By Sarah Krieg
Regional centres are hopeful that the establishment of an airport train will open up the possibility of high-speed rail to their towns.
This comes as Premier Daniel Andrews said that Ballarat and Geelong would be big winners from the plans, as it will unlock the possibility of high-speed rail links to the towns.
The Andrews government pledged $5 billion to the train connection between the airport and Melbourne’s CBD, matching the federal government’s funding promise.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pledged funding to the project in April, saying that the SkyBus takes too long, and journey times would only increase as congestion gets worse.
The proposed link will run through Sunshine station, a metro and regional transport hub.
Plans for the railway line will see the station expanded, and will connect the airport train to V/Line services.
While detailed plans for the link are not expected to be completed until 2019-20, CEO of the Committee for Ballarat, Melanie Robertson, cannot wait for the work to begin.
“We’re thrilled with the announcement, we’ve done quite a lot of advocacy work around ensuring that an airport link was accessible for all Victorians, and not just a metro link,” Ms Robertson said.
“It will involve the electrification of the line between Sunshine and Melton, so all the outer growth suburbs of Melbourne will be accessible by Metro services.”
“We will actually have a dedicated regional rail line to our area.”
“The benefits aren’t just for the airport link, they’ll mean an upgrade of the rail system to our region.”
“It all adds to part of the story about faster, more reliable train services to regional areas.”
(Featured image: Ballarat station hopes to see faster, more reliable services following the state government’s pledge to construct an airport link train. Photo: Sarah Krieg)
