The state government has been accused of ignoring the needs of public transport users in the western suburbs after announcing it will spend up to $2.5 billion upgrading 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 and will 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.
Werribee’s deadly Cherry Street level crossing was ranked 13th in a 2008 report into the state’s most dangerous level crossings.
In 2012, it was the site of three accidents in 13 days, including one fatality. Last year, train drivers voted it as one of the most dangerous crossings in Victoria.
Commuter and Greens candidate for the Tarneit electorate, Rohan Waring, travels from Wyndham to the eastern suburbs for work. He said the government should improve capacity on the Werribee line by building a metro rail tunnel.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Post a comment below
Latest figures from Public Transport Victoria reveal the line is the second-most- overcrowded in Melbourne.
There has been no increase in the number of peak services on the line since October 2010.
Mr Waring wants Wyndham’s level crossings removed to reduce congestion on the city’s roads and to allow buses to run more frequently.
“The fact the state government has focused yet again on the eastern suburbs is a disgrace,’’ he said. ‘‘There needs to be a systematic process to remove all level crossings. The conflict between trains and cars is one of the biggest transport problems we have.”
Opposition public transport spokeswoman Jill Hennessy said it was clear the project was “a desperate election- eve stunt”. Ms Hennessy said Labor, if elected in November, would remove the 50 worst level crossings.
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 public transport 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 singleminded devotion to the east-west link.” Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder’s spokeswoman said the government had invested in major transport projects, such as the Regional Rail Link, to cater for population growth in the western suburbs.
“A new station recently opened at Williams Landing, and Regional Rail Link will build new stations for Tarneit and Wyndham Vale, connecting these growing communities to the rail network for the first time,” she said.
