Waurn Ponds stabling yard
Proposals for the construction of a stabling yard for V/Line trains at Waurn Ponds date back a number of years, with early rumblings on the topic dating back to at least 2007. During this time it was suggested that the sidings would be built on land near the Waurn Ponds cement works.
With the opening of Waurn Ponds station in 2014, the Waurn Ponds holding siding was opened as an interim solution for the management of multiple trains in the single track section.
A stabling yard at Waurn Ponds would remove the need for V/Line to run empty car movements to and from the stabling sidings at Geelong station, increasing capacity on the single track that services South Geelong, Marshall and Waurn Ponds stations. It would also also free up space in central Geelong for property development.
In 2011 V/Line's 'Initial Strategic Operations Plan' identified that by 2018 increasing patronage on the Geelong line would require the purchase of additional high-capacity DMU trains, which should be stabled and maintained at a new facility at Waurn Ponds.
In the 2015-16 State Budget, the Victorian Government committed $115 million for the project, which would feature both stabling sidings and a maintenance facility, which would provide 30 ongoing jobs once completed. This was part of a $257 million package that also included the purchase of 21 new VLocity carriages.
The facility will occupy 35 hectares to the south of the existing rail corridor at Mount Duneed, 200 metres wide and 1.9 kilometres long, located between the Reservoir Road and Pettavel Road level crossings.
The site is currently farm land, with current owner Stan Larcombe unhappy with the compulsory acquisition of his land, due to it cutting his existing sheep paddocks off from the shearing shed on the other side.
Events
Line Opened
| November 25, 1876 | Line opened Geelong to Winchelsea |
Sources
- Victorian Government train plan cuts historic Mt Duneed property in two (September 23, 2015)
- Victorian Government presses ahead with plans to buy farm for train yard (September 30, 2015)
- $257 Million For New Regional Trains And Local Jobs (1 May 2015)
- V/Line Initial Strategic Operations Plan (10 November 2011)
- RailPage Australia forums: North Geelong Yard moving to Waurn Ponds? (25 November 2007)