THE findings of a business case assessing the extension of the Frankston rail line are due “shortly”.
The state government announced the business case and planning work for “a future extension of the Frankston line to Baxter” had begun in April 2018. The original state government media release stated that “the business case is expected to be finalised in early 2019.”
Requests for an update on the progress of the case sent to Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke were diverted to the Premier’s media department.
Senior media advisor Matt Macklin said “we’re in the process of finalising the business case, and it will be provided to the federal government shortly.”
“The Andrews Labor government is spending over $3 billion on upgraded to the Frankston lines so we can run more trains more often, reducing travel times and leading to fewer delays and cancellations,” he said.
“We’ll continue working cooperatively with the federal government to deliver better rail for the region, including improvements to the Stony Point line.”
The federal government has committed $225 million for electrification and duplication of the line, while the state government has yet to make any commitment. The business case was conducted with $3 million in funding from the federal government.
Earlier this year, Frankston Council and Mornington Peninsula Shire teamed up to state their desire to have the line extended past Baxter to Hastings.
Frankston mayor Michael O’Reilly said in April that both councils had met and support “stage two” of the project extending the rail line through to Hastings. “If the project is to be delivered as a staged rollout, both councils support Frankston-Langwarrin as stage one and Langwarrin-Hastings as stage two,” he said.