Birth

A decade ago I was in the empty streets of an industrial estate south of Caroline Springs, where a new Bunnings Warehouse store was taking shape.

The iconic grand entrance was there.

But inside there wasn’t a floor.

Just rebar waiting a concrete pour.

By 2014 the streets of the industrial estate were starting to fill up.

Google Street View

And by 2020 Bunnings had disappeared behind a sea of tilt-slab concrete.

Google Street View

Death

While on Millers Road in Altona North was an unlucky Bunnings Warehouse store.

Locked up and ready to be demolished.

Replaced by a brand new $47 million, 17,000-square metre store next door.

And rebirth

Out on High Street in Epping I found a familiar green shed, but it was no longer a Bunnings Warehouse – but a furniture store.

Bunnings moved to a new site on Cooper Street in late 2015.

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Rails out west

We start outside Footscray, where I captured a V/Line train sharing the suburban tracks on the way to the city.

In 2010 it was announced that Regional Rail Link would expand the cutting from four to six tracks, with V/Line trains from Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat moving onto their own tracks in stages between 2014 and 2015.

And a few kilometres away I found route 82 trams passing Highpoint Shopping Centre, where platform stops had recently been built.

A decade on the elderly Z3 class trams still ply the route, forcing intending passengers to climb a flight of stairs to board.

At Southern Cross Station I found The Southern Spirit – a luxury rail cruise train operated by Great Southern Rail around the east coast of Australia, using carriages normally seen on The Ghan.

The service ran in January 2010, January 2011 and February 2012 before being discontinued, however it was revived in 2019 as the Great Southern.

Late one night I found this pair of diesel locomotives making their way to Flemington Racecourse, Craigieburn and Williamstown – a driver training run to ensure that the train crew remained qualified on the routes.

Works trains continue to run over the Melbourne network, but now operated by Southern Shorthaul Railroad.

And at the Alstom Ballarat factory I found dozens of carriages wrapped in plastic – brand new X’Trapolis suburban trains waiting to be fitted out for use on the Melbourne network.

The final X’Trapolis train was delivered in 2020, leaving the Alstom Ballarat plant mothballed.

Building stuff

2011 saw work on the South Morang Rail Extension well underway, featuring the construction of 3.5km double track railway from Epping to South Morang, three new stations, and duplication of 5km of existing single track between Keon Park and Epping,

One night at Keon Park I captured a works train headed out to the works site.

Loaded with long lengths of freshly welded rail to form the new tracks.

Work on the project commenced in June 2010, with the extension to South Morang opening on April 2012.

On the road front, the $48.5 million Kororoit Creek Road duplication project was underway, including the removal of the level crossing at Altona North.

Work on the project was completed in December 2011.

And $200 million was being spent on the Anthony’s Cutting upgrade to the Western Freeway.

Requiring a massive cutting was excavated west of Bacchus Marsh.

The upgraded freeway opened to traffic in June 2011.

And screw ups

Down at Caroline Springs, work had started on the access road to the future railway station.

But that is as far as the project went for years – work on the station was paused until 2015, with the access road needing to be rebuilt to suit the updated plans.

One morning at Ascot Vale I was unable to reach the railway station – the pedestrian subway had flooded!

Thankfully newer stations in Melbourne don’t have the same problem – they keep the water off the tracks by pushing it back onto neighbouring streets.

Another day I was down at Yarraville station, where only a level crossing links the platforms. With trains running every 10 minutes the boom gates spend more time down than up, leaving passengers waiting and waiting, as the train they intend to catch prevents them from accessing the platform.

In the years since nothing has changed – there have been campaigns to reopen the pedestrian underpass, but the Level Crossing Removal Authority has no plans to touch the crossing.

And finally – the Siemens train braking saga. A spate of incidents in 2009 saw an investigation launched.

Since its introduction, the Siemens train has been involved in a relatively high number of reported overrun events when compared to other types of train operating on the network. The six platform overruns between 8 February and 3 March 2009 suggested that systemic issues remained unresolved and triggered this investigation.

