By XAVIER SMERDON
THE Greens have been slammed by both sides of the political spectrum over comments that the most significant transport project in the western suburbs could be too expensive.
In parliament late last month, Greg Barber, Greens Member for the Northern Metropolitan Region, said the $5 billion being spent on the Regional Rail Link, “does seem an extraordinarily high price tag to run an extra three regional trains in the morning”.
Liberal Member for the Western Metropolitan Region, Andrew Elsbury, said the comments were a slap in the face to the commuters who will benefit from the landmark project.
“The Greens have shown a complete disregard for the outer western suburbs by writing off the $5 billion Regional Rail Link Project as a waste of time and belittling the project by claiming that only three extra regional trains would run in the morning,” Mr Elsbury said.
“For him to reduce the project to three trains in the morning and equate that to $5 billion is stupid and wrong.”
Member for Tarneit, Labor politician Tim Pallas, agreed that Mr Barber and the Greens needed to think about the greater benefits of the RRL.
“The RRL will provide around half the capacity of the West Gate Freeway and increase the capacity of on the line far beyond the sheer number of new trains,” Mr Pallas said.
“If the Greens don’t believe this is value for money, then maybe they don’t know enough about the needs of the Western Suburbs.”
Mr Barber told Star that he was basing his statement on a report into the noise the project will create in which it stated there could be an immediate introduction of three new regional trains.
“The number of new trains we will get out of the Regional Rail Link has never been released, it’s been like a state secret under Liberal and Labor,” Mr Barber said.
“I was just asking the question, and I think we need to forget about all the bravado and get an answer.
“If those figures are correct, those three trains will be snapped up just like that.”
