METRO'S ambitious five-year plan to provide Melbourne with a world-class train network has been revealed, but it relies on the Baillieu government honouring its 2010 election promise to purchase 40 new trains.

Documents released under freedom of information reveal Metro's strategy to boost Melbourne's train service by 2017. The plan spells out the major constraints to achieving this, including railway congestion, overcrowded trains and inefficient work practices. It forecasts chronic overcrowding on some of the city's busiest lines if the changes are not made.

'Trains would stop at Flinders Street for just 40 seconds, a whistle-stop.' Credit:Craig Abraham

The plan is based on expected passenger growth and the Department of Transport's long-term goals as contained in its 2010 Melbourne metro rail plan. Realising the plan would require a massive investment in public transport on the part of the state government and the federal government through Infrastructure Australia, its nation-building advisory body.

The plan also suggests Metro will struggle to meet its performance targets if its proposed changes are not made, raising the spectre of a network once more bedevilled by late and unreliable trains.