Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Whenever I do surveys of my electorate, transport issues of one form or another inevitably come out as one of the top issues of concern to local residents. Only around six per cent of local residents travel to work using the heavy rail network or other public transport. The vast majority of the rest are sole-occupant drivers. I would like to update the House on three matters that local residents have expressed as concerns.

The first concern is the Rowville rail proposal. I have been fighting for this proposal for some time, and it has been on the agenda for many years. The Baillieu government commissioned a full $2 million feasibility study into this proposal. This study was promised by the former Bracks government but never delivered. The Baillieu government has finally delivered on this. We are halfway through this study, the first report of which was released earlier this month. The report finds that a Rowville rail link would connect Rowville to Huntingdale station, then connect to the Dandenong line and then into the city. Indeed, there is already some land set aside for that along Wellington Road. This first report outlines a number of challenges, which include the current congestion of the Dandenong line, to which the Rowville line would connect. The report also outlines some of the challenges associated with congestion on the inner-city loop and elsewhere that needs to be addressed. Despite these challenges the report recommends that the study and the analysis continue. We look forward to the final report of this feasibility study being brought down early next year, at which time there will be a full assessment of the economic benefits as well as the full costs associated with it.

We envisage that the link will cost at least $1 billion, if not more, to build. Should the cost-benefit analysis prove it to be a beneficial project I will be pushing very hard to ensure that state and federal governments contribute to the project, because it has three immense benefits. Of course, it would have a benefit for my local residents, who would finally have a rail link into the city. The second benefit would be that it would remove traffic from the heavily congested Monash Freeway. Some of the early scoping studies suggest it would remove the equivalent of a lane of traffic from the freeway. Thirdly, it would connect Australia's largest university campus to the rail network. These are three very important benefits that will be quantified in the second stage of this feasibility study.

The second issue I would like to raise is the Stud Road bus lane. One section of that has already been removed, which is something I had been advocating for. The second section of Stud Road that is dangerous and needs to be looked at is the section between Burwood Highway and Boronia Road. It is particularly dangerous because there are a very short sections, which sometimes are only a couple of hundred metres long. That means that cars are going in and out. This needs to be examined; I encourage VicRoads to do that and provide a safe solution.

Finally, in relation to the road network, there are a number of hot spots around my electorate that local residents would like improved. One particular one that was raised with me by residents of the Waverley Country Club Retirement Village just last Friday is along Bergins Road. There is no right-hand-turn lane for these residents to turn from. They are concerned that when they try to turn right into their retirement village traffic banks up behind them and there could be accidents. I would like to see that right-hand-turn lane installed. I have requested that the council have a look at that with a view to then prioritising it in future budgets, because I think it would remove the dangers and make it easier for people to access the Waverley Country Club retirement village. Those are three important projects. I am glad to have been able to update the House on them this evening.