Max Hatzoglou
Former Brimbank Mayor John Hedditch has called on the state government to provide further information about the additional platform at Sunshine Station following last week’s joint announcement leaving community groups and experts with more questions than answers.
Hedditch, who is a part of the Victoria Transport Action Group and Greater Sunshine Community Alliance, said the new platform was good news however it is not clear what is actually proposed and this remains a concern for the community.
“The new regional platform for Bendigo travellers sounds really good but we don’t know how the station will be configured to make it happen,” Hedditch said.
“The press release came out saying Sunshine is being supercharged and all the rest of it but no one really knows what that actually means.
“What we’re trying to do is get some plans, concept drawing or images of what it looks like and how it might all end up at Sunshine because at the moment we are in the dark.
“Even the most experienced rail people are confused.”
One of the major concerns is the state government’s reluctance to build a new standard gauge platform connecting the north eastern community from the Albury – Wodonga line to Sunshine Station giving all country Victoria travellers the same connectivity opportunities.
The new standard gauge platform connection would give north east travellers the ability to connect to not only the Airport Rail line but other regional services in Victoria such as Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo and new Metro Tunnel services for commuter to get to their health, education and business appointments at Parkville and Monash.
“Under current plans the people from the north east of Victoria will come down the line and go straight past Sunshine into the city to Southern Cross Station and then will have to try and find their way all around the place, when they could get off at Sunshine and connect to Airport Rail, Metro rail services, and to all the other regional rail options without all the hassle” he said.
“Sunshine Superhub is being set up to be able to connect rural and regional travellers with both Melbourne’s CBD and suburbs and their country cousins but the state government for some reason is really anti putting a standard gauge platform in for the North East Victorian community to use.”
“What we’re saying is that there are two platforms needed, one for the Bendigo travellers and another standard gauge one for the north east community as well.
“There are still gaps in the Sunshine Superhub planning that need to be fixed.
Hedditch said communication between community groups is underway to propose the plan to the state government.
“There’s also some conversations going on between the Greater Sunshine Community Alliance group who are establishing links with the Border Action Rail Group up in Albury – Wodonga to work together to make sure this much needed platform for the north east people gets up.”
Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan said the new regional platform would help connect most regional train lines but did not mention a new rail connection for north east travellers between Sunshine and Melbourne Airport.
“When we committed to delivering an Airport Rail link, the Andrews Labor government was determined that it would be a rail link that would have benefits for most Victorians,” Ms Allan said.
Allan went on to say “Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat [are] all coming to this station,” leaving the possibility of connecting the north east line at Sunshine to the airport unannounced.
Federal Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts Paul Fletcher also made no mention of this link. He said, “the project will also help better connect regional centres such as Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo with Melbourne Airport via the Sunshine station.”
