By CASEY NEILL
NEW train services on the Dandenong rail line will bring traffic to a standstill, a Greater Dandenong councillor fears.
“It’ll probably be quicker to walk now,” Cr Roz Blades said last week.
From 27 July, trains will run every 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes between 9am and 4.30pm on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.
These lines connect to the Dandenong line, which will now see trains every 10 minutes between peak periods and every three to four minutes during peak.
The upgrade provides two extra services in the morning peak on the Dandenong corridor, and two extra services in the evening peak.
“It sounds good when you first hear it,” Cr Blades said.
“It’s bloody shocking news.
“I don’t know how anybody’s going to get around Greater Dandenong with trains at that capacity.
“Putting more trains on already overcrowded rail is a recipe for disaster.”
She last week waited for seven trains at the Heatherton Road crossing.
“You’ll have to leave home 15 minutes earlier,” she said.
“Nobody has given it any thought at all.
“What about emergency vehicles? How are they going to cope?”
A spokesperson for Public Transport and Roads Minister Terry Mulder said most of the new train services were during the middle of the day, “minimising the impact on motorists during the peaks”.
“The Dandenong corridor is one of the busiest corridors on the rail network, servicing several high growth suburbs such as Narre Warren and Pakenham, and these changes will ensure we are catering for the population growth in these areas,” they said.
The spokesperson said boom gates delayed road users.
“That is why we are undertaking the $2-$2.5 billion Cranbourne-Pakenham Rail Corridor Project, which will remove level crossings at Murrumbeena Road, Koornang Road, Clayton Road and Centre Road, as well as planning funding for future level crossing removals at Corrigan, Heatherton and Chandler Roads in Noble Park, Grange Road in Carnegie and Poath Road in Murrumbeena,” they said.
The timetable improvements take effect on 27 July. Timetables will be available in advance at www.ptv.vic.gov.au.
