SWAN Hill to Melbourne in just under three hours.
That’s the promise offered up by state Coalition leader Matthew Guy this week, with the announcement of a $19 billion high-speed regional rail link, if the party is successful at November’s election.
The pledge for a European-style rail network was designed to encourage more people to live in regional areas, rather than a rapidly expanding Melbourne.
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said the ambitious project would transform the state’s rail network and slash travel times on the Swan Hill line.
Under the current design, travel time from Melbourne to Swan Hill would be cut from four hours and five minutes to 179 minutes.
“Our high speed rail project will get Swan Hill line passengers where they need to be sooner,” Mr Walsh said.
“We’ll cut travel times to Swan Hill, Kerang and Pyramid Hill with track upgrades to increase speeds to 130 kilometres per hour, introducing limited express services to Swan Hill and building high speed rail between Bendigo.”
To read more of this story, grab a copy of the October 5 edition of The Guardian.
