RESIDENTS are angry at constantly seeing empty V/Line carriages zoom past the Deer Park platforms while they wait at the station they have nicknamed “the swamp”.

About 100 residents attended an information session hosted by Brimbank City Council on Thursday night about the East West Link Needs Assessment (EWLNA) by Sir Rod Eddington.

They verbally attacked the only State MP to attend the meeting – Keilor’s George Seitz – saying that local MPs had sat on their bottoms and done nothing to lobby for upgrades at the Deer Park Station or the electrification of the line to increase services.

Some of those at the meeting at Sassella Park Community Centre in Deer Park said they were promised upgrades and extra services at the station when they first moved to the area more than 50 years ago.

“There are some politicians, including some in this room, who have not gone in to bat for the residents of Deer Park,” one resident said.

The resident said they believed that because the area was made up of safe Labor seats, politicians had been sitting on their bottoms and had done nothing for the area – including the Member for Derrimut, Telmo Languiller.



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“The station is a swamp,” the resident said.

Another resident said it was time for people power and urged those at the meeting to each put in a submission to the State Government demanding improvement of the Deer Park train service.

Brimbank mayor Sam David said the council agreed an upgrade of the station and services was long overdue.

Brimbank’s engineering services general manager, Leigh Harrison, told the meeting the State Government’s position was that there would be no new suburban lines until the inner-city capacity issues were addressed – including those at North Melbourne Station, the City Loop and the line between North Melbourne and Footscray.

Mr Harrison said the EWLNA recommendations for a rail tunnel and Tarneit V/Line link between Werribee and Sunshine would only benefit Deer Park services in the long term. They would lay the foundation for extending the metropolitan rail network further to the west if they were built over the next 15 years as proposed.

“That’s not early enough,” he said.

Brimbank Council has recommended in its submission to the State Government on the EWLNA report that the rail tunnel project should be built concurrently with the road tunnel, mainly due to predictions that the Deer Park Bypass will be at maximum capacity within 10 years.

One resident said when they moved to the area in 1966, residents had been promised an upgrade at the station within five years – but that still had not occurred.

Another resident said it was easier and faster to drive to Essendon to catch a train to the city than any stations in the Brimbank/Maribyrnong area.

Other concerns raised by residents included:

• Why it was a priority to have the rail tunnel connect to Caulfield rather than provide services to Deer Park and Melton;

• The fact that the car park at the station would usually be full by 6am on weekdays; and

• The lack of space on carriages, with people being squeezed in like cattle.

Greens Party member Robert Gibson suggested the State Government look at interim solutions such as providing bus routes from Deer Park directly to the city.