THE City of Greater Geelong has stepped up its\u00a0pursuit 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.<\/p>\n
The \u201cNew Spirit of Progress Committee\u201d is an informal partnership with the regional centres of Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Colac and Latrobe.<\/p>\n
The committee will work in partnership with the state government on urgently needed regional rail upgrades, including the Melbourne to Geelong fast rail project.<\/p>\n
The Geelong council has also released a report commissioned by the city, which shows a fast rail\u00a0train travelling at 200kmh could deliver:
\n\u2022 An express service from Melbourne to Geelong in 32 minutes
\n\u2022 A three-stop service via Sunshine, North Geelong and Corio in 36 minutes, and
\n\u2022 Geelong to Sunshine (Melbourne Metro\u2019s future main transfer station) in 25 minutes.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s northern suburbs.<\/p>\n
It proposes a new seven-kilometre regional rail\u00a0tunnel 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.<\/p>\n
The report states Melbourne-Geelong fast rail will be a multi-billion dollar project but does not include an estimated cost, stating that \u201cat this point, costings can be counterproductive, in that they overwhelm strategic considerations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bulk of infrastructure spend in Australia has been in Sydney and Melbourne, and the regions have missed out badly,\u201d Geelong mayor Bruce Harwood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original \u2018Spirit of Progress\u2019 was an express\u00a0passenger train running from Melbourne, starting in 1937. Now here we are 81 years later, saying it\u2019s time for a new Spirit of Progress, that does things better and uses the technology available to us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE City of Greater Geelong has stepped up its\u00a0pursuit 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 \u201cNew Spirit of Progress Committee\u201d is an informal partnership with the regional centres of Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, […]<\/p>\n