Rail Futures Institute

07/09/2025

Fishermans Bend development stalled without high quality Public Transport

Part of the solution to Victoria’s housing crisis lies in developing urban renewal areas like Fishermans Bend. With space for 80,000 residents and 80,000 jobs by 2050, it could be a city-shaping precinct – but only if the promised public transport is delivered.
From the outset, planning for Fishermans Bend relied on early tram extensions and, later, Melbourne Metro 2 to connect new communities with the CBD and beyond. Yet government inaction has stalled this vision, undermining investor confidence and delaying desperately needed housing and jobs.
The University of Melbourne’s recent suspension of its $2 billion advanced manufacturing, design and engineering campus sends a clear warning: without public transport, development will not proceed. The university bluntly noted it must “align with the timing of key government and industry investments” – a none-too-subtle call for public transport first.
The evidence is clear here and overseas: high-quality public transport in the right locations attracts private investment worth many times the initial government spend.
The Rail Futures Institute has long advocated for:
• Two tram routes into Fishermans Bend, via a new Yarra River crossing from Collins Street West.
• Melbourne Metro 2, a transformative cross-city rail link connecting the outer west and north with the CBD and Fishermans Bend.
The first stage of Metro 2 would run from a new Docklands station under Bourke Street West, cross under the Yarra to Sandridge Station, then continue to a major Fishermans Bend underground station on the former GMH site – a vital tunnelling hub for the broader project.
“Without trams and a commitment to progress Metro 2, Fishermans Bend will remain a planning exercise, not a community,” said John Hearsch OAM, President of the Rail Futures Institute. “Public transport must come first if we’re serious about tackling the housing crisis.”

ENDS.

15/09/2024

Once more, we have the Victorian government deliberately downgrading the quality of longer distance Inter City train services. What are claimed in the media release (see below) as improvements to longer distance services are actually service quality reductions!

More recent VLocity train sets numbered 81 and higher have rock hard seats which are most uncomfortable for other than short outer metropolitan trips. The last loco hauled Inter City train set with First Class reclining seats and on-board catering has now been removed from the evening service to and morning service from Bairnsdale. Pity the poor passengers arriving into Bairnsdale on V/Line long distance coaches from Canberra and the Sapphire Coast to connect with trains to Melbourne. Not a thing to eat or drink for another 4 hours.

VLocity trains have limited space for luggage, the previous luggage check-in service has been abandoned and bicycles are only allowed on board at the Conductor’s discretion. Additionally, instead of taking advantage of higher permitted speeds for VLocity trains west of Traralgon (160 instead of 115 km/h) which would have shaved around 12 minutes off all trips for travellers beyond Traralgon, six extra stops are being added at smaller stations so that ALL Bairnsdale trains will now stop at all stations between Pakenham and Bairnsdale.

Longer distance V/Line Inter City services are being progressively downgraded, not improved as the Government claims! After Bairnsdale, the Warrnambool line is next to get similar treatment. All counter to the vision set out in the recently released Rail Futures publication “Growing Victoria’s Regions”. Longer distance Intercity travellers to Warrnambool, Swan Hill, Albury and Bairnsdale have a limited number of daily train services and deserve much better.

02/09/2024

HOUSING PRIORITY AREAS BUT WHAT ABOUT PUBLIC TRANSPORT?

The Victorian Government is prioritising ten suburban Activity Centres for
denser housing development: Camberwell Junction, Chadstone, Epping,
Frankston, Moorabbin, Niddrie (Keilor Road), North Essendon, Preston (High
Street) and Ringwood.

Most of these localities have the basics when it comes to public transport,
either train or tram or both plus a range of bus routes, even though service
frequency needs to be stepped up on most of them, especially during evenings and at weekends. The standout exception is Chadstone which has neither a nearby station nor tramline but is totally reliant on buses.
This is pretty poor for Australia's largest shopping centre and an area which is slated to greatly expand its development of high-rise apartments and other housing forms.

In April 2018, then Premier Daniel Andrews announced that planning and
design would begin on a new tram route from Caulfield to Rowville via
Chadstone and Monash (see media release below). However, nothing further has been heard of the Government's proposal. Rail Futures had separately developed a similar concept using light rail technology travelling via the Princes Highway and Wellington Road. Such a project should be regarded as a pre-requisite to further major development at Chadstone. With a suitable interchange with SRL at Monash, it would also strengthen the utility of the SRL project.

This will be part of our advocacy in the lead-up to the 2026 State Election.

John Hearsch

President

Rail Futures Institute Inc

Email: [email protected]

08/08/2024

Yesterday (7 August) community groups rallied at Upfield Station demanding that the Government progress much needed improvements to infrastructure and services on Melbourne’s Upfield rail line. Rail Futures provided media with the following background information:

The Upfield rail line has had something of a chequered history. Opened in stages from 1884, electric trains reached Fawkner in 1920 and then Upfield in 1959 for workers at the Ford factory.

