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Railway Project Brings Thousands Of Jobs To Region

Upgrade to train services offer employment opportunities for related industries

By Emma Kae - 3rd July 2002 - Back to News

The development of the Regional Fast Rail project is set to provide thousands of jobs to Gippslanders involved in the project. The $115 million improvements to the railway that connects the Latrobe Valley with Melbourne will provide more frequent, reliable and comfortable services that run faster and more efficiently than ever before.

The State Government estimates that the construction of the rail project will create approximately 1100 jobs for the Latrobe Valley section of the line, with employment available for building the infrastructure works, the new trains and the additional communications upgrading.

Victorian Premier, Mr. Steve Bracks spoke of the great benefits the new railway would bring forth once the project had been completed. "This unprecedented boost to regional public transport will drive economic growth right across Victoria, and will make our regional cities even more attractive places to live and work by linking them more closely to Melbourne," he said.

The decision to go ahead with the project, came after detailed feasibility studies which assessed the project's viability. The results indicated that the faster travel times on the new railway would generate increased useage. In addition, it is expected that the railway will also help overcome many of the obstacles of economic growth in regional Victoria by boosting population, heightening tourism, reducing road congestion (benefiting the environment), encouraging new investments and improving job opportunities.

The new railway would deliver express travel times of 70 minutes between Flinders Street station in Melbourne and Moe, (95 minutes to Traralgon) through new trains operating at speeds up to 160km/h – resulting in a huge 18% reduction in time.

Work on the project will commence by November 1st and is scheduled to be completed by mid 2005. The tender was awarded to companies John Holland and Transfield, contractors highly experienced in rail projects in Australia and overseas.

In addition to the railway project, Morwell is expecting an upgrade to it’s transport interchange. In a four-year joint project between the City of Latrobe and the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, transport services and Morwell’s CBD will be revitalized and improved. The $800,000 project includes improved subway access and pedestrian crossing, enhanced integration of transport services, redevelopment of the station area, and the relocation of the freight lines.

More information is available from the Department of Infrastructure website

Do you have something to say about the railway project? Join the discussion forum to have your say.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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