Andrews admits Metro upgrades to outer west at least six years away

Booming suburbs in Melbourne’s outer west will wait at least another six years before work gets underway to deliver the Metro train services promised by the Andrews government four years ago.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday pledged $650 million to improve V/Line train services to Melton by rebuilding its station and extending platforms at Bacchus Marsh, Cobblebank, Rockbank, Caroline Springs, Deer Park and Ardeer stations.

Booming suburbs along the Melton and Wyndham lines are still serviced by V/Line trains.Credit: Eddie Jim

Andrews, who also confirmed he would – if re-elected next month – remain as premier for the full four-year term, said the work will allow nine-car VLocity trains to run through the rapidly growing area, carrying 50 per cent more passengers.

Four level crossings will also be removed along the Ballarat train line at Coburns, Exford and Ferris roads in Melton and Hopkins Road in Truganina by 2028.

But the premier could not say when train lines to Melton and Wyndham Vale, also in the outer west, will be electrified and served by Metro trains, which was part of the government’s Western Rail Plan announced a month before his 2018 landslide election victory.

“We promised to undertake a massive transformation of rail services throughout the west and that has to be done in stages,” Andrews said.

“The alternative, of course, is to shut the whole system down for an undefined period. You’ve got to do this in stages, you’ve got to do it in a logical, sequential way.”

Andrews said the Geelong Fast Rail project and the work he announced on Thursday needed to be completed before electrification, and that would take until 2028.

The government’s 2018 announcement said the entire Western Rail Plan was “expected to take around a decade to complete”.

The plan said electrification was the “next step” in building Victoria’s future rail network and would “give Melbourne’s growing suburbs frequent high-capacity services on the metro network, and return regional rail lines to regional passenger”.

Premier Daniel Andrews and his deputy, Jacinta Allan.Credit: Andrew Henshaw

David Pascoe lives a short distance from Cobblebank station and said he was happy using the current V/Line service to commute to his CBD office a few times a week. But trains only ran every hour on weekends, he said, and demand was only growing.

“Even with longer trains, once an hour isn’t enough,” Pascoe said. “[The area] is going to need more stations – as you look out the window, you can see all the developments.”

The mayors of Melton and Wyndham told The Age last month they feared electrification plans had been put on ice, while their communities experienced some of the fastest population growth in the country.

On Sunday, Labor also promised $200 million to build a new station on the Wyndham Vale line at Tarneit West, plan for another at Truganina and upgrade the existing Albion station.

The announcement comes as the Andrews government faces stiff competition in the outer western seat of Melton, held by Steve McGhie, and which had long been considered safe Labor territory. Labor has earmarked Melton as a ‘target’ seat under threat of falling to either an Independent or the Liberals

Quizzed by reporters about his future on Thursday, Andrews said he would “absolutely” stay on as premier for the full four-year term if Labor wins the election on November 26.

“That’s my expectation, that I’m there for as long as the community and my colleagues want me,” he said.

‘No one believes a thing that guy says.’

Matthew Guy, Opposition Leader

“I serve at the pleasure of the Victorian community and my colleagues. I’ve got lots of stuff to build, lots of reform to make and a lot of things to get on with.”

The 50-year-old fractured his spine and broke several ribs when he slipped and fell in the Mornington Peninsula in March last year.

He was off work for almost three months as he recovered from his injuries, with former deputy James Merlino serving as acting premier.

Merlino will retire at the next election and Andrews said he did not intend to hand over the reins to new deputy Jacinta Allan in the next term.

“I didn’t come back to head off,” he said. “I came back to keep working hard and that’s why we’re running again.”

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy cast doubt on the premier’s commitment.

“No one believes a thing that guy says,” he told reporters. “The person standing next to him, Jacinta Allan – she’ll be the premier halfway through the term if he’s re-elected.”

If Labor wins the November 26 poll and Andrews serves the full four years, he will have been Victorian premier for almost 12 years – the second-longest serving premier behind Liberal icon Henry Bolte.

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With AAP