During the 1980s and 1990s there were proposals to either convert the line to light rail (trams) or to close it altogether. The line was only saved through the combined resistance of the local community, councils, unions and the public generally. After the Government finally relented, instead the line was upgraded with new signalling, some level crossings were closed and others improved with flashing lights and boom barriers.

Since then, level crossings were removed at Camp Road, Campbellfield and at four locations in Coburg, with both Moreland and Coburg stations rebuilt as part of the work.
A further 8 level crossings are to be removed between Royal Park and Moreland but this work has been delayed for several years.

However, there has been little change in the train services on the line, which mostly runs at 20-minute intervals and 30 minutes during evenings.

Government has had plans for many years to upgrade and extend the Upfield line but little has happened to date. When the Metro Tunnel opens next year, capacity will exist to have trains operate all day at 10-minute intervals on both the Craigieburn and Upfield lines and more frequently at peak periods. However, this will not happen on the Upfield line because of the constraint imposed by the single line between Gowrie and Upfield. To fully overcome this, the line must be duplicated beyond Gowrie. A short term alternative would be to install a “turn back” facility at Gowrie which would enable trains to run every 10 minutes to Gowrie, but still only every 20 minutes to Upfield. Another option is to install a second platform at Upfield which improve frequency to between 11 and 12 minutes.

Full duplication from Gowrie to Upfield will also require removal of the Barry Road level crossing, either by lowering the railway into a trench or elevating it above the road. This would also require a new station at Upfield. When done, the duplication should also include a new station at Campbellfield.

The next stage is to reopen the former freight line from Upfield to Roxburgh Park, duplicate and electrify it. This involves a major rail/rail grade separated junction at Roxburgh Park, two additional tracks from there to Craigieburn and two additional platforms at Craigieburn. These are essential pre-requisites before extending electrification to Wallan, a project needed very soon to support the massive housing developments at Kalkallo, Donnybrook, Cloverton, Beveridge and Wallan itself.

It is high time that these projects were progressed. The Rail Futures Institute continues to advocate for these essential improvements and fully supports the community’s efforts to achieve these outcomes.

John Hearsch
President
Rail Futures Institute Inc

05/08/2024

Suburban Rail Loop - Looking ever more questionable?

For some time, Rail Futures Institute has been expressing doubt as to Victoria’s ability to fund the first stage of its Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) project known as SRL East. This comprises 26 km of tunnels extending from Cheltenham to Box Hill with underground stations at Cheltenham (Southland), Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill to be completed by 2034 at an estimated cost of $34.5 billion.

Victoria is said to have $13 billion available of that cost which includes an earlier $2.2 billion contribution from the Commonwealth Government. The remaining $21.5 billion was proposed to be equally shared between a further Commonwealth Government contribution and “value capture” from property development around the new station precincts. However, any further contribution from the Commonwealth has been firmly qualified as dependent upon endorsement by Infrastructure Australia (IA) following that organisation’s independent review and evaluation of the project.

Saturday’s Age (3 August 2024) confirms the Victorian Government’s lack of responsiveness to Infrastructure Australia’s repeated requests for information to enable a proper evaluation of SRL, both in its entirety and individual stages. Some of the requested information goes to the heart of the rationale and mode selection for the project. (Print version attached. Link to on-line version below).

Rail Futures is not surprised at the State’s reluctance to have IA scrutinise SRL because we believe the project would not pass IA’s tests for economic viability. We consider the State’s SRL Business Case to be biased and based on highly optimistic assumptions which IA would almost certainly expose. There are other public transport projects which are badly needed and of greater benefit to more people across Melbourne than SRL.

05/08/2024

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/victoria-ignored-infrastructure-australia-for-two-years-on-srl-details-20240802-p5jyqj.html

Billions of dollars in funding Victoria wants for the Suburban Rail Loop has been held up for almost two years because the state refuses to hand over information.

30/07/2024

BRAG (Border Rail Action Group) based in Albury/Wodonga has written to V/Line with some positive suggestions for providing more seats on Albury line services. Overcrowding on these services has become acute since very cheap fares were introduced on 31 Mach 2023. As well as seeking to increase the present fleet of only 18 standard gauge VLocity carriages, BRAG is rightly criticising the current ridiculous café-bar set up on these Albury trains. Over-engineered, cost a fortune to design and install, only accessible to passengers in half of a 6-car consist, impacts too many seats, is often unstaffed and is simply the wrong solution.

Even more seriously, the belated realisation that it was the wrong solution has resulted in the baby being thrown out with the bathwater because the stated intention now is to remove catering facilities on all other lines. This has already commenced with Bairnsdale services.

International practice, and elsewhere in Australia, is provision of a “to seat” trolley service with a limited range of hot and cold drinks, confectionery and other snacks. Properly engineered, one conductor can provide this service throughout a VLocity consist, presently of 3 cars although we have long argued that some consists should be 4-cars. When not in use and locked away, such a unit would not replace more than 4 seats.

