Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Ministers statements: Cranbourne rail line

Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Leader of the House, Minister for Transport Infrastructure) (11:12): I am again very pleased to rise to update the house on the work that the Andrews Labor government is undertaking to improve services on the Cranbourne line. Now, I know our terrific member for Cranbourne knows that the government is investing around $15 billion towards projects that mean we will run more trains on the Cranbourne line and also, importantly, reduce travel times. We are getting rid of every single level crossing on the Cranbourne line, which will actually make it the first level crossing-free line in our system.

The Metro Tunnel of course, which will join up with the Cranbourne line, will create room for an extra 121 000 passengers a week on the line and also achieve that travel time reduction. We are building new high-capacity trains that will also run on the Cranbourne line, and we are duplicating the track between Dandenong and Cranbourne, meaning we can run those extra trains. I know the member for Cranbourne has been flat out working for these projects.

So, Speaker, I put a question to you: how many level crossings do you think we have gotten rid of so far? We have gotten rid of 11 level crossings—more than on any other line. Who would have thought that that was exactly the same number as that of the supporters of the Leader of the Opposition? But before the Manager of Opposition Business jumps up, that is where the comparison ends, because our trajectory on level crossings is going up, because we have still got more to do.

We are getting rid of the level crossing at Evans Road as well. There is more work as well beyond the level crossings with the Suburban Rail Loop, which will also benefit Cranbourne line passengers. And guess what? That connects up 11 train lines going through 11 local government municipalities along the way. It is a magic number, that number 11, so we had better batten down the hatches while we get to work.