London just completed parts of a new underground line, the Elizabeth line, linking Heathrow in the west (probably 30 odd km from central London) to the east. Also known as Crossrail. Pretty much all underground and in some places only inches from existing Tube tunnels.
There was a doco called the ‘15 Billion Pound Railway’ on it, which I found very interesting.
The thing about this project is that it can overcome a lot of the constraints we’re currently afflicted with - length of stations, height of tunnels potentially allowing Sydney-style double-deckers, general modern techniques, eg Japanese bullet trains. It’s a bit of a pity we can’t have another loop about halfway from the city, say connecting Brighton, Caulfield, Chadstone, Box Hill, other eastern and northern suburbs I have no interest in, Essendon, Footscray, Williamstown, but too much development has probably already happened here.
I really like most of the infrastructure projects the Andrews government has done.
Now V-Line has dropped one of the daily Warrnambool-Melbourne services, after going from 3 to 5 a couple of years ago.
Bear in mind though that there will be people prepared to complain about anything that’s done. And a lot of them will work for Murdoch.
This was the announcement of a legit detailed business case, not the actual project detail. I would take with a handful of salt any quotes about it, for example, all being underground.
I mean, that would be a significant statement given it presumably includes the Airport-Sunshine link, most of which there is no need to tunnel. Also, how does that interact with the CBD-Airport link - is it a shared line to Sunshine then splits?
I think that’s the plan. One of the options was basically using the Craigieburn line up to Broadmeadows then from there producing a spur line off there to the airport. It would also stop all stations on that line, whioch would be madness. Would be an hour long commute to travel the 23km from the CBD out to Tulla. The most expensive option would be to make a line exclusive of the existing network travelling north-west from the CBD with stops along the way at Maribyrnong, etc. The Sunshine option isn’t a bad one.
From my biased point of view I would prefer extending the Flemington Racecourse line through Highpoint and Keilor East and Airport West to the Airport. Then you can run this arc route independently of the CBD-Airport line and not have this split dilemma.
As for the level crossings removal program… over-stretched and narrow-focused would be a kind way to put it. Buckley Street removal is well underway and they still won’t reveal the traffic report or the final plans. A lot of it is being amended on the run, and unfortunately road-under-rail is an underperforming option that will create as many issues as it resolves.
For example, huge money spent and the station still won’t be DDA-compliant. They’ll have to go back within a decade to fix that (legal requirement). That and some other aspects are too short-sighted for a hundred year project.
The 2 party system is the most inefficient system of a democratic Gov you could invent.
You could not count what it has cost Taxpayers over the decades while these prickz just go about point scoring and cancelling each others projects and pork barrell into marginal seats.
How the fk did we wind up opting for Oppositions, rather than co-operations?
ILove the topic as it’s something I’ve always had an interest in. Honestly I could never figure out how Melbourne was voted the worlds most liveable city when its transport options absolutely suck. Every other major city in the world has a train to the airport yet Melbourne hasn’t and still won’t for a long time. Our spoked style train network and the heavy reliance on the CBD has just led to bottlenecks, with so many people and vehicles having to come into the city to get somewhere else.
I like trams but think they have actually constrained Melbourne’s thinking around transport options. They require a lot of infrastructure and are comparably slow moving, while actually not moving that many people. Furthermore they congest the roads for other users including cars and bikes. Buses could do an almost identical job without the need for tram tracks and overhead power supply. Plus there is a lot more flexibility around bus routes.
Trams running to middle suburbs and even inner suburbs just take too long to be really practical. I spent some time living in Richmond up near the river about 5 years ago where it was much quicker to walk an extra 10 minutes and catch a train from Burnley station than walk outside and hop on a tram that took me straight to work. If an inner city train loop was in operation more people could be moved more efficiently. With that you could also have higher density of living which would go somewhere to containing the endless urban sprawl which is another issue which needs to be addressed.
As to the current proposal I hope it goes ahead - although it would be nice to shorten the construction timetable. We shouldn’t be building for today’s need but what we need tomorrow.
Living in Singapore at the moment is a real eye opener. They are literally building train lines that aren’t needed but know they will be in time. Granted it’s a city state with plentiful cheap labour due to some generous laws but they are making sure they are relevant. Something Melbourne, Victoria and Australia seem to struggle with. Some of the claims Singapore are making include that:
-there will be a train station every 400m in the city centre
-on average a new station will be opened every 3 months between now and 2030
-by 2030 8 in 10 households will live within 10 minutes of a train station
I hope yesterday’s announcement isn’t just hot air and something is actually done. The big issue I see is the project won’t pay for itself and therefore will face intense criticism, which will lead to a watering down or complete removal. It would be great if politics could be put aside and real planning for the future is acted upon.
I’m fairly sure we had both an inner and outer circle once upon a time. If I’m not mistaken there’s still remnants of this on Lygon St, just after Brunswick Rd. Would’ve been handy:expressionless:
Melbourne’s real issue that it’s post war geographical spread coincided with the car becoming aspirational. It was just assumed people living away from the inner city would drive. Hence all infrastructure went into roads rather than rail.
It’s amazing to think that other than small extensions to existing lines the city loop is the only real rail project since world war 2 is the city loop - consisting of 3 new stations. Other cities are constantly building new lines to keep up with demand.
There are fairly large amounts still viable. On the d Inner city line through Fitzroy North and Carlton North it is evident in parklands including Princess Park. It actually divides a little of Carlton North from the rest of the suburb just south of Brunswick Road.
The outer circle line still has the Chandler Highway crossing and then parkland running all the way from this bridge to East Camberwell station. It’s very easily identifiable on Google maps.
The Rosstown line is also still fairly visible in parts of Caulfield with parks running along parts of it. This line was never used but strategically if had gone into operation it would have made sense given it connected the Sandringham, Frankston and Pakenham/Cranbourne lines.
The Rosstown line was built to connect a sugar refinery in Rosstown Rd, Carnegie (Rosstown is the old name for Carnegie - I believe Ross was disgraced somehow) to a pier at Point Ormond, also long gone
There are lots of relics of that old line through Glenhuntly, Ormond etc. Plenty of strips of parkland separating streets.
William Murray built the Rosstown line. Sugar beat grown in Gippsland was going to be transported by rail through Oakleigh and then from the mill to the port.
He also opened up the development of Carnegie. Many of the roads and streets are named after him and his friends. His wife was Leila - after which Leila Road is named. The pub still carries the old name. But the cricket club changed its name to Carnegie when the suburb changed it’s name.
The suburb changed names in an effort to get Andrew Carnegie to donate money to build a library. Ironcially despite numerous towns and cities around the world receiving funding for new libraries the place that changed it name to Carnegie missed out!