The chosen fix – equipment to drop sand on the tracks.

The equipment was first trialled in March 2010, with installation across the fleet commencing in September 2010. By June 2011 the roll-out was complete, and speed restrictions removed.

A few buses

A decade ago bus routes still ran down Flinders Street in the Melbourne CBD.

Route 605 was one of them.

rerouted in 2017 to travel via Queen Street and Flagstaff station, as part of a package of changes made due to Metro Tunnel works at Domain Interchange.

And the other was route 238.

The route was discontinued in 2014, replaced by route 235, 237, 234 and 236 services between Fishermans Bend and the CBD.

And finally… ding ding!

In 2011 retired W class tram SW6.969 was converted into a bar and parked outside the Arts Centre.

It reappeared every summer as ‘Tram Bar’ until it was closed permanently in January 2015.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Caroline Springs

We start out at Caroline Springs station, located between town and the tip.

A massive car park the only neighbour.

And the only footpath out of there filled with a fleet of rubbish trucks.

But the land in between is about to be developed.

Into a ‘fulfilment centre’ for Amazon.

Amazon Australia will open a second Melbourne fulfilment centre (FC) in Ravenhall late next year, creating around 300 jobs on completion and more than doubling Amazon’s operational footprint in Victoria.

The new facility will be located at Dexus’ Horizon 3023 estate, a 127-hectare site which adjoins Caroline Springs train station and is close to the proposed Western Intermodal Freight Terminal. Dexus has commenced works on the site, supporting more than 200 construction jobs over the development and fit-out phase. The lease for the centre was facilitated by CBRE’s Industrial & Logistics business.

The new fulfilment centre will be 37,000 square metres – almost double the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground – with capacity to house up to six million items ranging from health, household and personal care products, consumer electronics, books, clothing and pantry food and drink staples, to larger items like flat screen TVs, cartons of soft drink or nappies, and gardening equipment.

Minister for Economic Development Tim Pallas said today that attracting investment from significant global companies such as Amazon, is critical to drive our economic recovery.

“Amazon’s investment in a second fulfilment centre will bring hundreds of jobs to the western suburbs of Melbourne, providing local employment opportunities in suburban growth areas,” he said.

“We welcome this investment as a clear indicator of confidence in the state.”

AKA a big tin shed.

Tarneit

Tarneit is another railway station on the edge of Melbourne.

New housing estates sprawling across the plains.

Served by a sea of car parking.

But the Truganina Precinct Structure Plan has designated the area around the railway station as a future town centre.

But what is the first commercial development in the new town centre?

Bunnings will be the first of many retailers that will be making up ‘Tarneit Park Hub’ – the shopping precinct of our planned Town centre at Westbrook.

Bunnings Warehouse has responded to the growth of Melbourne’s western corridor, committing to a new 16,500sqm warehouse in Tarneit Park Hub.

Ranfurlie Asset Management, the retail and commercial division of the Dennis Family, is developing Tarneit Park Hub, which will total 46,000sqm when complete.

“We are excited to have secured Bunnings. It cements Tarneit Park Hub as a key retail and lifestyle asset for the region,” stated Mark Wilson, CEO of Ranfurlie Asset Management.

“Tarneit Park Hub answers the demand from the community for greater amenity, with great access, proximity to public transport and adjoining Tarneit Central it sets an excellent foundation to further enhance the precinct and build on what is already a thriving centre.” concluded Mr Wilson

Tom Perkins of Leedwell Property said that “Bunnings is a great anchor for Tarneit Park Hub. The ability to generate foot-fall seven days a week and its brand recognition in a community is unparalleled. We have recently completed leasing on a number of new developments anchored by a Bunnings and they have proven to attract quality, national retailers around them.”

Yes, another tin shed!

Imagine how bad these development would be without structure plans?

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The easy bits

The government media release details the intended works.

