Transport

Our arterial road corridors are critical connections between our communities, activity centres and employment precincts.

The major arterial roads in the City of Melton are not suitable for the existing high volume of traffic. They are predominantly of a rural standard with unsealed shoulders, no public lighting, open drains and non-existent bike and pedestrian paths. With rapid employment and residential growth, roads that are already unsuitable and under pressure will experience further congestion as demand increases.

Fast-tracking infrastructure projects including the Western Highway, Melton Highway, Hopkins and Ferris Roads, and the Robinsons Road, Westwood Drive and Calder Park Drive corridor is urgently needed to service key employment precincts including Horizon 3023, Melbourne Business Park and Cobblebank Major Activity Centre (MAC).

Investment in an Outer Western Roads Package to upgrade roads and interchanges that are critical to employment and residential growth will unlock jobs, improve productivity, liveability and safety.

It’s time for strategic federal and state investment that delivers a number of road and interchange upgrades consecutively to the Western Highway, Melton Highway, Hopkins Road, Ferris Road, the Palmers Road Corridor and Taylors Road.

Independent cost–benefit analysis by Clarity Consult demonstrates that these projects provide an opportunity to improve productivity and reduce congestion with significant returns on investment. Furthermore, delivering them will attract increased commercial investment, support 73,000 future jobs and provide a range of economic benefits.

For more information visit: Moving Melton 

The growing suburbs along the Melton rail line are serviced by diesel regional trains with commuters having to fit into already overcrowded Ballarat services.

The Victorian Government and Australian Government have invested in an upgrade of the Melton line to carry nine-car Vlocity trains. While this will improve capacity during peak times by 50 per cent, there will not be any improvement to frequency. However, extension of the electrified rail network from Sunshine to Melton and the separation from the Ballarat line, would triple current capacity, increase frequency and improve travel times.

In 2024–25, the Ballarat Line grew by 2.12 million passengers per year with Melton stations combined growing by 684,200 passengers per year. Additionally, 806,050 annual passengers used Melton Station, making it the fifth most-used station in Victoria’s regional network.

Over the next 25 years, more than 100,000 dwellings are expected to be constructed in the City of Melton. This will mean more than 300,000 residents will almost exclusively be serviced by the Ballarat railway line. The existing rail network will not cope with this increase in population.

The upgrade of the rail network would divert traffic from surrounding roads leading to less congestion. It will embed more affordable, healthy and sustainable transport practices in our community.

Four level-crossing removal projects to be completed by the end of 2026 and the construction of the Cobblebank Stabling Yard has future-proofed the duplication and electrification of the Melton Line. Council is calling on government to deliver the electrification to coincide with the Sunshine Station upgrade so that both are completed by 2030, a position supported by Infrastructure Victoria. 

We are also calling for new stations at Mt Atkinson, Thornhill Park and Calder Park.

Train station car parks in Caroline Springs, Rockbank, and Cobblebank are over capacity by 7:30 am and trains are already reaching capacity in peak periods. Getting to and from existing train stations is creating heavy congestion on major arterial roads and increasing the travel times for commuters.

As a result of limited car-park capacity and access to existing train stations, people opt out of the public transport system and stay instead on the road network. New train stations at Mt Atkinson, Thornhill Park and Calder Park will provide accessibility to public transport and enable employees to access new employment hubs without the need for an additional car.

For more information visit: Moving Melton 

The City of Melton needs a more frequent, direct and better-connected bus network. The Victorian Government has committed to new services within the new growth communities including:

• new route – Thornhill Park to Cobblebank Station
• new route – Rockbank Station to Tarneit Station via Mt.Atkinson
• Rockbank, Aintree, Watergardens Station, Caroline Springs Package: routes 444, 461, 463 and 464 redesign and service uplifts.

We welcome these investments that will get residents to train stations efficiently and alleviate stress on train station car parks.

Lack of access to effective public transport increases financial hardship, impairs health and wellbeing outcomes, and reduces people’s equity of access to services, jobs, education and opportunity.

Melton City Council has completed a review of the local bus network and our analysis has shown that more direct and frequent bus routes in the Caroline Springs area have increased patronage in recent years, while indirect and infrequent bus routes in the Melton area have decreased in patronage in the same timeframe. A smarter bus network can better connect our community. With a modest additional annual investment, more people can have access to a local bus network linking them to jobs and vital services.

We are calling on the Victorian Government to review the bus networks to refine existing routes to create more frequent and direct routes with turn-up-and-go services. We are also calling for an additional $10 million a year implemented over time to improve connections into the growth areas that currently have no or few services. This funding will create east-west and north-south connections and ensure the new proposed routes commence with more frequent services and link directly to key destinations including train stations, retail, recreation and employment precincts.

For more information visit: Moving Melton 

There is no safe way to travel between Melton and Caroline Springs and on to the CBD using active transport. There are missing walking and cycling connections on major arterial roads and there is much to be done to increase participation in active transport. Council is investing in active transport across our local roads and is seeking the Victorian Government to do the same.

The 2021 Census showed that in the City of Melton, 0.8 per cent of residents rode a bike and 1.3 per cent walked to work, compared with the Melbourne metropolitan average of 1.4 per cent who rode a bike and 3.5 per cent who walked to work.

An increase in the use of active transport, including walking, cycling and scooters, will decrease the number of vehicles on our road network, reducing congestion and embedding more affordable, healthy and sustainable transport practices in our community.

The biggest barriers to the take-up of active transport are safety concerns as residents are forced to ride on arterial roads with vehicles traveling up to 110 kilometers per hour, or ride on uneven nature strips. Additionally, there are remaining at-grade level crossings on the Melton Line at Mount Cottrell Road , Paynes Road , Leakes Road and Troups Road North that require safe active transport connections on both sides of the road.

We seek investment in the missing shared-path network on major arterial roads, priority shared-path networks and the Werribee River Shared Trail.

For more information visit: Moving Melton