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

9. Findings and recommendations
9.1 Summary of findings
We summarise the findings of Stage 1 of the study as follows:
Final Stage 1 Feasibility Report
Findings and recommendations
Community consultation confirms that support for a rail line is strong, although many
suggestions for alternatives were also made.
There was also strong support for continued improvement to other public transport in
the interim (i.e. before the rail line opens).
Key stakeholders are generally supportive and are also concerned about local
impacts, both positive and negative. Monash University in particular is a strong advocate
for the rail line as it will serve existing and future development at the Clayton campus.
Running Rowville train services direct to the City would require improvements on the
Dandenong line from Huntingdale to Caulfield and adds to pressure for rail capacity
improvements in central Melbourne as well.
The Rowville rail line would be a complex engineering project. The details we have
outlined are based on minimising the impact on the existing road system.
Based on the preliminary design concepts, construction of a Rowville rail line is
possible but has significant complications due to the surrounding urban environment and
the lack of historical protection of a route.
A key benefit of the Rowville rail line would be to improve public transport access to
Monash University Clayton campus and the surrounding employment precinct. It could
also be argued that proposed further development in this area should only proceed if
such improvements occur.
The Rowville rail line could generate significant economic benefits to the community;
the economic impact study by the City of Knox provides some initial insight into this.
If the rail line is pursued further it should be recognised that it will likely increase land
values and pressure for development, and structure plans for the areas affected
should be revised accordingly.
An important issue overall is that the Metropolitan Planning Strategy currently being
developed might identify different long term development objectives for the area in the wider
context of Melbourne’s future urban form.
The Rowville rail line is dependent on capacity improvements on the Dandenong line and
into the city, which are more than a decade away. Therefore interim actions are needed to
continue the progress already made in improving public transport in the area whilst the rail
improvements are planned and implemented.
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