A rail line along Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway, connecting the Doncaster Park-and-Ride with the Hurtsbridge line at Collingwood is the most viable option, according to a new report.

The Doncaster Rail Study’s Phase One draft report, released by State Minister for Public Transport Terry Mulder, concluded that the rail alignment could be expected to carry 56,000 passengers per day by 2031.

“The Eastern Freeway option would provide a fast, frequent and reliable service between Doncaster and the CBD, with the journey expected to take around 25 minutes,” Mr Mulder said.

“The Doncaster rail line would start at the Doncaster Park-and-Ride, and would pass under the Eastern Freeway to a station at Thompsons Road in Bulleen, then cross into the freeway median and on to a station at the Chandler Highway in Kew.

“The new rail line would then pass under the freeway and connect into the Hurstbridge line at Collingwood station, with trains continuing into the city on the existing tracks,” Mr Mulder said.

This route was also the one most favoured by community members in the area.

“More than 60 per cent of people who gave their feedback to the study team listed the rapid transit route as their first preference,” Mr Mulder said.

Mr Mulder said the Doncaster rail line was one of the medium-term priorities outlined in the government’s submission to Infrastructure Australia and welcomed the release of the study’s Phase One draft report.

The draft report, prepared by an independent study team of engineering and planning specialists, identifies a number of rail network capacity challenges that would need to be addressed before a rail line to Doncaster could be introduced.

These challenges include measures to increase the number of trains that can be run on the busy South Morang and Hurstbridge group of lines.

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