Connecting Melbourne Metro Rail to South Yarra Station would cost up to a billion dollars and destroy more than 100 properties – yet it would be of little use to South Yarra locals.
A Melbourne Metro Rail Authority assessment of South Yarra connection options show the case for including a new station at South Yarra is ‘very poor’, providing a meagre return of 20 to 33 cents for every dollar invested.
The original option assessed by the Authority placed new platforms more than 200 metres away from South Yarra station, over Toorak Road, making it complicated and time consuming to change between lines.
These poorly connected platforms would cost around $700 million to build and would require the destruction of more than 100 properties.
To build the platforms closer to South Yarra station would cost $970 million and require the acquisition and destruction of 82 homes and half the Jam Factory.
The benefits for passengers and local residents of this chaos and distress would only be marginal compared to the benefits Melbourne Metro Rail will already provide to South Yarra locals.
Melbourne Metro removes the busiest line on the network – the Cranbourne Pakenham line – from South Yarra Station. This will reduce congestion at the station and enable more frequent and reliable trains from Sandringham and Frankston every few minutes into Flinders St and the City Loop.
These high-frequency, ‘turn up and go’ services will have seamless connection to every line on the network, including the new Melbourne Metro Rail stations, via the new underground rail system.
No matter how you build it, a connection at South Yarra just doesn’t stack up and won’t be built by the Andrews Labor Government.
However, with train patronage and population growing, improvements will be required at South Yarra station and considered as part of planning for a growing network.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Allan
“Melbourne Metro Rail provides two underground connections in the CBD – that’s what our train system needs. An additional connection at South Yarra would cost a billion dollars, destroy more than a 100 homes and businesses and would be of little use to South Yarra locals.”
“A billion dollars would be better spent improving services across the metropolitan and regional train network.”
“If the Liberals and Greens want another station at South Yarra they need to justify why they’d spend a billion dollars destroying homes instead of fixing our rail system.”
“For people in South Yarra, Melbourne Metro Rail means faster, more reliable services to the CBD and across Melbourne.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020