The Ballarat line is the biggest winner of a $1.42-billion cash injection into Victoria’s ageing regional rail network.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced last week the funding for track duplications, extra services and new stations along nine V/Line services.
The Ballarat line will benefit from $555.5 million due to be funnelled into the Melbourne Metro Rail Authority’s (MMRA) upgrade to the line, scheduled to begin in early 2018. A spokeswoman from state Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan’s office declined to comment on whether the work would expedite the electrification of the line to Melton.
The state government has previously said the upgrades to the Ballarat line and the Metro Tunnel were prerequisites to its eventual electrification of the Melton line, which is part of long-term plans for Melbourne’s rail system.
“We’re building the infrastructure that will give commuters in Ballarat, Melton and Melbourne’s west more trains, more often,” the spokeswoman said.
The Ballarat line upgrade will duplicate 18 kilometres of track between Deer Park West and Melton, upgrade Rockbank station and build a new four-kilometre passing loop near Millbrook that will make it possible to remove five level crossings. MMRA is now conducting geotechnical, ecological and noise investigations. The project is due to be completed in late 2019.
