Flemington Racecourse station Credit:Mathew Lynn Four towers and a low-rise apartment precinct are proposed at Flemington, on racing club land that it says is ripe for residential development. One hectare of land is on Epsom Road, and another three hectares are in Ascot Vale, next to Flemington Racecourse railway station. The railway station and spur line are used for just a handful of race days, and for special events like the Royal Melbourne Show. The racing club says it "firmly believes" developing apartments next to the rail station "should act as a catalyst to a larger transformation of the under-utilised railway corridor".

An artist's impression of planned apartment towers next to Flemington Racecourse railway station. But both the Andrews government's public transport authority and its transport department say adding more trains to that part of the rail network will hurt other parts of the system. On Friday, a panel of experts was due to hand its advice to Planning Minister Richard Wynne on whether to proceed with the massive development five kilometres from the CBD. An artist's impression of planned apartment towers at Flemington Racecourse. Greenland's design envisages 1136 apartments, spread over four towers ranging from 15 to 31 storeys, as well as lower-rise units.

It wants Mr Wynne to rezone the land from a special use allowing only racing activity to a Comprehensive Development Zone – which would see the project completed with little local council or resident input. An aerial artist's impression of the four apartment towers - one at left, three at bottom - at Flemington Racecourse. Among submissions to the minister's advisory panel was one from Public Transport Victoria. It said there was no way Flemington Racecourse railway station could be used for daily services, because putting more passengers onto the system would create problems. Upgrading the racecourse rail line to run regular commuter services was not an option, the authority argued, because trains would get in the way of heavily loaded Craigieburn line. And disrupting Craigieburn line trains by supplying rail services to Flemington Racecourse could also disrupt Sunbury and Upfield line trains.

Upgrades to allow Flemington Racecourse to be served daily would "require significant and expensive infrastructure works". Trains servicing the existing racecourse rail station had also been ruled out by the Andrews government's Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. "A regular commuter rail service to Flemington Racecourse is regrettably not supported" by the department, PTV wrote. The racing club argues that building apartments on its land could help fund racecourse improvements, deliver much-needed housing, and bring residents who would inject new vibrancy to the area. An artist's impression of two of the apartment towers planned on land owned by Victoria Racing Club. Credit:Clay Lucas But residents who already live near the planned developments say they will cause gridlock unless there is adequate public transport.

They are also concerned with how quickly the rezoning of the land could happen, and the lack of transparency around the process. Peter Tyrrell, from the Ascot Vale Residents Action Group, said they had been kept in the dark on the proposals for months – only to be bombarded with detailed proposals and given only a handful of weeks to respond. "We were getting very little information and then it was all unloaded on us at once," he said. The Public Transport Users Association's Daniel Bowen described PTV's attitude to bringing daily services to an existing railway station as both "disappointing" and "defeatist". "It would be refreshing if instead of simply saying it's impossible, our transport bureaucrats responded with a plan for how a train service might be provided," he said. And if commuter rail services were completely impractical, PTV should evaluate alternatives such as upgrades to local bus services to provide fast, frequent links to the nearest train. "A large development close to existing rail infrastructure is a great opportunity to encourage sustainable transport, by providing new residents with alternatives to driving everywhere," Mr Bowen said.

While Flemington Racecourse station is normally used only for special events, it was used by commuters recently during shut downs of the Sunbury line for the Regional Rail Link project. The three proposed apartment towers next to Flemington Racecourse railway station, on land owned by the Victoria Racing Club in Ascot Vale.