Melton City Council has voted to sound out the state government about a possible partnership to build Thornhill Park and Mt Atkinson train stations, as population growth and crowded station car parks strain transport in Melbourne’s outer west. Council will also consider whether a public-private partnership could bring in revenue, including from station parking charges.
The vote allows preliminary talks, not a commitment to build. Council said it would explore working directly with the state government and ask whether it would partner on the stations.
Growth and transport pressure
Council data puts Melton’s annual population growth rate at 6.61 per cent, more than three times Melbourne’s 2 per cent average. The Mt Atkinson residential development is expected to reach 32,000 residents by 2051.
A station at Mt Atkinson appeared in state government planning documents in 2017, while the suburb was being planned. It has featured in planning documents since the suburb plan first appeared that year.
The council’s advocacy booklet says trains at nearby Caroline Springs, Rockbank and Cobblebank stations are crowded, while their car parks are “at capacity by 7:30am”. Station parking is a problem across Melbourne, especially in outer growth areas. West Tarneit station had been open for less than a month, yet its car park regularly filled by 8am.
Council says the stations and electrification of the Melton line would take 12,000 cars off the road each day by 2041 and add 15,000 commuters. The two proposed stations sit on the Ballarat V/Line and rank among Melton council’s election priorities, along with road upgrades and electrification of the Melton rail line.
Deputy Mayor Phillip Zada said the motion asked whether the state government would consider working together. “Our community has been advocating for Thornhill Park and Mt Atkinson stations for years, and council continues to identify both as priorities in its transport advocacy,” he said.
Council and state responsibilities
National Growth Areas Alliance chief executive Bronwen Clark said train stations and community centres hadn’t kept pace with outer-suburban growth. “There is a lack of ongoing state government funding or support for the infrastructure that communities need and economies need to thrive,” she said.
Clark said councils such as Melton and Wyndham were left to bridge the gap. She pointed to a Melton aquatic centre built without state government investment. “Councils are having to fill the gap, and it’s a significant gap that councils are having to fill,” she said. “The lack of state government investment is really changing the way councils operate.”
Mt Atkinson resident Jaksha Shah said infrastructure was a pressing election issue. Congestion, she said, affected the morning commute, and the nearest supermarket was a 40-minute drive in peak-hour traffic. “I bought into a future where there was going to be a train station where I live, and the reality is very different,” she said. “We kind of need what we were promised and we deserve it.”
Election pledges
Melton belongs to Labor’s so-called “red wall”, a line of ALP-held seats across Melbourne’s west and north where the population is rapidly expanding across what was once agricultural land. Labor suffered a setback in some of those seats four years ago, and pollsters say the party faces another threat at this election, particularly in Melbourne’s west.
Victorian Transport Minister Vicki Ward said Labor was building the Sunshine Superhub project, which she said would “allow for Melton line electrification and get more trains running in Melbourne’s west”. Site investigations to finalise the project design are ongoing, she said.
Ward said: “Jess Wilson’s Liberal-One Nation Coalition are promising $40 billion in cuts and if elected, they will cut trains to Melton and send Victorian jobs overseas and buy expensive, foreign trains that don’t suit our network.” The Coalition has pledged $1.7 billion for 25 new hybrid diesel-electric trains on the Melton and Wyndham Vale lines if elected on November 28. It has committed to manufacturing the trains in Victoria and aims to deliver them by 2030.