Mr Chamberlain said the train line had the potential to take thousands of cars off inner-city streets.

“This section of the railway (off the Newmarket train station, on the Broadmeadows line) is scandalously under-utilised given it is dual track and it is used two periods a year at the spring racing carnival and the royal show,” Mr Chamberlain told The Age.

He said that with an existing rail line for 60 per cent of the distance to the city, a rail link to the new suburb was a prospect worth considering.

He added the investment would increase land values of the newly approved 128-hectare suburb, which would be an investment to the government, which would sell the land.

New train stations would be built at Highpoint Shopping Centre, Victoria University, and possibly East Keilor, where another disused rail line exists. It’s been speculated that disused rail line, visible from the Western Ring Road, will form part of a rail link from Melbourne Airport, to Footscray in the long term.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said “Highpoint Shopping Centre, like most of our shopping centres is flooded with cars – shoppers driving around looking for parking”. He said a new train line through the north-western suburbs would make sense.

“Having gone through renovations before with tradesman coming and going, it was great to buy off the plan and get everything we wanted in the house and just watch it being built,” said Mr Eagleton.

The development is one of a wave in Melbourne’s inner western suburbs, and is close to the Edgewater project in Maribyrnong.

The proposed Maribyrnong project would involve 70 poker machines being relocated from at least four other western suburbs locations, including Footscray’s Whitten Oval.

Maribyrnong City Council rejected the Club Edgewater application last year, citing inadequate parking, the impact on local traffic, and the fact that gaming machines are not permitted in strip shopping centres.

Objectors hoped the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation would "slash rather than shift" the number of poker machines allowed in the municipality.

Instead, on Christmas Eve, the VCGR supported the Western Bulldogs’ proposal.

VCAT has rescheduled the hearing from March to June, giving objectors time to plan an appeal.

Western Bulldogs president David Smorgon had told The Age the Whitten Oval redevelopment, and the construction of Club Edgewater "will go a long way in ensuring the long-term survival of the club".

He said the football club had not had an acceptable social venue since the 1960s.

Council approval for the $25 million development will bolster the number of Victorian pokie machines controlled by Tattersalls, at the expense of gaming rival Tabcorp, which will have 48 machines it currently operates at the Whitten Oval in Footscray decommissioned.

Within hospitality sectors, the City of Maribyrnong and the City of Melbourne are considered the two “best earners” in regard to pokie revenues. Each adult in Maribyrnong loses an average $1,148 per annum on electronic gaming machines, compared to $406 per annum for Port Phillip residents, and $599 for those living in the Melton shire, according to research from Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation (VCGR).

Chairman of the Edgewater Business and Networking Group (EBNG) Enzo De Fazio said residents were not aware of plans to build a large, licensed gaming venue at Edgewater when they bought into the estate, and were concerned about ill effects of social liquor consumption, and gambling.

Edgewater developer Delfin sold the Edgewater Club development site to Tattersalls in late 2006, rather than put it to public tender, where EBNG says a developer might have proposed something other than a gaming venue.

The number of pokie machines to be available at the Edgewater Club also needs to be approved by the VCGR.