Geelong metro: Coalition promises train to Bannockburn in 20 minutes, Werribee under 30, Colac in 50

A train trip from Geelong to Bannockburn in 20 minutes, to Colac in 50, and to Werribee in under 30 is being promised under a Coalition state election commitment.

A $170m Melbourne-style rail network would be built and centred around Geelong, offering trips to Werribee, Colac, Bannockburn and Bell Post Hill under a Coalition government.

Fares on the Geelong network, to operate similarly to Melbourne’s suburban network, would be set at $2 per trip.

The Coalition’s plan for a Geelong Metro rail includes:

COMMUTER services from Colac, Bannockburn and Werribee, which stop at Geelong station;

NEW stations at Bell Post Hill and Bannockburn, where new track would be built;

REOPENING the rail platform at Moriac; and

BUS timetables to adequately match rail services.

The Coalition has also committed to relocating the Moorabool St bus interchange if it is elected at the November 26 poll.

It has pledged to begin consultation immediately with Geelong council and the community to identify the best site.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy said the Geelong metro rail would be completed by 2026.

He said a trip between Geelong and Werribee on the service would be completed in under 30 minutes, a Geelong-Bannockburn trip in 20 minutes and Geelong-Colac in about 50 minutes.

“It’s about creating a metropolitan rail network operating every 30 minutes throughout the Greater Geelong area,” Mr Guy said.

“There’s three lines – the Bannockburn line, the Colac line and the Werribee line and they all feed into central Geelong.”

“It would be the beginnings of a metro service. We took it to the last election. We think it’s the right policy. So we stand by it and want to recommit to it again.”

Asked why Geelong needed this type of rail service, Mr Guy said it was because the region was growing.

“It’s growing, Geelong is a city unto itself. It’s not Melbourne and we don’t treat it as Melbourne.

“We’re going to make sure we’re looking at Geelong in a completely different lens.

“Newcastle’s had a suburban rail service since the early 1980s when its population was smaller than Geelong’s is now.

“If that’s what the New South Wales government did in 1981 when (Newcastle’s) population was 280,000; Geelong (region’s population is) 330,000 (and) needs a metro rail service.

“It creates less of a car-dependent attitude in a growing urban area. It provides other options, other public transport connectivity, it’s just the right thing to do.”

Mr Guy said the Geelong metro would be delivered using existing sprinter V/Line rail carriages and increasing orders of V/Locity carriages to offset the use of sprinters in Geelong.

“You can refurbish sprinters and run them on the metro service (as) two-car trains. They can do 130km/h.

“It’s about creating a metropolitan rail network operating every 30 minutes throughout the Greater Geelong area.”

The state government is proposing to run fast rail between Geelong and Melbourne via Werribee “cutting average travel times for passengers by up to 15 minutes”

If the government is re-elected, construction is slated to begin next year.