• 17 kilometres of duplication between Deer Park West and Melton,
• 3 kilometres of duplication west of Warrenheip,
• new crossing loops at Bacchus Marsh, Ballan and near Bungaree,
• removing five level crossings,
• new stabling facilities at Melton and Rowsley,
• second platform at Bacchus Marsh and Ballan stations.

Duplication between Deer Park West and Melton is simple – in wide open countryside building a second track along the existing one is simple.

Rockbank already has two platforms, so the new track just has to tie in at either end.

At Ballan station, there is plenty of room for a crossing loop and second platform.

History note 1: As late as 1982 Ballan had a mainline track and crossing loop, two freight sidings, a goods shed, and stock yard for loading sheep and cattle onto trains. Today it just has a single platform, and a single track with no passing capability.

Bacchus Marsh station is a little more constrained, with stabling sidings located opposite the existing single platform.

But their existence needn’t block progress – presumably the new stabling facilities at Rowsley, west of Bacchus Marsh, will allow the existing sidings to be decommissioned and a second platform built in their place.

Confused at Warrenheip

We now get get into more confusing territory when we look at the three kilometres of duplication at Warrenheip, east of Ballarat. Two tracks already run between Ballarat and Warrenheip, and you can see trains run on them with your very own eyes.

The problem is that these two tracks operate as two completely separate railway lines – the northern track being used by V/Line trains heading to and from Melbourne.

While the southern track is only used by trains headed between Ballarat and Geelong – which almost exclusively freight services.

The reason for this complexity is tied up in history.

The first railway to Ballarat

Ballarat’s first railway was completed in 1862 as double track, but was indirect and travelled via Geelong. Today’s direct route to Melbourne came much later, being built from both ends over a 10 year period as a single track branch line serving towns along the way, until 1889 when the two met in the middle to form a through route that now linked Melbourne to Adelaide.

With the new direct line opened, the route via Geelong dropped in importance, so in 1934 it was cut back to single track as an economy measure. The exception was the section from Warrenheip to Ballarat – as the junction of the two routes, the double track was retained to allow for the heavy traffic headed up the hill, with trains using the left hand track in each direction.

This arrangement required signalling staff to attend Warrenheip station on a full time basis to direct trains – a cost considered too high by 1995, when the junction at Warrenheip was decommissioned, and the double track reconfigured as the current pair of two parallel and independent single tracks.

So what is the three kilometres of duplication at Warrenheip? In reality it is the reinstatement of the operational flexibility removed back in 1995, but without the staffing cost thanks to the use of modern remote controlled signalling.

How do you remove FIVE level crossings?

Given the millions of dollars being spent to remove just one level crossing in metropolitan Melbourne, how can you remove five crossings as part of a $518 million project?

The government media release doesn’t really help.

The new loop near Bungaree will also improve safety for motorists and the local community by removing five level crossings on the existing Bungaree Loop.

It takes an understanding of what exactly the ‘Bungaree Loop’ is for the promise to make sense – there are actually are two parallel sets of railway tracks passing through the area!

So why does one set of tracks run direct between the townships of Millsbrook and Dunnstown, and the other takes an extended detour via Bungaree and Wallace? The answer yet again lies in the history books.

Taking the goat track to Ballarat

The railway through Bungaree was never intended as a main line – it opened in 1879 as a branch line that ran from the main Geelong-Ballarat at Warrenheip, to the small township of Gordon. Given it was a railway to nowhere, taking the straightest route across the countryside wasn’t top priority – cost was.

As a result, when the surveyors reached the steep Moorabool River valley, they didn’t build a bridge – they sent the railway north for for the flatter terrain of Bungaree and Wallace, then back south to avoid the foothills of Black Hill outside Gordon.

As previously mentioned, this branch line from Ballarat was progressively extended east to serve towns along the way, as did a branch line headed west from Melbourne, eventually meeting in the middle in 1889 and forming the main line from Melbourne to Adelaide.

In the years that followed the number of trains using the railway between Melbourne and Ballarat grew, as did the size of each – but nothing was done about the dogleg via Bungaree.

