Article: Freight tracks could free up space for Metro to offer extra ...

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Freight tracks could free up space for Metro to offer extra city services

Freight tracks could free up space for Metro to offer extra city services

    * Ashley Gardiner
    * From: Herald Sun
    * June 29, 2010 12:00AM

SPARE train tracks that could help relieve over-crowded commuter trains will not be used for extra services.

A network of little-known freight tracks in the western suburbs could be used for country services.

This would give Metro more room to put on extra services for commuters on the western lines.

The Sydenham line, Melbourne's busiest, can't accommodate many more peak services because of the V/Line trains that use it.

Using freight lines for V/Line would give Metro the room to run much-needed extra services.

RMIT transport expert Paul Mees said services from Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong could use freight lines.

These V/Line services would run through a tunnel under Footscray, then on to Southern Cross.

Trains from Ballarat and Bendigo would travel along a freight line from Sunshine to Footscray's Bunbury St tunnel.

Services from Geelong would be diverted at Newport along a freight line, which connects with the line from Sunshine to the tunnel.

Dr Mees said the idea was not being considered because the Department of Transport has a culture of making excuses rather than fixing problems.

"It's less work for government officials to say that things can't change until multi-billion dollar projects taking many years are completed," Dr Mees said.

"It avoids the pressure to really bear down on efficiency."

Department of Transport spokeswoman Kirsten Harvey Taylor said the $4.3 billion Regional Rail Link project would improve capacity in the west.

Under this project, due for completion this decade, lines are being built from West Werribee to Deer Park, and then additional lines from Sunshine to the city.

"The new tracks ... are the long-term solution our rail system needs, not the short-term fix some are looking for in the Bunbury St tunnel," Ms Harvey Taylor said.

Running passenger trains on freight lines could create constraints that would see more trucks on the road, she said.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said every possibility for best use of railways should be considered.

"Temporarily using goods lines during peak hours may well make it possible to run more trains while we wait for big projects ... to be built," Mr Bowen said.