By XAVIER SMERDON
WESTERN suburbs residents could be left stranded by the Regional Rail Link with overcrowded trains predicted from day one, according to a secret report by V/Line.
A paper created by V/Line in 2011, entitled Initial Strategic Operations Plan, was obtained and released by The Greens last week.
It states that for Melton passengers the RRL could be standing room only and more trains will be needed to service the Wyndham Vale and Tarneit areas.
“The capacity to be provided is well short of being sufficient to cater for forecast demand so there will be strandees on these services potentially from Melton,” the report said.
“Services to stations at Rockbank, Deer Park and Ardeer are currently sparse and unattractive to users.”
The report suggests that for the RRL to be able to cater properly for the Wyndham area additional trains, called “short starters”, will be needed to run between Wyndham Vale and the city, however this strategy is “likely to impact on Geelong service travel times and network reliability”.
Greens MP for the western suburbs, Colleen Hartland, said both Melton and Wyndham had been given an uncertain future by the report.
“From day one Regional Rail Link trains will be overcrowded and commuters could be left behind on the station platform,” Ms Hartland said.
“V/Line has identified that the network will be 27 carriages short of that required to service Regional Rail Link passengers on the day it opens.
“This V/Line report sets out a stark warning: the government has three years to fix these problems before the Regional Rail Link opens in 2016.”
Star contacted the Minister for Transport Terry Mulder and V/Line for comment but they did not respond.
