Adjournment Motion: Windsor Station Upgrade
Mr HIBBINS (Prahran):My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Public Transport, and the action I seek is that the minister upgrade Windsor station. A good local train station is so critical to the livability of any community, and Windsor station is right in the heart of the Windsor community. In response to my local survey hundreds of commuters suggested several important but relatively low cost and achievable upgrades to the station, all whilst maintaining the station’s important heritage status. The top most popular upgrades were increasing the frequency on the Sandringham line, a second entrance at the western end of the station and a tenant in the empty station building.
In terms of increasing the frequency on the Sandringham line, currently there are about eight trains an hour running during peak hour, and we know there is capacity for more because they put on an extra train when other lines are being shut down due to works. During the off-peak hours there are waits of 15 minutes during the day and 20 minutes during the weekend. This is a train line that is servicing one of our major destinations in Chapel Street, and it is running only every 20 minutes on the weekend. This needs to be improved to run every 10 minutes on the weekend and during the day.
In terms of a second entrance at the west end of the station, this would be a very low cost and easy to implement upgrade just requiring a gate, some Myki readers and possibly some steps or a ramp, and this would greatly benefit residents in the western half of Windsor having travelled through Windsor siding. Windsor siding has recently been upgraded with better paths and lighting by the council, and I think this upgrade would be a welcome contribution by the state government to that upgrade.
Finally, there is strong support for having a tenant in the empty station building. The station building has been out of use for many years. It has been half renovated following a proposal that did not go ahead and many residents would now like to see it put to community use, so I would urge the government to get the internal building up to shape and proactively seek a tenant. That would be very much welcomed by the local community.
As I said, all these upgrades are cost-effective, they are achievable and they would make a real improvement to Windsor station and for local residents. I urge the minister to upgrade Windsor station.
Answer:
Our aim is to get our customers to their destination as safely and as quickly as possible. The Department of Transport regularly reviews the loadings on trains across the network to understand levels of crowding and help prioritise the provision of both service and infrastructure funding to those lines where they are needed the most.
The Metro Tunnel Project will form the centrepiece of a world class metro-style railway network. The deployment of additional Sandringham services when occupations are in place on the Frankston line is facilitated by an increased availability of fleet and additional platform capacity at Flinders Street because less trains are required to operate services on the Frankston line.
Costs for new station entrances can be significant and often requires changes to lighting, CCTV, electrical and communications cables.
The cost of preparing a station building to be suitable for tenants can be significant – particularly when there are heritage considerations to be addressed. If there is a commercially viable proposal for a station building to be used for commercial purposes then this is subject to normal planning and building approvals.
Hon Melissa Horne MP
Minister for Public Transport
Minister for Ports and Freight