By Laura Michell
Reconfiguring the City Loop to increase train services on the Upfield line will be “irrelevant” unless the line is duplicated first, according to the Upfield Transport Alliance.
The state’s independent infrastructure advisory body, Infrastructure Victoria, identified the need to reconfigure Melbourne’s City Loop train network in order to improve services on the Craigieburn, Upfield and Frankston lines in its recent Victoria’s infrastructure strategy 2021–2051.
According to the report, reconfiguring the City Loop will enable the extension of services on the Upfield line to Mitchell Shire, and increase capacity and improve reliability on the Upfield, Craigieburn and Frankston lines.
It said the project would separate the Craigieburn and Upfield lines, with delays on the Craigieburn line currently impacting Upfield services.
Infrastructure Victoria said the state government needed to urgently start planning for the City Loop upgrade as the train network was nearing capacity.
It said work on the reconfiguration project needs to start “immediately” after the Metro Tunnel’s scheduled opening in 2022.
“The window of opportunity to deliver the project will close as demand continues to increase … The Victorian government must decide within five years whether to take advantage of this opportunity,” the report said.
But Upfield Transport Alliance spokesman Denis Watson said Infrastructure Victoria had ignored the “immediate problems” facing Upfield commuters.
Reconfiguring of the Upfield line through the city is irrelevant unless the line is duplicated,” he said.
The Upfield Line is severely stunted. There is no station at Campbellfield, the current line only reaches to Barry Road and no city-end tunnel project can increase frequency without first resolving the other bottleneck, the Upfield Line’s final four kilometre of single track.
“The most urgent issue is the Upfield line’s lack of reliability for those living at its northern end, with services regularly cancelled or turned around at Coburg. A major barrier to more frequent services, particularly during peak hour, is the single track between Gowrie and Upfield.”
