Tuesday, 27 August 2024

Metro Tunnel

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (17:34): (1074) The action that I seek this evening is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure to deliver on the Park Street tram link and the tram network reforms that the Metro Tunnel can unlock. The Age recently revealed a leaked report that says:

Government has approved in-principle descoping [of] the Park Street Link …

This 300-metre missing tram link along Park Street, along with other tram reforms, are not add-ons that can be cancelled when they become inconvenient to the government; they are an integral part of the Metro Tunnel project. Tram reforms formed part of the original business case for the Metro Tunnel, with the choices of tunnel alignment and station locations specifically justified on the basis of relieving pressure on St Kilda Road and Swanston Street tram services, which the business case document quotes as being congested and ‘currently operating close to capacity’.

This short 300-metre section of tram track on Park Street, a tiny fraction of the whole project’s budget, would provide fantastic value for money and really increase the benefits to the local community and interconnected areas. It would enable tram routes from the St Kilda Road corridor to be diverted through South Melbourne to Spencer Street and Docklands, providing much-needed cross-town travel options and better connectivity to these parts of the city. This would also help trams act as feeder services to and from the new Anzac station, bolstering passenger numbers on the Metro Tunnel trains. The City of Port Phillip have also expressed their concerns about the prospect of this important link being dropped without any notice. Minister, I ask you to deliver on your government’s promise to the people of Victoria and my electors in Southern Metro by delivering the Metro Tunnel project in full, including the Park Street link and associated tram route reforms.