Morrison Government’s Geelong to Melbourne bullet train nothing but a “thought bubble”
A proposal to build a bullet train between Melbourne and Geelong has been described as “a thought bubble on the eve of an election” by a senior Andrews government minister.
The Herald Sun reports today, the Morrison Government has today promised $2 billion for a fast rail service between Geelong and Melbourne.
Federal Minister for Cities and Urban Infrastructure Alan Tudge says they expect the Victorian Government to contribute another $2 billion.
When quizzed about whether they’d approached the Andrews Government to stump up the cash, Mr Tudge said they had discussed it with them “last night”.
The Victorian Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan says at no stage has she had a conversation with Mr Tudge about this, and the Andrews Government has already started planning work on a fast rail option and if the Morrison Government was fair drinkum, they would have been working with them on it prior to this point.
“A thought bubble on the eve of an election, from the Prime Minister is woefully underfunded,” Ms Allan said.
Crystal Legacy, Senior lecturer of Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne told Ross and John this idea is severely under-planned.
“The classic Victorian and federal governments is the lack of strategy and lack of plan,” Ms Legacy said.
“Cities around the world have been thinking about infrastructure like this for a very long time, and they’ve got strategies and plans and business cases already lined up.
“And we’re just starting to do the intellectual work now, and there’s questions that should already be answered.”
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