Doncaster has waited 135 years for a train. It will have to wait at least 20 more.

71-year-old Doncaster East resident Frida sits and waits for a bus at the main bus interchange at Westfield Doncaster Shopping Centre.

It’s a daily routine for the retired pensioner – but unfortunately she says it isn’t likely she’ll be able to catch a train from Doncaster in her lifetime – with a planned station not set to open for at least another quarter of a century.

“It is a bit of a nuisance to connect to the different buses,” Frida told the Eastern Melburnian. “The train service would make it a lot easier. With all the new housing…a lot of newcomers and now the shortage of fuel, it’d be good to have a train.”

At the turn of the century, Doncaster Hill was transitioning from a low-density residential area into a higher-density hub.

Now, the area is in a type of limbo, awaiting a new train station as part of the Suburban Rail Loop North proposal, which is still more than 25 years away from completion.

🏗️ Big things grow: At 120 metres above sea level, Doncaster Hill is one of the highest points in Melbourne and covers 58 hectares along the major corridors of Doncaster Road, Williamsons Road and Tram Road.

• Major developments in the area included the Westfield Doncaster Shopping Centre in 1970 and the MC Square Community Centre in 2012.

• The State Government first named Doncaster Hill as a “Major Activity Centre” in 2002.

❓ What’s that? Major Activity Centres are areas identified as preferred locations for increased housing growth and diversity, as well as retail, commercial activity, community services, employment and public transport hubs.

✍️ Plans in place: First endorsed by Manningham Council and introduced in 2002, the Doncaster Hill Strategy was a 20-year outline, detailing $2 billion worth of development across 4,080 new residences by 2021.

• As of 2019, about 1,770 apartments had been constructed, with permits issued for an additional 1,000 apartments.

• The 2026 population forecast for Doncaster Hill is 4,832 and is forecast to grow to 9,318 by 2046.

📈 Rising prices: The median house price between April 2025 and March 2026 in Doncaster was $1,550,000 based on 309 sales –  2.85 percent up compared to the April 2021 to March 2022 period.

• However, in terms of rent, prices have skyrocketed over the past four years – sitting at a median weekly rent of $820 a week from April 2025 to March 2026, an extra $260 compared to the April 2021 to March 2022 median weekly rent of $560.

🚊 Train dreams: The push for train connections to Doncaster date back as early as 1890, with plans entering discussions periodically throughout the decades, with the main push imagining the line to run along the median strip of the Eastern Freeway.

• Plans took initial steps but costs blew out and words became too heated to see them over the line.

• In March 2008, local councillors sent a petition of 7,000 signatures supporting the Doncaster rail line to then-Transport Minister Lynne Kosky.

• The North East Link project and associated busway, which included a narrowing of the Eastern Freeway median, quashed any hopes for a Doncaster rail line as it was first imagined.

🙏 New hope: The State Government has proposed a new station at Doncaster as part of the Suburban Rail Loop North, but plans have put the start date for construction at 2035 at the earliest.

No work will take place until the SRL East section is complete.

📍 Change on the horizon: Manningham councillor Geoff Gough said while Manningham Council would be involved in talks around the SRL, planning and housing development in the area would come under the State Government’s responsibility.

• 🗣️ “As I see it, the biggest challenge is to have enough open space accessible for a much higher population,” Gough told the Eastern Melburnian.

Thumbnail Image Credit: Bob Tan