CAROLINE SPRINGS: Train station to be open by 2016

A new V/Line railway station for Caroline Springs will open in 2016, the Napthine government says.

Construction of the $55 million station, which will in fact be built in the neighbouring suburb of Ravenhall, will begin later this year, Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said. 

‘‘The new station will be located between Deer Park and Rockbank stations on the Ballarat line, about a kilometre south of the major Caroline Springs housing estate,’’ Mr Mulder said.

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It is estimated the station will be used by 1500 people a day. There will be 350 car parking spaces and a timetable for connecting buses will be finalised shortly before the station opens. It will be a zone two station, with fares capped at zone one rates.

Plans to build the station were first announced in 2006 and an access road to the station has already been built but the project was put on hold shortly after the Coalition government came to power in 2010 and has been in limbo ever since. 

Mr Mulder blamed cost blowouts in the former Brumby government’s $220 million station growth areas program for the long delay.

It will be the last of four outer suburban stations to be built as part of the program, which included Williams Landing on the Werribee line, Cardinia Road on the Pakenham line, and Lynbrook on the Cranbourne line.

The station will include a single island platform with shelter and seats, closed circuit security cameras, a taxi rank and bus bays, a secure bicycle cage and facilities for protective services officers.