An expectation I initially thought was basic, now I realise was borderline absurd.
It was that if I wanted to get somewhere, I could just hop on a train, anytime, anywhere – and get there.
Even in Shepparton.
No fuss, no delays.
For my city brain, that seemed a no-brainer.
But I was quickly enlightened by my boss at the time.
A few months into the job, I booked an early morning flight from Melbourne to Brisbane and he questioned how I was going to travel down to Tullamarine Airport after work.
“I’ll catch the night train, of course,” I said with a roll of the eyes.
To which he responded by laughing in my face.
Before informing me the “night train” is non-existent in our region, and I’d better find another option.
He still won’t drop it – and continues to wrap my Christmas gifts in train timetables just to make sure I don’t forget.
But that moment highlighted this to me – the lightning-quick, on-demand transport options I’d taken for granted in Brisbane are, here, a luxury.
And will continue to be so if Shepparton misses out on fast rail – our one beacon of hope when it comes to transport for our booming region.
With the state government appearing likely to back out of its plan to build a rail tunnel between Sunshine and Southern Cross stations, where does that leave us?
With scarcer services and whopping travel times, as we continue to squeeze on to tracks with suburban trains for the foreseeable future.
Yes, Melbourne is growing – but so are regional hubs like Shepparton.
And yet we continue to be treated like the poor cousin, metro rail lines taking precedence while our V/Line services are “strangled off the network”.
This isn’t just about making it to the airport whenever I want (although, I’ll admit, that’d be nice).
This is about a community thriving.
Because if this efficient regional rail network eventuates, we’ll see a whole lot more economic growth flowing into the region.
But if we (once again) miss out, this could leave us even worse off than other major regional hubs - since we didn't get a share in the Regional Rail Link, completed in 2015.
Maybe having a fast, reliable train service is not an absurd expectation after all.
Maybe it’s just a basic right.
The demand is here.
The numbers are here.
Why then, does our community still not have the high-quality rail services we deserve?
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