Rowville-Rail-Study-Final-Stage-1-Report-FINAL

Final Stage 1 Feasibility Report
A Rowville rail line concept
Secondly, in the morning peak the Dandenong, Cranbourne and Pakenham trains that
Rowville passengers would be transferring onto would already be full.
Scenario 2 (diverted Dandenong services) could only provide a limited service (3 trains per
hour in the peak). It could be seen as an interim stage that would provide a service to
Rowville without the need for capacity improvements (and/or reconfiguration of service
patterns) between Huntingdale and the City, but it would probably not make sense to invest
in a rail line to Rowville without being able to run a high-frequency service; the demand for
Monash University alone means that the 20-minute rail service would probably have to be
supplemented with shuttle bus services as well. Furthermore, removing peak train services
from Dandenong would not be popular with the community.
Scenario 3 is our preferred service option. It is the only option that would enable a full service
to Rowville, Monash University and all the way into central Melbourne. As a minimum, and in
conjunction with service improvements on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines, it would
probably require an additional track from Huntingdale to Caulfield (and/or improved signalling
capacity) and grade separation of four level crossings. With attendant increases in service
levels on other lines, Rowville services would contribute to the need for increased rail
capacity in central Melbourne (i.e. the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel) as well.
6.1.2 Coordination with other rail services
It would be important to consider coordination between Rowville and other train services, to
reduce the inconvenience associated with transfers for people who want to travel to and from
destinations across the rail network as a whole. Transfers between Rowville and other train
services would probably occur most at Huntingdale, Caulfield, South Yarra, Richmond,
Flinders Street and Southern Cross.
Future passenger movement patterns would need to be estimated and analysed in more
detail to help ensure that train timetabling allows for convenient transfers wherever possible.
6.1.3 Coordination with feeder bus services
Bus services would need to be reconfigured to serve Rowville rail line stations. This would
probably result in:
truncation of the 900 SmartBus at Monash University, instead of Stud Park;
alterations to other SmartBus routes (e.g. 703, 902) to ensure that they are wellcoordinated
with Rowville rail services;
removal of the 601 shuttle bus service between Huntingdale station and Monash
University; and
redesign of coverage, frequency and timing of local bus services in all suburbs served to
cater for the access and egress legs of Rowville train users.
As part of this, it would be important to ensure that bus/rail interchange facilities are welldesigned
at new Rowville rail line stations, particularly Monash University and Stud Park.
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