PROV image VPRS 12800/P1, item H 2545

This changed in 2000 when the newly elected Bracks Government announced Regional Fast Rail – a project to speed up trains between Melbourne and the regional centres of Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Traralgon.

For the Ballarat line a target travel time of 64 minutes was set, which meant that the existing steam-era alignment needed to be rebuilt to allow the new maximum top speed of 160 km/h to be reached.

At Bungaree the solution to speeding up trains was simple – a brand new 8.2 kilometre section of railway joined the two halves of the existing doglegged route, bypassing the numerous tight curves along the way.

Some impressive civil works were required to build the new line, which had no level crossings:

• 380,000m3 of cut and fill earthworks,
• Construction of four road over rail bridges:
  • Sullivans Road (16m span)
  • Spread Eagle Road (12.5m span)
  • Peerewerrh Road (12.5m span)
  • Old Melbourne Road (18.5m span)
• Two rail over water bridges:
  • Moorabool Bridge: 270m long, 27m high
  • Lal Lal Bridge: 363m long, 40m high

The new deviation joined the existing route at Millsbrook and Dunnstown, but it was decided to retain the old route as a crossing loop, allowing trains in opposite directions to pass each other without stopping.

But in the years that followed, keeping the old route for the purpose became a false economy – track maintenance expenses are a function of track length, so a far more cost effective option would have been to build a crossing loop on the new track, and abandon the ‘long way around’.

My theory for the inaction – the ‘target travel time’ based criteria driving the Regional Fast Rail project meant that minimising capital expenditure and ignoring future operational costs was the order of the day.

Which now leaves us back at the current $518 million Ballarat line upgrade project – the ‘long’ route (marked in red) and the five associated level crossings is being dismantled, and a brand new crossing loop is being built on the ‘short’ route (marked in green) to retain the ability for trains to pass each other.

If only the Regional Fast Rail project had done the job properly a decade ago!

Footnote 1 – wasted money on level crossing upgrades

Retaining the old route via Bungaree looks even more stupid when I remembered that the five level crossings along the way once lacked boom barriers.

VicTrack funded a upgrade of the four level crossings along the Bungaree Loop during the 2012/13 financial year.

• Lesters Road, Bungaree (Flashing Lights, Boom Barriers)
• Bungaree-Wallace Road, Wallace (Flashing Lights, Boom Barriers)
• Old Melbourne Road, Millbrook (Flashing Lights, Boom Barriers)
• Wescotts Road, Wallace (Flashing Lights, Boom Barriers)

Less than five years after that upgrade, and all four crossings are about to close for good!

Footnote 2 – wasted money on new stations

Last week I wrote about the the forgotten access road to Caroline Springs station – if that wasn’t enough wasted money, now an additional $4.9 million needs to be spent reworking the yet to be opened station in order to provide a second platform on the soon to be duplicated track.

Once again, a lack of planning is burning up yet more taxpayer money.

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Some background

The backstory is long and complicated but I’m going to start in November 2010, when politicians turned the first sod on the project.

Work on the access road to the new station was well underway a few months later.

But with a change of government work stopped, with that road being the only work completed.

Fast forward to 2013, and Regional Rail Link was now the big project in Melbourne’s west. New tracks needed to be built from the Ballarat line at Deer Park to the Geelong line at West Werribee, and these passed to the south of the Caroline Springs station site.

These new tracks severed Riding Boundary Road, cutting off access to the Boral Quarry at Deer Park, so the decision was made to extend Christies Road south from the Western Freeway interchange into the quarry.

A new bridge over the Ballarat railway line was required.

But the task was made easier thanks to the work already done on the access road to Caroline Springs station.

The design was a little odd – concrete retaining walls were used on the approach embankments from both sides.

But work wrapped up quickly, with the Christies Road extension opening to traffic on 16 April 2014.

A good outcome – at least at first glance.

Back to the station

Meanwhile back at Caroline Springs, in November 2014 V/Line invited tenders for the construction of the railway station, with BMD Construction being awarded the contract to build the station in June 2015.

