Hansard debates

Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO (Northern Metropolitan) (10:19): I move:

That this house:

(1) notes that the Upfield train line has 4 kilometres of single track between Gowrie and Upfield stations, meaning that only one train can run at a time;

(2) further notes that:

(a) the Age recently:

(i) referred to the Upfield line as ‘Melbourne’s most infuriating train line’, with people often waiting 20 minutes or more for a train to arrive;

(ii) reported the Victorian Labor government had scrapped plans to build a turnback at Gowrie station as part of the Metro Tunnel project;

(b) the Victorian Labor government has recently announced two new activity centres along the Upfield line, but has announced no corresponding increase to services; and

(3) requires the Leader of the Government, in accordance with standing order 10.01, to table in the Council, within three weeks of the house agreeing to this resolution, all documents relating to the findings of the Upfield, Somerton and Wallan service enhancement planning feasibility study that was financially completed in the fourth quarter of 2017–18.

The 2016–17 Victorian state budget allocated $5 million to plan for infrastructure upgrades between Upfield and Somerton to support new services to Wallan. I understand this feasibility study was to include investigation and planning for track duplication for the Upfield rail line, but the results of the study have not been publicly made available, and my constituents have written to the government asking for these reports, only to be brushed aside.

Track duplication is the best option to improve services on the Upfield line and would benefit residents and communities all along the line. The recent federal election saw both Liberal and Labor committing millions of dollars to further studying and planning for possible upgrades to the Upfield line. It is good to know the idea has bipartisan support, but there is a risk that the new federal study will just duplicate the work of the state study and kick the can down the road for a few more years to avoid real investment. We need duplicated tracks, not duplicated studies. When it comes to public transport options, the Northern Metro community does deserve better, and this includes the thousands of new community members we will be welcoming in the government’s soon-to-be-built activity centres in Brunswick and Coburg.

The Upfield Transport Alliance, a key local advocacy group, are calling on the government to take meaningful action to improve public transport in the north, including keeping the government’s previous commitment for a 70 per cent increase in capacity on the Upfield line when the Metro Tunnel opens; duplicating the Upfield line between Gowrie and Upfield stations and extending this duplicated line to Craigieburn, which will relieve capacity on trains using the Broadmeadows line; prioritising the electrification and extension of the suburban rail network to Wallan; and ensuring a 10-minute service on the Upfield line before the new activity centres open so that everyone in our community can turn up and go anywhere they need to go.

This is important work that the state Labor government should be continuing to prioritise, and it starts with releasing the documents from the feasibility study conducted between 2016 and 2018. I urge the government to release these documents without delay.