Four trains are scheduled to stop at the station in the morning rush between 7am and 9am. But all of them were already at 100 per cent capacity last month, according to figures V/Line publishes on its website. The 7.26am service – full. Next train at 7.41am – full. The 8.01am and the 8.27am – they're both full too. If you want a seat on a train you may have to wait until 9.10am, and be prepared to get to work well after 9.30am.

V/Line's measure of a 100 per cent full train is one where every seat is taken – a very different standard to Metro's trains, which have each had dozens of seats removed in the past two years to create more standing room. But it does illustrate yet again how far Melbourne's population growth has been allowed to run ahead of infrastructure. Little more than paddocks at the turn of the millenium, Caroline Springs, 25 kilometres west of Melbourne, is now home to about 24,000 people. It is part of the City of Melton, one of Australia's fastest growing municipalities. Plans for a station at Caroline Springs were first announced almost a decade ago, in 2008, and a new access road to the station was built in 2010. But construction did not get under way until mid-2015, only for plans to be modified months later, at an extra cost of $4.9 million, to accommodate a new $518 million plan to duplicate the 17-kilometre single track railway line to Melton.

V/Line trains will stop at Caroline Springs station from January 29, but will passengers be able to board them? Credit:Ashleigh Gardner Greens leader Greg Barber said the sparse and likely overcrowded service was very disappointing given residents had waited so many years. "The suburb of Caroline Springs was developed from 1999. They've waited 17 years for a train station. Now that it's under construction we find out the trains will only stop hourly during the day and there will be just four heavily overloaded trains in the morning peak," Mr Barber said. "Caroline Springs is the kind of place where to survive you need to own a car for every adult in the family. I don't see that changing with this lousy service." Public Transport Victoria expects 1500 people a day will use the station next year.

A V/Line spokeswoman said: "V/Line will continue to add new carriages to the busiest trains and introduce new services in the future, to reduce crowding and create space for more passengers as Melbourne's west grows." Those trains that were 100 per cent full in the morning peak last month reached capacity after departing Deer Park station, one stop closer to the city from Caroline Springs. V/Line expects many passengers who currently catch the train from Deer Park will switch to using the new Caroline Springs station.