Deer Park station has seen remarkable growth.
In 2008-09 it saw fewer than 80 passengers per weekday. The most recent annual data for 2022-23 said it had 326,000 passengers for the year – the 7th busiest on the V/Line network. This is an average of 893 per day, but likely to be much higher on weekdays.
So in 14 years, patronage is up by at least 10 or 11 times, reflecting local residential growth, but probably sparked even more by the vastly improved train frequencies, which used to be very poor, but are now similar to suburban Metro stations.
Deer Park is on both the Geelong and Ballarat lines. There’s strong suburban growth further out, affecting both the Wyndham Vale (Geelong line) and Melton (Ballarat line) areas, causing crowding on the trains.
9 car trains
In 2021 the government announced the planned introduction of longer 9 car trains for both lines – something of a stopgap compared to the electrification pledged in 2018, but certainly helpful.
In 2022 several 9 car trains started running on the Geelong line every weekday, but only stopping at the stations that can cope with them.
- 06:54 Wyndham Vale, Tarneit, Sunshine, Footscray, Southern Cross
- 16:55 Southern Cross, Footscray, Sunshine, Tarneit, Wyndham Vale
- 18:34 Southern Cross, Footscray, Sunshine, Tarneit, Wyndham Vale
V/Line fare rules mean inbound passengers can only board those trains at Wyndham Vale and Tarneit. Outbound passengers can only alight at Wyndham Vale and Tarneit.
So the longest trains in service can only fully serve two stations on their route.
Having these trains stop at busy Deer Park (and perhaps have a shorter train slightly earlier or later skip it) would make much better use of that additional capacity.
The rebuild
In 2023 Deer Park station was rebuilt, as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project.
The Herald Sun reported on Sunday that the platforms have been built slightly too short for 9-car trains. Here’s Channel 7’s follow-up:
How long should the platforms be?
The standard length for new Metro platforms is 160 metres (to cope with the present 6-7 car fleet) with provision for 230m (potential future 10 cars).
V/Line platforms are similar, though standards documents I’ve seen talk about V/Line requiring 20 metres longer than Metro (eg 180m or 250m).
But it’s still a mystery why, as first noticed by Marcus Wong, at the brand new Deer Park station, they were built to 215m, not the shorter standard of 160-180m, or the longer standard of 230-250m.
215m leaves them too short for the future 9-car trains on the Melton (Ballarat) line, and more importantly right now, the current 9-car trains already running to/from Wyndham Vale (listed above).
Extending the platforms at all the stations on the line out to Melton is technically a separate project to the Level Crossing Removal Program that rebuilt Deer Park.
But I don’t think it’s too much to ask that different government projects work together to minimise total costs to taxpayers… especially when the longer trains are already running through this station.
It’s not the first time something like this has happened.
- They built the Footscray station overpass, then partly demolished it because it wasn’t long enough
- They delivered various Frankston line station upgrades just before they demolished the stations
- Caroline Springs was built with one platform then rebuilt with two before it even opened
This shows a lack of forward planning and project coordination. Having to go back and extend a newly built platform is a waste of money.
Apart from the media reports noted above, you can find comments from yours truly in this 3AW segment from Sunday, and also this one with Sammy J on ABC Melbourne from Monday (starts at 1h:44m:30s).
8 replies on “The saga of Deer Park’s platforms”
I didn’t think the nine-car trains were still running? They suffered from everyone cramming into three cars with the remaining six largely empty.
Another pair of stations stuffed up before opening are Tarneit and Wyndham Vale, which opened in 2015. Tarneit had a huge catchment vs Wyndham Vale which had a really small one at the time. Tarneit received a basic station, a bus interchange on the wrong side of the station from all development (recently rectified), and originally only four bays for six bus routes. Wyndham Vale received a superior station, a well positioned bus interchange, and eight bays for four routes. Each station was the exact opposite of what they should have been. Tarneit fast became the busiest station on the network (after Southern Cross) and suffers from inadequacy to this very day.
The pattern is clear. The west continually receives shortcomings or poorly designed infrastructure while the east/south often receive over-engineered results. It’s as if nobody from DTP has ever set foot in the western suburbs.
@Flanders, thanks – I haven’t been able to check if they’re actually running, though they’re still listed in the current V/Line working timetable.
One failing of the VLo fleet is the inability to move along the train when it’s a 6 or 9 car set. The 3 car sets linked together have advantages, but also disadvantages.
Is the required platform length based on the entire length of the train fitting along the platform, or the length from front door to rear door?
Could they not just lock the first door at shorter platforms?
As someone coming from a country with proper infrastructure planning and, more importantly, infrastructure legislation, I was really surprised at how little coordination and futureproofing are established in Australia. With one of the most expensive construction costs and operating costs, every step heavily relies on consultants, it should be better. In addition, managers insist on assessing CAPEX higher than OPEX and neglect the impact on the national economy, making our railways less resilient than the ones in other countries.
@Jon, unfortunately the VLocity fleet does not support Selective Door Operation.
The lengthening of the platform at Deer Park and a few on the Melton line should be a no brainer. Sydney recently extended many of it’s platforms to fit the new 10 carriage Marijung sets, so no reason Melbourne should not do it.
Seems to be a lack of consideration for passengers full stop. Whoever is responsible for platform failed to ask V/Line what size the trains are, while V/Line fails to account for platform sizes. The second issue, which odd sized platforms makes worse is scheduled dwell times are far too short. Making passengers rush out the door when there is nothing to catch them is asking for an accident to happen.
On a train from Bendigo to the city just now when stopping at Malmsbury the driver said “the train is longer than the platform, so move as far forward as possible before getting off and ensure there is a platform in front of you before stepping off”…. but maybe that’s only an option at the quieter stations?