Below Rail Infrastructure, Engineering, Passenger Rail

Andrews targets marginal seats in Hurstbridge plan

Daniel Andrews has vowed to spend more than half a billion dollars duplicating 4.5 kilometres of the Hurstbridge Line in Melbourne’s north-east, but will not duplicate certain sections it views as unnecessary.

With a state election looming on November 24, Andrews on August 1 announced a $530 million plan to build a new train station at Greensborough, and duplicate sections of track, in order to provide more capacity for passengers during peak times.

Stage 1 of the Hurstbridge Line Upgrade is now complete, with 1.5 kilometres of track duplicated between Heidelberg and Rosanna stations, leaving just 15-kilometres of single track on the line, between Greensborough and Hurstbridge stations.

Labor’s plan will rebuild Greensborough station, duplicate 3 kilometres of track between Greensborough and Montmorency, and duplicate 1.5 kilometres of track between Diamond Creek and Wattle Glen. It will leave 8 kilometres of track between Montmorency and Diamond Creek as single track.

In contrast, the Liberals have said they will duplicate 6.7 kilometres of track between Greensborough and Eltham, rebuild Montmorency station, and build more parking at Greensborough, Montmorency and Eltham, at a cost of $307 million.

Both plans will duplicate track between Greensborough and Montmorency. Only the Liberals will duplicate track from Montmorency to Eltham. Only Labor will duplicate track between Diamond Creek and Wattle Glen. And the plans have different ideas of which station needs rebuilding.

The voters will be left to decide which plan is better, and the marginal seats of Eltham and Yan Yean – currently both held by Labor – hang in the balance.

“Only Labor will deliver the next stage of the Hurstbridge Line Upgrade with a new Greensborough Station and more trains, more often,” Andrews said.

Labor’s pitch to duplicate track between Diamond Creek and Wattle Glen appears targeted at winning re-election in Yan Yean, where that track is situated.

The Liberal Party has accused Labor of placing votes ahead of what is actually needed on the line.

“It’s a very sad day for Eltham,” Liberal candidate for Eltham Nick McGowan told the ABC. McGowan said the Government’s plan was not a true duplication, and would create a bottleneck between Montmorency and Eltham.

“What the Labor Party is promising to create here is the bottleneck of the future,” he said. “For commuters, sadly, what this really means is more congestion on our roads and more delays.”

Labor has talked down the Opposition’s bottleneck claims, duplication of that section of track will not be necessary under the current capacity forecasts.

The Labor plan instead includes “protecting” the historic trestle bridge that makes up part of the single track between Eltham and Montmorency.

“The former Liberal Government promised new train lines but didn’t deliver a single kilometre of track,” public transport minister Jacinta Allan said. “Now they’re promising a half-baked upgrade of the Hurstbridge line with rubbery figures that don’t add up.”

Member for Eltham Vicki Ward, who received fewer first preference votes than the Liberal candidate in 2014 but won the two-party-preferred vote with a 52.7% majority, said Labor’s plan would deliver on one of her long-term goals.

“As a fifteen year old hopping on Red Rattlers at Eltham I wanted to do something to make the Hurstbridge line better,” Ward said.

“It’s taken me a few decades but finally our line will offer the frequency of services that are expected and needed in a 21st century city.”