By August 2015 earthworks on the station site were well underway, with piling rigs at work sinking foundations for the station platform.

But for road vehicles, there was no way in – the brand new Christies Road extension made no provision for access to the future station car park, despite the road having originally been built as the “Caroline Springs railway station access road”.

As a result the 18-month old roadway had to be dug up.

The shared path along the eastern side of Christies Road was removed to make room for an additional road lane.

And the western side of the embankment had to be widened, to allow the car park driveway to reach the correct level.

By February 2016 the renovations to Christies Road had been completed, finally providing access to the new railway station car park.

But anyone not in a car is treated as a second class citizen – a narrow path is the only way to access Caroline Springs station on foot.

And thanks to the incomplete shared path, cyclists are forced to share Christies Road with trucks accessing the nearby Boral Quarry.

A road built to serve a railway station became co-opted by another project, just to be altered in such a way that made it useless for the original propose – the lack of planning seen at Caroline Springs is outrageous.

Footnote

The new station at Caroline Springs will have 350 car parking spaces, a secure bike cage, drop-off zones, bus bays and a taxi rank.

With Melbourne’s tradition of piss-poor bus to train connections, incomplete off-road cycle paths, and a narrow footpath leading to the suburb of Caroline Springs, I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to access this new station.

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For the western suburb of Caroline Springs, that call was answered in the ‘Victorian Transport Plan’ released in November 2008, which committed to the following:

$220 million for new stations in growth areas including Williams Landing and Caroline Springs in the west, Cardinia Road and Lynbrook in the south-east, starting in 2010.

Unlike most government transport plans that get forgotten after a few years, in July 2009 the Minister for Public Transport issued a media release stating that design work for the new stations had commenced:

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said construction of the four new stations announced in the $38 billion Victorian Transport Plan would start next year.

“Access to public transport services for communities in Melbourne’s growth areas will be dramatically improved with the construction of these four new stations at Lynbrook, Williams Landing, Cardinia Road and Caroline Springs.

“With construction of the new stations to begin in 2010, the design of the four new stations has been packaged together to deliver maximum efficiencies in both the design and construction phase, while also minimising impacts on the train network.”

The design of the new station at Caroline Springs was revealed in a media release dated June 2010, so the “stating construction next year” promise given in 2009 by the former Minister for Public Transport was still achievable:

Minister for Public Transport, Martin Pakula, has unveiled designs for the new train station for Caroline Springs, marking an important milestone for the project.

“The new station for Caroline Springs will be a functional and modern space, enhancing passenger safety and security with closed circuit camera security surveillance throughout the facility.

“There will be bicycle facilities, a taxi rank and bus stops, making it easier for those who use different modes of travel to get to and from the station.

Member for Kororoit Marlene Kairouz said that new V/Line station will be welcomed by the growing community as they will no longer have to travel to other stations to catch a train.

“The new station for Caroline Springs will service a population that is expected to grow to nearly 25,000 within the next 10 years and also reduce congestion at neighbouring railway stations,” Ms Kairouz.

The site selected was south of the actual suburb of Caroline Springs, being located where Christies Road met the railway, to the west of the Deer Park Bypass.

However the cost to build the new station was criticised by The Age in an article published in August 2010:

New railway stations priced at $20 million each four years ago are now set to cost Victorian taxpayers $55 million each, according to Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula.

Mr Pakula has admitted in a statement to Parliament that the average expected cost of stations the government promised in 2006 at Lynbrook, Williams Landing and Cardinia Road in Pakenham had almost tripled. The three stations, all to be built on existing lines, were initially priced at a total of $60 million, including costs over a decade, in a 2006 plan.

By the time of the 2008 plan – state Labor’s fourth transport strategy in a decade – a fourth proposed station had been added at Caroline Springs, and the total estimated cost of building them all had ballooned to $220 million.

Replying to a question in Parliament from opposition upper house MP Ed O’Donohue on the four stations, Mr Pakula sought to explain the massive price difference by saying the cost put forward in 2006 was “a high-level planning estimate”.

