Underground rail to service new suburbs

Jessica Benton
AN UNDERGROUND rail service will link a new residential growth area at Armstrong Creek with Geelong and the Surf Coast, according to a councillor.
Rod Macdonald said planners had already set aside a reserve area for the underground service.
Cr Macdonald, who holds an economic development portfolio on City of Greater Geelong council, said the link would form a “north-south transit corridor” linking the city with Torquay.
The City hopes to begin opening up the Armstrong Creek area, from Grovedale, Marshall and Waurn Ponds to Mount Duneed, to new residents next year. The area has enough land for around 60,000 residents.
“At the moment there’s a lot of planning around sustainability for Armstrong Creek. As part of that planning it’s important to have provision for major public transport networks to these growth areas,” Cr Macdonald said.
“One of these provisions is a rail link into Armstong Creek and there is planning for an underground link through the centre of Armstrong Creek.
“We need to start focussing on talking about the proposed population of 500,000 people in the south-west region and this is one of the major steps in doing so.”
Cr Macdonald said an underground service would avoid “issues” with the locations of pipe and power lines as well as established residential and commercial areas.
He expected the underground system to be up and running in the next 20 years.
“The potential link from Armstrong Creek through to the Surf Coast is years ahead but it’s important we have these provisions in place as the population grows,” Cr Macdonald said.
“I believe it won’t be too far away. It might be in the next 20 years but that will soon approach.”
Cr Macdonald said the City would promote the underground rail link in a submission to a State Government discussion paper on planning for regional Victoria over the next decade.