City to lead new fast rail committee

THE City of Greater Geelong has stepped up its pursuit of a fast rail connection between Geelong and Melbourne, appointing mayor Bruce Harwood and deputy mayor Peter Murrihy to lead a new committee to drive the project forwards.

The “New Spirit of Progress Committee” is an informal partnership with the regional centres of Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Colac and Latrobe.

The committee will work in partnership with the state government on urgently needed regional rail upgrades, including the Melbourne to Geelong fast rail project.

The Geelong council has also released a report commissioned by the city, which shows a fast rail train travelling at 200kmh could deliver:
• An express service from Melbourne to Geelong in 32 minutes
• A three-stop service via Sunshine, North Geelong and Corio in 36 minutes, and
• Geelong to Sunshine (Melbourne Metro’s future main transfer station) in 25 minutes.

The report states that aside from the major benefits for commuters, fast rail would lead to a rise in Geelong property values, and could produce major socio-economic benefits by creating jobs for residents in Geelong’s northern suburbs.

It proposes a new seven-kilometre regional rail tunnel at Footscray, which could pave the way for expansion of fast rail all the way to Warrnambool; and a new dedicated station at Avalon, which would allow for 27-minute express services from Melbourne to the airport.

The report states Melbourne-Geelong fast rail will be a multi-billion dollar project but does not include an estimated cost, stating that “at this point, costings can be counterproductive, in that they overwhelm strategic considerations”.

“The bulk of infrastructure spend in Australia has been in Sydney and Melbourne, and the regions have missed out badly,” Geelong mayor Bruce Harwood said.

“This is one of the primary reasons the Greater Geelong council has decided to take the lead on this and drive it with the state and federal governments, with help from our regional partners. Our communities want and deserve their fair share of funding.

“The original ‘Spirit of Progress’ was an express passenger train running from Melbourne, starting in 1937. Now here we are 81 years later, saying it’s time for a new Spirit of Progress, that does things better and uses the technology available to us.”