“This figure was a high-level planning estimate and was limited to basic infrastructure costs for the construction of three stations,” Mr Pakula said.

“It did not include a station for Caroline Springs, which is funded in the $220 million package … Additionally, the budget incorporates general cost escalations in the construction industry.”

The 2006 plan mentioned in the article was titled ‘Meeting Our Transport Challenges’ and has since been shoved down the ‘Memory Hole’ – no longer appearing on the websites of the Department of Transport or Public Transport Victoria.

You’d think with only an artists impression released by the government and the cost ballooning, that Caroline Springs station was on shaky ground, but in November 2010 the politicians actually made a trip out to the site in order to turn the first sod on the project:

Work on the new Caroline Springs railway station has begun, even though it’s not in the suburb it’s meant to serve.

Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula was last week joined by Kororoit state Labor MP Marlene Kairouz to turn the first sod at the V/Line station, at the southern end of Christies Rd in Ravenhall.

Mr Pakula said delivering a new train station near Caroline Springs was important in serving the local community, expected to grow to nearly 25,000 within 10 years.

“The station, due to open in 2012, will serve current and future public transport needs and help people access jobs, study and also stay connected with family and friends,” he said.

The new station will be on the Melton line between Rockbank and Deer Park stations, about 1km south of Caroline Springs.

The government also launched the customary yet pointless ‘choose the station name’ competition:

The State Government has so far received more than 200 entries for a competition to name the new station but has yet to announce a winner.

By February 2011 work on the access road to the new station was well underway.

But the change of government at the 2010 State Election led to the rest of the project being shelved:

In Caroline Springs, a road has been built to where the new $55 million railway station was intended to go. But the station project, like so many others in the state, is in limbo with no start date in sight. The road leads to empty paddocks

Melton shire mayor Justin Mammarella branded the connection to the Caroline Springs railway station a “road to nowhere”.
“It is ironic that the current state government has commenced works on the road extension … but has placed the construction of the station on hold,” he said.

Once the road was completed concrete traffic barriers were placed across it, presumably to stop local hoons from using it as a drag strip.

Fast forward to February 2012 and the buck passing between the two sides of parliament fired up again:

Quizzed on ABC local radio about when the Baillieu government would deliver the station, Mr Baillieu said: “I will have to check on the date, but Caroline Springs obviously there are commitments there, and the timing of that I would have to double check on that.”

When questioned late yesterday, the Baillieu government revealed there was no date for the construction of the station.
Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said “the previous Labor government failed to allow for sufficient new or upgraded electrical substations for new stations planned as part of its growth area railway station program”.

“Prior to proceeding substantially further with a new railway station at Caroline Springs, the Coalition government is fixing this in relation to the new Cardinia Road [near Pakenham] and Lynbrook [near Cranbourne] stations that will open in 2012.”

Trains that pass through the Caroline Springs station site are diesel powered, not electric, so what has the upgrade of traction power substations have to do with the delays out west? Thankfully someone in parliament took up the issue with Terry Mulder, as recorded in the transcripts of Public Accounts and Estimates Committee’s meeting on May 15, 2013:

Ms HENNESSY — Minister, I have a question about Caroline Springs station. When I go to budget paper 4, page 124, under ‘New stations in growth areas’ I see that funding for Caroline Springs station is pretty conspicuous in its absence, but it was not conspicuous in its absence on PTV’s rail plan, which effectively said it has already been built. What is the go?

Mr MULDER — Okay; what is the go with Caroline Springs. There is a new station planned on the Ballarat line for Caroline Springs. The access road from Deer Park bypass to the station car park at the site has already been constructed. Land has been purchased and detailed design for the station has now been completed. The station is one of four stations that make up the New Stations in Growth Areas program, which also included Lynbrook, Cardinia Road and Williams Landing railway stations. Construction of two new substations has also been added to the scope of the program, because they were left out of the original scope of the program. I think we all understood what happened at Lynbrook and Cardinia Road—there was not enough power to pull trains away from the stations.

