“We’re very happy about this,” said Kylie Williams on Wednesday. The Cranbourne East resident, who is moving to Clyde next month, said the rail line was long overdue. The mother of five said she and her husband were sick of driving on clogged roads to reach Cranbourne station, only eight minutes away by car – but double that during busy times. She declined to say if the rail proposal would change her vote. Labor holds the seat of Cranbourne by 2 per cent, and it is expected to be hotly contested at this year's state poll. Mr Guy said the rail line would be extended within four years, at a cost of $487 million. It would open in 2022. "This is fully costed, fully budgeted and will commence in the first term of a government I lead,” he said on Wednesday alongside the Liberal candidate for Cranbourne, Ann-Marie Hermans.

The proposed extension would not tackle chronic bottlenecks that hold up Cranbourne train services, because a single section of track from Dandenong would not be immediately duplicated. Mr Guy said he wanted to change the travel habits of people living in the rapidly expanding south-east by extending the train line before duplicating the section of single track. Loading "Usually, it would be the duplication and then the extension, but we must get people out of cars. We must provide an alternative to car-based transport earlier than we are doing now," he said. The first stage of the upgrade would involve extending the track five kilometres along the old South Gippsland line, to Cranbourne East and Clyde. Cranbourne station would also be rebuilt.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy with Liberal candidate Ann-Marie Hermans. Credit:Chris Hopkins The new rail line would avoid level crossings by building underneath intersecting roads such as the South Gippsland Highway, Mr Guy said. More broadly on public transport, he appears to back a rail link to Melbourne Airport along the Craigieburn line, and has pledged to include a transfer station at Prahran as part of the $11 billion Metro tunnel project. He has also promised to duplicate a section of single track on the Hurstbridge line. But he has remained tight lipped on Melbourne Metro 2, a second underground rail link many transport experts want to see built under the city. The Casey area added about 45,000 cars to the road network between 1996 and 2006 – almost the same as the entire number of cars in the Glen Eira local government area.