As such, our continued advocacy is for this form of catering service to be provided on all V/Line services exceeding 2½ hours end to end. A basic catering service of this type should be the minimum standard for all longer distance regional services.

07/06/2024

A 4-kilometre section of the disused Barnes-Moulamein broad gauge line is being restored to serve a new grain storage facility near Barnes in southern NSW. This requires significant rehabilitation of the track which was last used 16 years ago. A maintenance crew is presently inserting a large number of new sleepers in the track and repairing culverts. The existing 41kg/m rail will be retained. The junction turnout which connects to the Deniliquin line at Barnes and was removed in 2018 is still to be replaced.

Rail Futures understands that no rail operator has yet been appointed to operate trains to the facility. However, in the absence (at least initially) of a runaround loop at the facility, trains are likely to operate from Echuca in push-pull configuration. Operations are expected to commence in late 2024 or early 2025.

03/06/2024

Suburban Rail Loop looking unaffordable

The Victorian Government is pushing on at full speed with Suburban Rail Loop, a project which no one asked for before it was announced in 2018 and which, to date at least, clearly has priority over many other badly needed projects and services.

Rail Futures has consistently maintained that SRL, with its enormous opportunity costs, is effectively crowding out other much needed expenditure on health, education and of course, on better public transport.

It’s therefore refreshing that, at last, some Government MPs are voicing their concerns about SRL, among them the Deputy Premier. This is occurring before the Commonwealth clarifies whether it will contribute any further funding for SRL. Rail Futures believes this is unlikely.

The obvious question now, with early works proceeding apace at all SRL station sites, is what will the Government do?

Johnn Hearsch
President Rail Futures Institute Inc

18/05/2024

This week's Federal Budget has $150m allocated over 3 years for major track upgrading works on the 172 km Maroona-Portland line in Victoria's south west, something we (RFI) have sought for several years. The line has been deteriorating for quite some time and we were pleased to support the case for these much needed repairs and improvement.

At the present time, this railway is only used for limited hauling of export grain to the Port of Portland, although it has previously carried mineral sands. The upgrade works will allow heavier loads to be carried at higher speeds - making the line more attractive for existing and new freight users, hopefully taking some truck traffic off the heavily used roads in this part of Victoria.

14/05/2024

LITTLE JOY FOR RAIL IN VICTORIAN 2024/25 BUDGET

No new rail projects of consequence were funded in last week’s State Budget. This was unsurprising given the massive cost of Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) which continues to suck away most of the Government’s financial capacity to address many other badly needed projects – public transport and otherwise.

However, funding has been continued for these worthwhile projects. Their estimated total cost and budgeted expenditure during 2024/25 is shown below:

Project
Total estimated cost
2024/25 Funding
Expected completion

Ballarat Station Upgrade
$50 million
$44 million
late 2025

Kananook Train Maintenance Facility
$365 million
$135 million
mid-2025

Melton Line Upgrade
$641 million
$41 million
mid-2029

New X’Trapolis Mk2 Metropolitan Trains
$986 million
$113 million
early 2028

New West Tarneit Railway Station
$124 million
$17 million
mid-2026

South Geelong – Waurn Ponds Duplication
$827 million
$161 million
late 2024

South Dynon Train Maintenance Facility
$297 million
$110 million
mid-2026

Station improvements (Statewide)
$49 million
$22 million
mid-2025

Little funding appears to have also been provided for improved metropolitan train services, however although not clearly defined, limited provision appears to have been made for some additional regional train services.

John Hearsch
President
Rail Futures Institute Inc

08/05/2024

Introducing Rail Futures

The Rail Futures Institute Inc (RFI) is a self-funded voluntary research and advocacy organisation. Founded in Melbourne in 2013, we undertake a wide range of activities to inform decision makers and wider communities on the urgent need to improve and better utilise our rail assets and provide new assets for the benefit of present and future generations.
Our scope covers public passenger transport, commercial freight and logistics and their interaction with land use. We actively promote the economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits of using rail-based transport to efficiently move people and goods. By anticipating future needs, we use targeted, non-partisan advocacy to recommend practical solutions for transport systems with the aim of reducing motor vehicle dependency and improving inter connectivity between people and places.
RFI seeks to influence public policy through publishing technical papers and brochures, conducting meetings and seminars and generally advocating practical rail-based transport applications linked with urban and regional planning and population changes. This provides a broad context for our proposals which at this stage have mainly involved rail transport in the State of Victoria.
See our website: www.railfutures.org.au or email [email protected]

As part of our regional rail advocacy, we are supporting an important seminar to be held by RMIT and Deakin Universities proposing solutions to the key strategic issues facing the Geelong-Melbourne rail corridor. President John will be one of the key speakers. Details of the seminar and registration...