THE state Department of Transport has a long-term plan to electrify the rail line between Frankston and Baxter and eventually the spur line to Mornington.
The plan has not been officially released but actions by the department and new rail operator Metro Trains Melbourne hint at the move. These include:
■ The Peninsula Link freeway builder being instructed to build a multi-million flyover where the planned freeway crosses the disused rail line south of Baxter to allow for three rail lines.
■ An email from Metro Trains Melbourne that discusses parking trains overnight at Baxter and electrifying the line to Baxter.
■ Mornington Railway Preservation Society ordered to raise the height of a footbridge at its Moorooduc station base to allow room for power lines above the track.
The Mail believes the department is looking at building a large train parking area, also known as a stabling yard, at Baxter to accommodate up to 28 trains from yards at Mordialloc, Carrum and Frankston, which would be dismantled.
But first the line needs to be electrified, an expensive proposition.
The state government's 2009 budget committed $562 million to extend the Epping line 3.5 kilometres north to South Morang, to be completed by 2013.
Baxter to Moorooduc is about 5.5 kilometres.
Melbourne's suburban railway network has 16 electrified lines, the central City Loop subway and 200 stations, with a total length of 830 km of electrified lines.
Mornington Railway Preservation Society, formed three years after the last Mornington train in 1981, operates monthly tourist trains between Moorooduc and Mornington, and has long harboured ambitions of restoring the section between Moorooduc and Baxter.
A single track for a steam engine and carriages plus a level crossing at Moorooduc Highway near Eramosa Road West would cost at least $8 million, far beyond the society's means.
If the Department of Transport has its way, the halcyon days of riding commuter trains between Mornington and Melbourne would return, but it could be many years hence.
The Mornington to Baxter line was closed by the Liberal Government in June 1981, just after Lindsay Thompson replaced Rupert Hamer as premier.
Baxter is where the rail line from Frankston splits just south of Baxter-Tooradin Road. The eastern branch carries a Sprinter diesel train to Stony Point via Somerville, Tyabb, Hastings, Bittern and Crib Point on eight trips a day.
The western branch between Baxter and Moorooduc is closed with the line between Moorooduc and Mornington used by the tourist railway only.
Train travellers could once ride 68 kilometres from Melbourne to Mornington's centre and alight 200 metres from the beach. Where the historic station once stood is a Centro shopping centre.
Nowadays the rail line terminates at Yuilles Road on the eastern side of the Nepean Highway in Mornington south of the Tanti Park estate, more than 1.5 kilometres from the beach.
The former railway land was sold off and is now the site of homes, part of The Bays Hospital, roads and parking areas.
Far-sighted Shire of Mornington chief executive David Collings, who was later a councillor on the amalgamated shire between 2000-03 and mayor in 2002-03, drove the setting aside of a large parcel of land for a modal interchange near where today's trains terminate.
The land is a passive recreation area with trees and shrubs, and picnic tables and chairs.
Recent moves to build public and low-cost housing in Baxter would hasten the plan to electrify the line to Frankston and make it part of the metropolitan network.
As rising fuel costs and crowded roads make driving cars less practical and palatable, reviving train travel is an option governments all over the world are considering.
But you'll never be able to ride the rails to within sniffing distance of Mornington's beaches.
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