Bryce Eishold
Labor candidate for Morwell Mark Richards says he was “just waiting for a train” as he walked into Traralgon Railway Station on Friday moments before the Coalition proposed an $8 million plan to tackle Gippsland’s rail woes.
Mr Richards was greeted outside the station by Nationals leader Peter Walsh, MPs Melina Bath and Danny O’Brien and candidate for Morwell Sheridan Bond in what Labor said was a pure coincidence.
The Coalition was in town to announce it would fund an $8 million business case for a dedicated line to improve reliability and punctuality on the region’s troubled rail service if it wins November’s state election.
In front of media, Mr O’Brien extended his arm and shook Mr Richard’s hand and said “g’day Mark, are you here for the announcement too?”
The two-year business case would assess the most effective way to reduce delays on the Gippsland line, which could involve acquisition of land along the metropolitan section of the line if new infrastructure is built.
In June, Ms Bond said the party was considering a tunnel between Melbourne and Pakenham or a dedicated line separate to the existing track.
Mr Walsh accused the government of having a “city-centric” approach and said the rushed and ill-conceived sky rail infrastructure had constrained potential future development options for Gippsland.
He said “all options were on the table” when asked whether a new line would be funded by private investment.
“The study will identify how we actually get that dedicated line into Melbourne,” Mr Walsh.
Mr Walsh said sky rail had prevented future planning for the Gippsland line, however, stated the business study would identify future access routes into Melbourne from Gippsland.
But Labor member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing disagreed and said the Coalition’s political promise was lacking detail and understanding.
“We know that the corridor between Oakleigh and the city is extremely narrow and the Nationals claim that sky rail has constrained a future line is wrong,” Ms Shing said.
“In fact, a trenched-based solution on this line rather than the elevated rail would have actually made adding an extra line even more expensive. The only other proposal that the Nationals have come up with is a rail tunnel that would cost in excess of $40 billion.”
