Two new rail lines in the outer western suburbs of Melbourne – a past election promise from the Victorian Government – have been cut from new development plans, as revealed in a bombshell report from The Age.
The proposed electrified rail lines were part of the state’s Western Rail Plan which was unveiled prior to the 2018 state election and promised to extend the metropolitan train network to outer western suburbs such as Deer Park, Cobblebank and Caroline Springs.
On 2 August The Age reported the rail lines being “axed”, attributing the finding to documents obtained through a freedom-of-information request – showcasing the Rail Project Victoria (RPV) cutting the tracks from the new plans.
These plans, created in 2023, show that the metropolitan trains will operate on existing Regional Rail Link (RRL) tracks.
A Victorian Government spokesman told The Age that the RPV’s plan was an internal working document and that the agency had not decided about electrifying the existing RRL
