Monash University > News and Events > Monash Memo

Clayton tunnel vision

30 July 2008

Maribyrnong City Council Cr Janet Rice, Monash University Vice-President (Administration) Peter Marshall, Knox City Council Mayor Cr Jim Penna.

Monash University has endorsed the call for a new east-west rail tunnel in Melbourne, providing a massive boost to public transport, but has urged the State Government to leverage a greater public benefit from the investment by extending the Footscray to Caulfield tunnel to Clayton.

In a submission to the East-West Link Needs Assessment Report by Sir Rod Eddington, Vice-President Administration Peter Marshall said the broader transport needs of Melbourne's outer east could be addressed by extending the rail tunnel to Clayton and Rowville.

Mr Marshall said the proposal was in line with the report's criteria of making transport contribute to Melbourne as a 'knowledge centre' and also contribute to the growth of the Clayton Specialised Activity Centre under the Melbourne 2030 planning blueprint.

The Clayton campus is based within a 'knowledge centre' that includes the Australian Synchrotron and the CSIRO. The Specialised Activity Centre includes the University and nearby Monash Medical Centre.

Mr Marshall said in his submission that extending the rail tunnel from Caulfield to Clayton would enable the State Government to address long standing community demand for improved public transport services in the Clayton-Rowville urban corridor.

"As the University emphasised in our submission to the Monash Bus Review undertake by the Department of Transport earlier this year, the Specialised Activity Centre is overly reliant on bus services for public transport. When we consider the delay and inconvenience encountered by the significant numbers of staff and students who need to change transport modes at the Huntingdale train station, with evidence of overcrowding on some of the bus services from the station to the Clayton campus, our commitment to the provision of a more direct and timely means of public travel to the campus is a genuine priority," Mr Marshall said.

He said at present only 24 per cent of staff and students caught public transport to the Clayton campus. 67 per cent used a motor vehicle. There are 21,000 car trips each day to the Clayton campus.

The University had a goal of making public transport the mode of travel of 37 per cent of staff and students by 2020 and reducing car travel to 47 per cent of trips.

"Monash University, along with a number of high profile institutions based within the Specialised Activity Centre, constitutes an important 'knowledge centre' that has a key role in the development and promotion of Victoria and represents a significant destination in metropolitan Melbourne."

In conjunction with Knox City Council, the University is using the social networking Facebook technology to involve staff, students and residents in a lobbying campaign to back the Monash submission to the Eddington report.

Knox Mayor Cr Jim Penna said he hoped thousands of Monash University staff and students would sign the on-line petition. "It's time for the State Government to get serious about public transport in the east," Cr Penna said.

To access the petition go to the pt4me2 Facebook group web page or visit the pt4me2 website. See also Monash University's submission (pdf 327kb).