Residents in Melbourne’s booming southeast have said they are paying the price for broken promises – with the Allan Government yet to deliver on its predecessors pledge to plan a train line to Clyde.
Eight years after promising to plan the Clyde rail extension, the Victorian Government is facing backlash from southeast Melbourne residents for failing to deliver the project. Despite the Cranbourne line duplication finishing in 2022, thousands in the booming corridor remain without a local station, creating intense, ongoing congestion and transport issues.
- Broken Promise: Residents and the Casey Residents & Ratepayers Association (CRRA) argue the project was promised but not fulfilled, leaving the community “neglected”.
- Impact on Growth: The Clyde and Clyde North area is rapidly expanding, with forecasts of over 100,000 residents by 2031, yet public transport has not kept pace.
- Urgent Calls: The CRRA is demanding immediate, bipartisan commitments for the Clyde Rail Link, warning that further delays only increase construction costs.
- Background: While the 2022 Liberal pledge for the project was noted, the current Labor government has been criticized for the lack of action since pledging to plan the extension.
The community is urging for a clear, funded delivery plan ahead of the next state election to solve the region’s transport crisis.
It is difficult to see this issue as anything other than another transport planning failure in the state of Victoria. Melbourne is Australia’s largest city and transport planning is just not cutting it.
The same issues are now manifesting in the north with 30,000 new homes and no railway station. If Transport Victoria are unable to plan properly then the department heads should be removed.
Fascinating the train has not been returned why?
The area from Dandenong and surrounds is stated to be the size of Canberra in population, why doesn’t the planning work? A single line track could not be that expensive to make good?