Two new infrastructure reports back action on Frankston rail extension

TWO new transport infrastructure reports strongly back the proposed Frankston train line extension.

Rail Futures Institute’s blueprint for the next 30 years of rail development in Melbourne calls for the extension to be built by 2026, while a Prosper Australia–Chris Hale Infra Strategy report says nine urgently needed rail projects including the Frankston to Baxter extension can be fast-tracked by using more progressive funding models that would include developer contributions.

The institute’s Melbourne Rail Plan 2020-2050 presents “a strategy for rail-based transport that can significantly reduce Melbourne’s massive car dependency and benefit … liveability, economic performance, social fabric and environmental sustainability”.

The PA–Hale report – The transit transformation Australia needs – also calls for “trunk corridor upgrades” to run express trains from Frankston to Melbourne CBD, and proposes eventually extending the metro electrified line from Baxter to Mornington and Hastings.

Committee for Greater Frankston chief executive Ginevra Hosking said both major political parties – the Liberal–National Coalition government and the Labor Opposition – have supported the Frankston to Baxter project for several years.
“However, the rail extension with its many benefits is not guaranteed because extending the line requires both federal and state government support,” she said. “The federal government has allocated $225 million of funding in the Commonwealth Budget, about half the estimated cost of an extension to Langwarrin, but the Victorian Labor government has yet to commit to the project. If the Victorian government doesn’t back the project, it cannot go ahead.”

Ms Hosking welcomed the rail extension support from “two reputable non-government organisations”. “The extension’s benefits are well understood – it will transform public transport in our region, provide better access to jobs up the line, get cars off congested roads, free up crowded car parks in Frankston’s CBD, and create a metro station at Frankston Hospital and the nearby Monash University Peninsula campus.”

Ms Hosking said the extension had the support of the wider community as well as major organisations such as Frankston Council, Mornington Peninsula Shire, Frankston Hospital, Peninsula Health, Monash University, Karingal Hub and Frankston traders. “We’re greatly anticipating the release of the state government’s overdue business case for the extension. The community and transport experts all agree it’s time the state government put this project back on track.”

Media Coverage:

Reports ‘back’ rail extension
September 23, 2019 Bayside News

THE release of two new transport infrastructure reports have highlighted the “many benefits” of extending the Frankston rail line, says the Committee for Greater Frankston.

C4GF, a lobby group, pointed out that two new reports from Rail  Futures Institute and Prosper Australia–Chris Hale “strongly back” the proposed rail extension. They said that the institutes’ report “calls for the extension to be built by 2026” and that the PA-Hale report “says nine urgently needed rail projects including the Frankston to Baxter extension can be fast-tracked by using more progressive funding models”. G4GF Ginevra Hosking said “the rail extension with its many benefits is not guaranteed because extending the line requires both federal and state government support.”

“The federal government has allocated $225 million of funding in the commonwealth budget, about half the estimated cost of an extension to Langwarrin, but the Victorian Labor government has yet to commit to the project. If the Victorian government doesn’t back the project, it cannot go ahead,” she said.

“The extension’s benefits are well understood. It will transform public transport in our region, provide better access to jobs up the line, get cars off congested roads, free up crowded car parks in Frankston’s CBD, and create a metro station at Frankston Hospital and the nearby Monash University Peninsula campus.

“We’re greatly anticipating the release of the state government’s overdue business case for the extension.”

First published in the Frankston Times – 23 September 2019