Published in The Courier, 24 January 2026
Infrastructure Australia recently released an assessment of the Australian Government’s High Speed Rail Authority, Newcastle to Sydney project.
Committee for Ballarat wants to see the Ballarat to Melbourne and the state’s other major regional city services, Bendigo and Geelong, as the next high speed rail projects of national significance.
Such projects will be key enablers of Victoria’s economic growth and a win for Ballarat, the regions and the entire state.
Australia’s population is growing at a faster rate than many other developed countries around the world and according to the High Speed Rail Authority, our east coast population is projected to have increased by 33 per cent by 2051.
The current state government policy (Plan Victoria) has Melbourne on a trajectory towards a megacity of more than 8.5 million by 2051. This will carry a heavy burden with ever increasing crippling congestion akin to London, Delhi, New York and other megacities.
Regional development, with a stronger focus on growing populations in regional cities and towns, will enhance the state’s productivity by easing population pressures and reducing the congestion associated with Melbourne’s expansion.
Ballarat is ideally placed to lead the way in Victoria, connecting our region, making travel faster and more efficient. This will open new opportunities to business, industries and communities, with new jobs, increased housing and housing diversity, innovation and regional resilience.
Currently, Melbourne acts like a huge vacuum, drawing people, investment, and opportunity away from the regions. This is unsustainable, harms Melbourne’s liveability, fosters social division and is not the most productive path for our economy.
It is time for transformational change and for Victoria to navigate a different path and avoid the calamity that would be Melbourne as a megacity. That path is regional development, including investment in high speed regional rail, starting with Ballarat.
High speed rail to the regions will boost Victoria’s productivity.
A study by the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (NIEIR), estimated an average increase of 15 per cent in regional productivity for Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong over a 30-year period, with investment in high speed rail. It will also enhance the development of ‘corridor towns’ such as Beaufort, Ararat, Stawell, Horsham, Avoca, and Maryborough, securing their growth and trajectory as thriving regional centres.
Reducing travel times and congestion costs is essential for increasing productivity. As Melbourne grows and congestion worsens, every cog in the productivity wheel slows down and the urgency for regional investment speeds up.
By enabling regions as hubs of economic development and innovation, with access to transport, workforce, land, housing and energy, we stimulate population growth and reduce the economic burden of an overcrowded capital city. A further finding of the NIEIR report showed investment in high speed rail would deliver a $29 billion saving over 30 years in the cost of congestion to Melbourne.
Connectivity that delivers a rail travel to and from Melbourne to Ballarat in well under one hour is a critical step towards our regional growth. While investment in Ballarat’s regional line and V/Line services over the past decade have been significant, it is now a victim of its own success. More stations and more services have led to greater congestion, slowing travel times, and reducing productivity.
Investment to improve our regional services must begin with a funded and timely commitment to the separation of Melton from the V/Line network and an upgraded pathway for Ballarat trains to run express from Bacchus Marsh to the new Sunshine Station Super-hub.
Whilst the so called ‘super-hub’ will be a win for regional commuters with direct access the new Metro Tunnel, the benefits will be quickly lost if the Melton to Sunshine pathway is not resolved in conjunction with the Sunshine development.
New regional rail infrastructure is also required, with a new station in Ballarat’s northern growth zone to service the 20,000 plus residents who will live there and improved services to Creswick, Clunes, Talbot, and Maryborough. Increased services to Ararat and the reinstatement of services to Horsham will also stimulate growth and productivity in the Wimmera.
A vibrant and prosperous regional economy will contribute more to the overall success story for Victoria and its economic growth.
Committee for Ballarat stands ready to work with both the federal and state governments to be part of the dialogue to prepare Victoria for the next stage of investment in regional high speed rail. This will accelerate regional growth, supercharge business development in regional economies, ease population pressures on Melbourne and provide a much needed stimulus for the state’s productivity.