Many people have called for the Melton line to be electrified and upgraded to the standard we expect for a suburban railway line. To the passengers on the line it was disappointing that the upgrade was not included in the government's blueprint for public transport, Meeting our Transport Challenges.

However, electrification is not necessary in order to provide a service equivalent to what the rest of the system gets. The only aspect in which it currently lags is in service frequency. By buying extra V/Locity railcars and training extra drivers, it would be possible to upgrade the Melton service to a half-hour off peak frequency or better.

Building trains and training drivers would have to be done anyway if the line were electrified. The only disadvantage of this arrangement is that the running costs will be higher due to the cost of diesel fuel. On the positive side, it can be done relatively simply and cheaply, because the V/Locity cars are still in production (so the cost of extending the order will be lower than it would otherwise be, and the lead time to delivery may be shorter). Also, the passengers on the Melton line will not lose the comforts of long distance trains - better quality seats, on-board toilets and water fountains, and running express from Sunshine to the city.