Rail trip to take extra 15 minutes

Alex de Vos
State Government’s new $4 billion regional rail link could add 15 minutes to train journeys from Geelong to Melbourne, a public transport users group has warned.
Geelong Public Transport Users Association’s Paul Westcott slammed the rail link proposal, which would divert trains through Tarneit instead of Werribee.
Mr Westcott said the group had sought advice from an “experienced rail engineer” who calculated the new link would include an additional 15 kilometres of track.
“This will add an extra 15 minutes to the journey,” Mr Westcott said.
“Even if it’s an express train, it’s still going to take an extra 10 minutes.”
Mr Westcott said the Government had failed to reveal how much time it would take travellers to travel from Geelong to Southern Cross station despite carrying out “apparent modelling”.
“We’re not sure whether the regional rail link’s longer trip times stack up against the promise of more-reliable services,” he said.
“We don’t know anything. How is the line going to be configured? How many trains will stop at Tarneit?
“There’s just no transparency.
“If the Department of Transport has done modelling on the question, why hasn’t it been publicly released?”
Mr Westcott said the Transport Minister had admitted earlier this year that the journey would be “no faster” and could add “seconds” to the trip time.
“But what exactly does that mean?” Mr Westcott asked.
“That could mean anything.”
However, a Victorian Government spokesman said journey times for Geelong trains would remain unchanged “at this stage”.
“Regional rail link will see the creation of dedicated V/Line tracks from Sunshine into Southern Cross Station,” the spokesman said.
“This means that for the first time Geelong trains will not have to share tracks with suburban train services.
“Reducing the congestion on the tracks means Geelong trains will run more reliably and will not be affected if there are disruptions, for example, on the Werribee line, which is the case now.”
New V/Line figures released earlier this week revealed the Geelong line failed to meet punctuality targets for the first six months of this year, consistently running at least six minutes late.
Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said passengers “had been paying more and receiving less”.
He accused the Government of slowing the trains to improve V/Line’s punctuality performance.
“From Sunday, July 19, Minister Lyn Kosky was slowing a net 40 trains a week on the Geelong and Marshall line,” Mr Mulder said.
“Labor’s regional fast rail blew its budget by $839 million and was meant to mean faster trains but now every timetable change results in slower trains for V/Line’s 12 million annual travellers.”