The Greens’ Evelyn candidate Tania Giles, Eastern Victoria contender Samantha Dunn and Eastern Metropolitan Region candidate Damian Magner propose a new railway station at the Hull and Mooroolbark roads intersection.
By Casey Neill
MOUNT Evelyn train users will have a new Lilydale line station and more frequent services under a $54 million project from The Greens Party.
The party’s Evelyn candidate Tania Giles said a site near Hull and Mooroolbark roads would house a new platform and a second track would run between Mooroolbark and Lilydale stations.
But the State Government slammed the promise as “false hope” while the Opposition labelled it an ineffective use of funds.
Ms Giles said Mooroolbark and Lilydale stations were almost five kilometres apart.
“A new station located halfway between would service residential areas to the north-west and east of this location, including Mount Evelyn,” she said.
The site is located on the Kilsyth and Evelyn electorate boundary.
Greens Kilsyth candidate Justin-Paul Sammons said the new station and second track would make it “easier and more convenient for people to use public transport and help to prevent hold ups caused by the single-track sections of the line”.
Eastern Victoria Region Upper House candidate Samantha Dunn said the project would improve travel options beyond the private car.
“We see an over-reliance on cars out here, it’s about time people had a public transport system that takes you where you want to go when you want to go,” she said.
The commitment was part of the Greens’ Public Transport Plan for Melbourne’s East, which their Eastern Metropolitan Region Upper House candidate Damian Magner launched in October.
A State Government spokesman said the Greens had released a “grab bag of under costed policies, which do nothing except give false hope to the people of Melbourne’s east”.
“The Greens political party must come clean and tell Victorians if they will give their costing to the independent Victorian Treasury or will they reinstate death taxes to pay for the under-costed projects,” he said. Evelyn MP Christine Fyffe said locals had been lobbying for improved parking, not a second railway station.
“They have lobbied me for major improvements to the parking at the existing Mooroolbark station to rid it once and for all of the parking, traffic and safety issues that discourage residents from catching the train,” she said. Ms Fyffe said The Liberal-Nationals Coalition would upgrade the parking facilities to create more spaces, provide better security and lighting and fix accessibility issues.
“Our commitment addresses the community need in a cost-effective way that represents better value for the taxpayer’s dollar,” she said.
