HOBSONS Bay Council last week voted unanimously to write to Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder and all state MPs to demand the restoration of train services to Altona.
Mayor Tony Briffa moved the notice of motion calling for train services to be restored to and from Altona, Seaholme and Westona stations, and for an independent feasibility study into reopening a train station in Altona North.
“I can certainly say that it affects Altona and Seaholme people when they’re trying to get home and they’re dumped at Laverton instead,” he said.
Altona Meadows ward councillor and Rail, Tram and Bus Union organiser Luba Grigorovitch said it didn’t help when Metro was financially rewarded for meeting its timetable targets by bypassing the Altona Loop. “Metro did cut a lot of our services from Altona, Westona and Seaholme and obviously that’s having a big effect on our residents,” she said.
Seabrook ward councillor John Hogg said it could take more than one or two decades to fix the west’s transport woes.
“I’m reminded of some of the issues we’ve got at Laverton [station] with sometimes up to 1400 vehicles parking there every day; people taking advantage of zone one.”
Cr Hogg said infrastructure had been “left to languish” with three Hobsons Bay railway stations closed down.
