The state government has been accused of ignoring the needs of public transport users in the west after announcing it will spend up to $2.5 billion transforming train lines in the eastern suburbs.
The new rail project will increase peak-hour services on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines to 18 trains each hour, boosting capacity by 30 per cent. It will also allow high-capacity signalling to be installed on the line and fund the removal of four level crossings at Murrumbeena, Carnegie and Clayton.
Commuters and the opposition have slammed the government for prioritising level crossing removals in the eastern suburbs.
A 2008 report into the state’s most dangerous level crossings ranked St Albans’ Main and Furlong roads crossings ahead of any of the crossings slated for removal in
the east.
Opposition public transport spokeswoman Jill Hennessy said it was clear the project was “a desperate election-eve stunt”.
“We have seen next to nothing from the Napthine government on public transport over the past three years … Victorians have heard all this before.” Ms Hennessy said Labor, if elected in November, would remove the 50 worst level crossings, including those at Main and Furlong roads.
Public Transport Users Association president Tony Morton said the rail project would have no benefit to the western suburbs and it confirmed that the government lacked the money to invest in network-wide improvements while it remained committed to building the east-west link.
“It is a shame the improvements are entirely confined to the south-east of Melbourne, and a sign the government is handicapped by its single-minded devotion to the east-west link.
“If [the government] has the best interests of Victorians at heart, it will cancel this mad scheme to dump more cars in the city and roll out more of these measures across our train, tram and bus network.’’
Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder’s spokeswoman said the government had invested in major transport projects, such as Regional Rail Link, to cater for population growth in the western suburbs.
“The Regional Rail Link project recently removed one of the level crossings on Anderson Road in Sunshine, with work progressing well to remove another level crossing by mid-2014.
“The Main Road, St Albans, level crossing has also been identified as a priority project for grade separation.”
