With rumours circulating about the potential delay or even scrapping of the Geelong Fast Rail project, Geelong organisations have begun voicing their concerns.
As recently as November last year, the state government was spruiking Geelong Fast Rail as part of its Big Build.
A release on the Big Build website stated construction was expected to begin in 2023 on the Werribee corridor that would reduce travel times between Geelong and Melbourne by up to 15 minutes.
However, reports this week have suggested budgetary constraints at both the state and federal level will see the project delayed, possibly indefinitely.
Geelong Region Alliance (G21) chief executive Giulia Baggio said the reports were “concerning”.
“If correct, this would be deeply frustrating for our region which is the fastest growing in Victoria and in desperate need of major public transport investment,” Ms Baggio said.
“Both federal and state governments are well aware the Geelong region has outgrown its transport network and the community is poorly served by public transport. Now is not the time to put our communities’ needs on the back burner.
“A new integrated transport strategy developed by G21 and our regional partners (soon to be released) identifies a number of rail and active transport projects that will need to be funded in the next five to ten years to avoid a massive increase in road congestion.
“We are attracting record numbers of young people and have a rare opportunity to turbo-charge our regional economy. We will not achieve that without a serious program of transport investment, which is already overdue.”
Committee for Geelong chief executive Michael Johnston said the committee was “awaiting clarity” on the future of the project, and that any delay would be “disappointing”.
“We would expect a commitment that the funding has not been lost and any delay to be kept to a minimum,” he said.
“Transport continues to be the major issue raised by our members, and the time has come for a coordinated approach to addressing this. Let’s release the plan and start delivering on the priority projects.”
Geelong mayor Trent Sullivan said council understood the budget pressures state and federal governments faced.
“Unfortunately, governments are having to make some very difficult decisions on planned projects,” Cr Sullivan said.
“Improved public transport, including better rail connections between Geelong and Melbourne, is important for supporting our region’s growth.
“We’ll continue to advocate for our community and work with the state and federal governments to deliver positive outcomes.”
Corio MP Richard Marles, Corangamite MP Libby Coker and Geelong MP Christine Couzens were contacted for comment.
