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A bold $19-billion plan to speed up Victoria's regional trains, which would include express 32-minute trains between Melbourne and Geelong, is at the core of Matthew Guy's policy to decentralise the state. The Opposition Leader has made easing the pressure from Melbourne's booming population central to his election pitch, and today announced a plan to "revolutionise" the regional train network so trains could travel at up 200 kilometres per hour. Mr Guy promised to deliver a "European style" network, including express services, if the Coalition won the November 24 election. Under the plan, every regional passenger line in the state would be rebuilt over 10 years, and two fleets of new fast trains would be ordered. The Geelong line would be the first priority, with 32-minute express services promised to be in place by 2022.He said the project, which would cost between $15 billion and $19 billion, was about taking the population pressure off Melbourne and growing all of Victoria."I believe the state can't not afford to invest in heavy rail and decentralise our population," Mr Guy said."Yes, it will be expensive. We have to do this because Melbourne is growing at 2,700 people a week."We are facing population-growth pressures like our state has never faced."We can't keep doing more of the same. We need a different future, a different way forward". Continue Reading @ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-03/fast-regional-trains-geelong-melbourne-coalition-election-pledge/10332060