Ms HENNESSY — Is there money in the budget to build Caroline Springs railway station, given that the PTV plan says it has already been built?

Mr MULDER — Given that there was a sum allocated to the growth area program, the final accounts for the contractors on Cardinia Road, Lynbrook and Williams Landing stations are in the process of being settled, as I understand, at the moment. That is why the budget is under review. When we came to government there were a number of projects that had massive cost overruns, including projects in that particular program, and PTV is finalising, as we speak, a settlement with some of the contractors over some of the very, very large claims that were laid as a result of the construction of some of those other projects. Ian, would you like to
expand on that?

Mr DOBBS — That is correct. When PTV came into operation we inherited a number of projects that had considerable claims from the contractors. We are now actually in the final stages of concluding those, and we are confident that that will actually leave funds within the budget. But we want to see first of all exactly what those funds are and see whether they can actually, if you like, satisfy the scope of the project as it is—which we have managed to reduce anyway, because we actually looked at the design and found more cost-effective ways of building the stations as well.

Mr MULDER — Yes. I think it is important to understand that we have not stopped. Consultants have been appointed, all the design work has been completed and the project is basically ready to go to tender. We just want to get an understanding: do we have money within the budget for that allocation after we have worked through the cost overruns with the contractors? We have progressed that project.

So in short, the government says the four stations in the Victorian Transport Plan’s “growth area program” had a $220 million bucket of cash to share, and because Lynbrook, Cardinia Road and Williams Landing stations spent most of it, the station at Caroline Springs has been put on hold.

May 2014 update

Still costed at $55 million, it looks like work on Caroline Springs station will start in late 2014. The reason given for the delay is the same one given previously – the current Liberal Government blaming the former Labor Government for cost blowouts in the growth areas stations program.

November 2014 update

V/Line have invited tenders for the construction of a new railway station at Caroline Springs – it closes on 22 January 2015.

June 2015 update

The government announced the BMD Construction had been awarded the contract to build the station, which now features a 350 space car park. At least with the recent changes to Ballarat line timetables following the opening of Regional Rail Link, when Caroline Springs station opens in 2016 it will get a train every half hour off peak!

Footnote

Regional Rail Link is another rail project now underway near Caroline Springs, and it appears some local residents have confused work on it with the restarting of work at Caroline Springs station, as the minutes of the April 2013 meeting of the Regional Rail Link Community Reference Group show:

Questions/comments/actions:
Laura-Jo Mellan (Melton Shire, Coordinator Strategic Planning) expressed concern that residents are calling Council as they think that Caroline Springs station is being built where works are occurring at Christies Road. Suggests a letterbox drop or other communication be undertaken.

Action:
Deer Park-West Werribee Junction project team to clarify the purpose of Christies Road works to public.

The aforementioned work confusing residents is the extension of the mothballed station access road over the existing Ballarat railway line – the bridge is required to serve the nearby Boral Quarry which will otherwise be isolated when the existing east-west roads are severed by the new Regional Rail Link tracks that will run north-south across them.

The Christies Road extension opened on 16 April 2014.

Sources

• Victorian Transport Plan: Victorian Government, November 2008
• Four New Stations for Melbourne on Track: Minister for Public Transport, 16 July 2009
• Designs Unveiled for New Station for Caroline Springs: Minister for Public Transport, 4 June 2010
• Labor in transport cost blowout: Clay Lucas, The Age, 19 August 2010
• Caroline Springs station started: Belinda Nolan, Star News Group, 2 November 2010
• Work starts on Caroline Springs train station, just a bit south: Andrew Jefferson, Melton Leader, 7 November 2010
• State of limbo: Baillieu’s project logjam: Jason Dowling and David Rood, The Age, 25 March 2011
• Caroline Springs station in limbo: Jason Dowling, The Age, 1 February 2012
• Minutes of the Regional Rail Link Community Reference Group: April 2013
• Transcripts of Public Accounts and Estimates Committee: 15 May 2013

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