PIC: VLine<\/p>\n
THE state government believes its business case for the Waurn Ponds rail duplication is good enough, despite a critical assessment by Infrastructure Australia (IA).<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Labor said that if it won November\u2019s state election, it would commit its share of funding for the next stage of duplication works, and submitted a business case to IA for evaluation.<\/p>\n
Stage 2 would duplicate 13 kilometres of track between South Geelong and Waurn Ponds, improve the station precinct at South Geelong and Marshall, duplicate bridges at Barwon River and Waurn Ponds Creek, and create grade separated crossings at Fyans Street and the Surf Coast Highway.<\/p>\n
In its project evaluation summary, carried out on August 30, IA stated it had not included the stage 2 duplication on its Infrastructure Priority List, as \u201cthe proponent\u2019s business case, as currently presented, shows that the costs of the project are likely to exceed the benefits\u201d and cited a $212 million shortfall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project would increase the frequency of services from Waurn Ponds to Geelong, and improve the passenger experience, but it will not enable new services between Melbourne and Geelong, limiting the benefits on the wider network.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking at Marshall station last week, Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said she was disappointed by the evaluation.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir view from Sydney is that they\u2019ve failed to understand how these growing areas connect into Geelong \u2013 areas around Waurn Ponds, Marshall, Armstrong Creek. They\u2019ve failed to understand how they are part of the Geelong city and community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a different view. It\u2019s a good project, it\u2019s an important project, it\u2019s one that\u2019s needed to support train services to get us those 10-minute peak frequency services to Waurn Ponds, and that\u2019s why we will continue to push very strongly for this project.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said IA\u2019s assessment did not rule out a federal government investment in the duplication, and federal Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack had recently said as much.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look around rail projects, you look around regional Australia \u2013 there are projects that have been supported by federal governments that haven\u2019t necessarily had the positive BCR endorsement from Infrastructure Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PIC: VLine THE state government believes its business case for the Waurn Ponds rail duplication is good enough, despite a critical assessment by Infrastructure Australia (IA). Earlier this year, Labor said that if it won November\u2019s state election, it would commit its share of funding for the next stage of duplication works, and submitted a […]<\/p>\n