 in 2018.

This would also free up trains to improve the timetable on the Wyndham Vale line – including 10-minute services for stations such as Tarneit – as a first step towards electrifying these services.

Infrastructure Victoria found this would lead to 16,300 more train trips each day and 9000 fewer car journeys by 2041.

It recommended other public transport developments to further ease congestion.

The report says two additional tracks should be built on the Melton line between Sunshine and Caroline Springs, estimated at a cost of up to $5 billion, to allow for faster V/Line services, while two new stations should be built at Thornhill Park and Mount Atkinson.

On the Werribee line, a new station at Altona North was recommended – at a cost of up to $250 million – to bridge the longest gap between stops across Melbourne’s rail network.

“Our research shows that extending the Metro train line to Melton is needed urgently to meet rapidly growing demand,” Infrastructure Victoria chief executive Jonathan Spear said.

“It will reduce congestion on many roads and train lines in the west during morning peak hours.”

Rowena Joske and son Duncan, 10, near the old Paisley train station in Altona North.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Rowena Joske said that since Altona North’s Paisley railway station closed in 1985, it was like “living in a black hole” for public transport.

Joske, the secretary of Better West, a resident advocacy group for Altona North, South Kingsville and Spotswood, said a significant amount of industrial land had been rezoned for medium and high-density housing in the area. The population is expected to increase by 70 per cent over 20 years.

Joske wants more public transport options in the community, including the reopening of Paisley station.

“We are a very car-dependent area at the moment. We know that Altona North can’t handle this growth without more public transport,” she said.

Longer-term recommendations include altering the City Loop to boost services on the Craigieburn, Upfield and Frankston lines. This could be done by building three kilometres of new tunnel and separating two of the loop’s existing tunnels for these trains to create cross-city rail lines running from one end of Melbourne to another.

The strategy also says Victoria should plan for the extension of Metro train network to Kalkallo in Melbourne’s north and Clyde in the south-east to support growing suburbs.

Infrastructure Victoria has called on the government to start building eight tram extensions by 2030 to assist with the state’s goal of encouraging more housing in developed parts of Melbourne.

This includes extending routes around the CBD from Swanston Street to Kensington and from Spencer Street to Flemington Bridge. Another two routes would connect Southern Cross Station and the future Anzac Station to Fishermans Bend.

In middle-ring suburbs, Chadstone would be connected by tram for the first time via a route linking East Malvern and Hughesdale.

Other extensions would stretch from East Brighton to Moorabbin, Melville Road to Batman station in Coburg and Wattle Park to Burwood East.

The total cost of the tram line extensions is estimated at between $4 billion and $5.5 billion. The four middle-ring upgrades are expected to encourage 32,000 new homes in these areas and boost daily public transport trips by 17,500.

Another key plank of the body’s transport recommendations is to build a bus rapid transit network, which would include large buses running along dedicated lanes. It would offer high-frequency services every five minutes during peak hours and every 10 minutes at other times.

Infrastructure Victoria has called for five routes to be progressed by the early 2030s, including from Melton to Broadmeadows, Huntingdale to Upper Ferntree Gully and Endeavour Hills to Southland.

A busway along the Eastern Freeway should also be extended to Hoddle Street to prevent these services becoming gridlocked in the traffic bottleneck, the strategy says.

Each route could be delivered separately. The cost of the Eastern busway would be between $500 million and $1.4 billion, while the other routes range between $200 million and $900 million.

Spear said running buses more often delivered benefits similar to big road or rail projects at much lower cost, and the first five rapid transit routes and the Eastern Freeway would total up to $3.5 billion.

“Bus rapid transport routes in Melbourne could deliver at least $2.60 in benefits for every dollar spent,” he said.

Existing bus routes should also run more often, including earlier starts and later finishes, to help shift workers who now had no choice but to drive, the strategy said.

“Across all growth areas, almost 60 per cent of residents cannot reach a service that arrives at least every 20 minutes or better,” Spear said.

In its report, Infrastructure Victoria said that the high cost of materials and skill shortages were making new projects more difficult and expensive to deliver.

It said that with net debt set to top $150 billion this year, the Victorian government might need to limit future spending, requiring it to carefully restrict investment to deliver the most benefits.

Public Transport Users Association president Tony Morton said electrifying the rail line to Melton was a no-brainer, and backed the report’s focus on improved services and better use of existing road and rail.

“There’s a lot of mega-project fatigue at the moment, and there’s a real perception that the government is a bit overextended on big infrastructure projects like the North East Link,” he said.

“What we see from Infrastructure Victoria is when it comes to new initiatives, we ought to be taking a bit of a breath and just make sure that we’re actually sweating the assets that we’ve got and getting the most out of those.”

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