Regional Rail Link

Background

Following the rail infrastructure improvements provided by the Regional Fast Rail project, and subsequent growth in passengers and services, there was an increase in congestion in the Melbourne suburban area, where trains operated by V/Line shared tracks with Metro Trains Melbourne suburban trains, caused increasing delays on rail services. late running by V/Line or metropolitan rail services affected the reliability of other trains, and V/Line trains, running express through most suburban stations, affected the timekeeping of stopping suburban trains. After major disruptions each operator might blame the other for causing the problem.

A separate line for regional trains between Geelong and Melbourne, then called the "Tarneit Link", was included as a possible long-term rail option in the Bracks government's 2006 Meeting Our Transport Challenges report. Costed at around $500 million, the link was also recommended in Rod Eddington's East-West Link Needs Assessment study, released in April 2008. By November 2008 the link between Deer Park and West Werribee was estimated to cost $1.5 billion.

Official status

The project was expanded and re-branded as the Regional Rail Link when announced as part of the Brumby Government's Victorian Transport Plan of December 2008. With a revised aim of separating all regional trains between Southern Cross and Geelong, Ballarat, and Bendigo, from suburban rail movements, the proposed route was from Southern Cross through Sunshine and Tarneit to West Werribee.

In May 2009 the project reached full funding, gaining the required allocation of $3.2 billion from the 2009 Federal budget, adding to funds to be provided by the Victorian Government.

Several route options were investigated. One proposal involved the acquisition of up to 49 properties in Railway Place, Footscray to widen the existing railway corridor, and local residents launched a campaign against that proposal in May 2010. Other options floated were the sharing of tracks with freight trains in the existing Bunbury Street tunnel, or the construction of a second rail tunnel under Footscray A preliminary route between Sunshine and Werribee was released for public consultation in June 2009.

In July 2010, the final route through Footscray was announced by the state government. Heading away from Melbourne, the pair of Regional Rail Link tracks run south of the current four suburban tracks until after the line has crossed the Maribyrnong River, where a new bridge was built. After crossing the river, the line passes over the top of the Newport bound suburban tracks on a flyover, and then runs between each pair of suburban tracks to Footscray station. At Footscray the line uses the existing platforms 1 and 2 (since renumbered 3 and 4), and then run on resumed land to the south of the suburban line to Sunshine, past Middle Footscray and West Footscray stations. Suburban trains towards Sunshine use the existing tracks except at Footscray, where two new platforms were built north of the four existing platforms.

To accommodate the final route, 26 homes and 84 businesses on Buckley Street, Footscray were acquired. Many residents did not find out their homes were to be acquired until told by journalists, waiting up to 24 hours for official notification from Department of Transport representatives. A Government spokeswoman said "every effort" had been made to contact the households affected, but bureaucrats had abandoned their planned visit to deliver the bad news because they did not want to be filmed by the media. The proposals would also have acquired 136m² the heritage listed HV McKay Memorial Gardens, (Australia's oldest remaining industrial garden) as part of a grade separation along Anderson Road in Sunshine; after community resistance and lobbying by Brimbank City Council, plans were altered to reduce the acquisition of the gardens to approximately 5m².

Baillieu government review

In February 2011, the incoming Baillieu government announced the project was under review, citing poor planning and a blow-out in costs. After the review, the Baillieu government estimated the price tag for the line to be $880 million more than stated by the outgoing Brumby government. In November 2011, the secretary of the Victorian Department of Transport, Jim Betts, admitted that the lack of a mature plan, and the urgency of spending the money provided by the federal government as part of its economic stimulus package, meant that there had been a rush to finalise the financial arrangements of the scheme. He commented that "the budget for that project was basically haggled over between the state and the commonwealth one weekend and we end up with a number written on the back of an envelope".

Construction

Construction commenced in August 2009 with platforms 15 and 16 at Southern Cross station.

The works were divided into seven packages - an overall railway signalling and control systems contract, and six sections of track:

Timeline

Route and achieved train speeds

On 21 June 2015, a journey from Southern Cross Railway Station to Little River (and return) was undertaken with the intention of measuring the actual train speeds on that one journey. While that journey might not have be optimal or even typical, it gave an indication of the possible train speeds on the first day that Geelong-Melbourne trains ran on the Regional Rail Link.

On the outbound journey, the following speeds were achieved:

On the return journey from Little River to Southern Cross station, the following speeds were achieved:

Cost and benefits

In May 2010, the estimated cost was $4.3 billion, and economic benefits were estimated to be $6.2 billion.

In April 2011 the incoming Baillieu government stated it would cost closer to $5 billion and two years longer to build. In July 2011 the cost was estimated at $5.3 billion with a completion date was 2016.

In the 2015/16 State Budget the final cost of the project was given as $3.65 billion, down from the previous estimate of $4.1 billion.

Legacy

All passenger trains on the Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong lines use the Regional Rail Link to and from Melbourne, removing the capacity problems and potential conflicts encountered when these services shared tracks with metropolitan trains, which are themselves heavily loaded. The link allows more regional and metropolitan trains to run, which, combined with the purchase of new rolling stock, will help alleviate peak hour overcrowding on regional services, particularly those from Geelong and Ballarat, and free up capacity on Melbourne suburban tracks to allow more trains to run. The new rail link has not reduced journey times to any great extent. The Public Transport Users Association claimed travel times between Melbourne and Geelong might increase by 10 minutes.

As part of the project, the partially-built platforms 15 and 16 at Southern Cross station were completed, which increased the number of trains the station can handle.

Regional Rail Link platforms were not provided at North Melbourne station, which had previously served as an interchange point for regional passengers accessing the northern suburbs, the City Loop or the Route 401 bus to the hospital and university precincts. Passengers now alight at Footscray or Southern Cross, and catch another train to North Melbourne.

Noise and pollution

Controversy emerged with the release of reports from the Victorian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which criticized the methodology and results contained in assessments submitted by the RRL team to former state planning minister, Justin Madden, as part of the project planning referral. The EPA reports state, "in Footscray, for the most exposed residents, a vast majority of the population will experience chronic noise-induced sleep disturbance, with very significant proportions highly disturbed... For the most exposed residents in other areas, almost half the community will experience chronic noise-induced sleep disturbance." The reports also raised concerns about the Footscray Park Railway Reserve where, the EPA predicted, the public would be exposed to dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide from increased diesel train traffic. The EPA noted that planned risk assessments had not been done by the Department of Transport. Madden had viewed the EPA reports in September 2010, but ruled that an Environment Effects Statement (EES) was not required for Section-1 of the RRL project. In response to the emergence of the EPA reports, a government spokesperson accused the former Labor government of a "scandalous cover-up" and vowed to investigate the environmental and public impact.

Criticism

Despite the immediate advantage to commuters in the Wyndham Vale and Tarneit areas, there has been some disappointment regarding the irregular spacing of services at these stations. For example, on Monday to Friday morning services, there is a 26-minute gap between the 8:42 AM and the 9:08 AM city-bound trains at Tarneit Station.

Ballarat line passengers have been particularly upset about their services since the full opening of the RRL. Due to a rolling stock shortage, some Ballarat trains had fewer carriages than before, and timekeeping of services worsened, despite the promise of greater reliability after the RRL opened.

Following the opening of the Regional Rail Link, V/Line trains on the Ballarat line failed to meet punctuality targets for 14 consecutive months.