The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has welcomed the Liberal Party’s announcement on the Doncaster railway line, while slamming the government for refusing to make a better offer. The PTUA believes that the line, which has been promised for over 40 years would be a fraction of the cost of a North-East link and offer far more benefits.
“The announcement on the Doncaster railway is exactly the kind of foresight that we need to see from our politicians in this election year,” said PTUA’s outer east convenor Jeremy Lunn. “It’s certainly a step ahead of the Brumby Government, which took over a decade to install four paltry bus routes.”
“We have no doubt that a comprehensive study will find a train to Doncaster viable and economically sound,” Mr Lunn said.
Mr Lunn rejected any suggestion that the Eddington study evaluated the rail proposal in detail. “We have high rise buildings going up on Doncaster Hill. The study is flawed and did not give proper consideration for rail to Doncaster.”
“Bus operations between the end of the eastern freeway and the city are both slow and cumbersome- train services would operate through the inner suburbs at a third to half of present operating times.
Mr Lunn said that the line would make use of land in the middle of the Eastern Freeway, which was designed to include a railway line as part of the 1969 Transport Plan.
“The Brumby Government has really lost its way if they can support a $20 billion white elephant like North-East Link but not the Doncaster railway line. The government is trying to pour more cars onto our roads which will generate worse congestion in Melbourne.”
“After decades of transport neglect it is now a matter of playing ‘catch up’ by fixing all the transport woes that plague residents in the east. Nothing else is likely to have the same impact as building the Doncaster railway line,” Mr Lunn concluded.