Engineering, Passenger Rail

Works added to Ballarat Line upgrades project

Wendeouree Station is to be upgraded as part of the $551.7 million Ballarat Line project, the government has announced, following the award of the project contract this week to a Lendlease, Coleman Rail and SMEC consortium.

The station is to receive a second platform and new tracks, enabling trains to pass each other at Wendouree for the first time, and thus eliminating the need to terminate delayed services at Ballarat and force passengers heading to Wendouree on to buses.

Also included in the upgrade works will be a new accessible pedestrian link between the new and existing platform, and upgrades to security, lighting and signage.

Further additional Ballarat Line upgrades just announced include the construction of a new station at Toolern and the installation of an extra three kilometres of track between Bacchus Marsh station and Rowsley Station Road in Maddingley, which will enable faster transfers of trains to and from the nearby stability facilities, and, according to the government, eliminate the need to duplicate track at Warrenheip.

“We’re getting things done, delivering more frequent, reliable services to people travelling to Ballarat and beyond,” state transport minister Jacinta Allan said.

“These upgrades will make a huge difference to people in Wendouree and right along the line, boosting services and reducing delays.

Early works for the Ballarat Line Upgrade project began in October this year at Hopkins Road in Rockbank in preparation for duplication works for 18 kilometres of track between Deer Park West and Melton.

The project, once complete, will reportedly enable extra morning and afternoon services, plus a train every 40 minutes in the off-peak period, on stops on the line between Ballarat and Melbourne. It is also expected to help pave the wave for the future electrification of the line to Melton.

Extensive track duplication and construction works will begin next year, with the project expected to be complete by late 2019.

2 Comments

  1. How is duplicating the track from Bacchus Marsh to Rowsley stabling yard going to eliminate the need to duplicate Warrenheip? The Rowsley duplication is only for Bacchus Marsh trains going into storage/service, while the Warrenheip duplication is for a frequent Ballarat train schedule being able to easily cross paths by halving the Millbrook loop-Ballarat section. Eventually Warrenheip duplication will have to be done and just as eventually, the entire Ballarat line will need to be duplicated.

  2. I agree it does seem odd that the Warrenheip duplication has been canned. Apart from that hiccup, I believe that to date the reconstruction of the Ballarat line between Melbourne and Ballarat is one of the most positive and successful events in modern Victorian rail history. Does anyone remember the painfully slow trips back home to Ballarat from Melbourne in drafty BPL carriages in the VR days? What a vast improvement!
    Not so for the poor old Wodonga/Albury line. Passengers to Wodonga now suffer a journey 40 minutes longer to get home than what they did on Victoria’s then fastest train, (The Albury Express) in 1975.
    In 2018, passengers taking the journey from Korumburra to Melbourne, slightly closer to Melbourne than is Ballarat (and since 1994 relegated to buses), pay the same fare as Ballarat-Melbourne passengers yet are stuck in the bus for two and a half hours. In that context the Ballarat line looks very fortunate indeed.