Wednesday, 3 June 2026

 Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (10:23): I rise to make a further contribution on the Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s report on its inquiry into the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users. That is why I continue to also draw the respective ministers’ attention to the 61 findings and 56 recommendations that were set out in the report that are all about making our roads and streets safer and our transport system more sustainable. I draw the house’s attention to recommendation 3 that:

The Victorian Government continue to invest in public transport to make it a more attractive option …

to get more people commuting sustainably. In that respect I commend the free public transport initiative that we introduced over April and May and the half-price public transport that will now be in place between June and the end of the year, which will save people hundreds of dollars for the remainder of the year and continue to encourage that record patronage that our buses, trains and trams have continued to experience.

It is also why I welcome the ongoing investments we are making to particularly improve the Craigieburn and Upfield rail corridors through the Metro rail tunnel to create that new capacity in the city loop to help support and facilitate more services now and over the coming years; the removal of level crossings through Coburg – we have already removed four, at Moreland Road, Reynard Street, Munro Street and Bell Street – to make those roads safer as well; the eight further level crossing removals we have committed to deliver through Brunswick by 2030 at Park Street, Brunswick Road, Union Street, Dawson Street, Albert Street, Victoria Street, Hope Street and Albion Street; the new 20-minute weekend services that we have introduced, down from every 40 minutes, that are largely now implemented; the commitment to new 20-minute weeknight and evening services to reduce that period down from every 40 minutes; the new timetable that is being rolled out from the middle of this year to continue improving those local services; and the $7 million business case that will continue to support essential planning for future upgrades, namely for the Upfield line. This budget contained $3.6 million of state investment towards that business case, which is exploring for the various northern rail corridor lines – the Craigieburn, Upfield and Mernda lines, but particularly Upfield – opportunities around duplication, extension, further level crossing removals north of Bell Street and the other necessary upgrades that we need to introduce to continue to improve particularly peak services along the corridor.

Notwithstanding these improvements we are making on the Upfield line, we must continue to do more, especially to mitigate against service disruptions and things like short shunting because they impact lives and families. This email I received from Simone on 2 February following an unforeseen service disruption I think best crystallises those impacts. She said:

Today my daughter started her first day of high school. She has spent months planning her route to school and calculating the times she needs to wake up, get ready, and leave for the station to get to school on time. Imagine our family’s frustration today when her 7:17am train from Merlynston to Parliament was cancelled. She waited nervously on the platform for the next train at 7:33.. which was also cancelled.

We have four kids with two working parents, so today we all had to do a mad scramble to arrange different parents to take different kids to their respective schools for their first days and rearrange work, as a result of the train cancellations. I had to take my toddler to Carlton in peak hour traffic to drop my daughter off at her first day of high school. My husband had to return from the train station and drive the primary school kids to Hadfield, then work from home instead of the office, which meant starting later and consequently having to finish work later tonight.

…

We have been living in Merlynston for 18 years, working and paying taxes. I assume there is a plan of action to improve the rail network in the area.

Please advise what the plans are to improve train reliability from Merlynston to the CBD in the future.

That is exactly why we are continuing to invest to improve the services, accessibility, quality and frequency on the Upfield line – for Simone, for her four kids and for all local families. It is only Labor that will continue to invest to improve the Upfield rail corridor.

Again, I draw the house’s attention to recommendation 3 about investing in public transport. In the state budget we recently invested a record $100 million boost to improve bus services across the state, including in my local community, which headlined the bus announcement. The 526 bus route from Coburg through to Newlands will move to seven-day services, including on Sundays for the first time, through 20-minute average frequencies. The 508, Alphington to Moonee Ponds via Brunswick West and Victoria Street – the member for Northcote advocated strongly for more frequent services – will increase to every 15 minutes in weekday peak, weekend services will double to every 20 minutes and it will run later via extended services to midnight Monday to Saturday. The 503 bus route, Essendon to East Brunswick via Albion Street, will be boosted by an extra 25 weekly service, delivering consistent 20-minute weekday frequencies outside of the peak times, with improved connections to Craigieburn. We still have to get that happening on Sundays as well, though. The 561 bus route, Pascoe Vale station to La Trobe University, will have increased weekday peak and weekend frequencies, and the 542 bus route, Pascoe Vale station to Roxborough Park – the member for Greenvale is here as well; this will benefit him – will have a full service uplift from Monday to Saturday and the Sunday service will be extended to 10 pm. We are taking real action to improve public transport across our community.