-----Original Message-----
From: Roderick Smith [mailto:rodsmith@werple.net.au]
Sent: Friday, 24 November 2017 8:56 AM
To: 'transportdownunder@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: snippets / daily digest, Thurs.23.11.17

Links:
Melbourne PSOs save woman on tracks. Video has emerged of the dramatic rescue of a drunken woman in front of an oncoming train at an inner city station. Vision: Sunrise.
<www.theage.com.au/video/video-news/video-victoria-news/melbourne-psos-save-woman-on-tracks-20171122-509z0.html>

Attached:

171123Th Melbourne 'Herald Sun':
- transport efficiency.
- Metro changes.
- airport line.
- energy bills. with tdu

171123Th Melbourne 'Age' - Skybus (RoyChu).

Roderick

Thurs.23.11
18.36 No Route 16 trams are operating between Kooyong & Kew (a traffic incident near Glenferrie station). Passengers may consider using trains Kooyong - Richmond - Glenferrie.
- 19.47 this is a police incident; the delay may continue on for some time. Passengers to and from Kew Cotham Rd may consider route 109 trams to Burke Rd, then Route 72; or bus 624 along Auburn Rd.
- 20.47, trams have resume, with delays likely.

Melbourne Express, Thursday, November 23, 2017 .
8.20 Pretty hot on the trains...Victoria's strained energy network is about to face its first real test of the summer – several days before summer has even started.
The when-is-Amazon-launching plot thickens! Despite reports that free ice cream will be handed out at Southern Cross Station today to celebrate the launch, we've just heard from Matthew Howe
General Manager - Southern Cross Station, who says that's not true.
"A quick note on the apparent Amazon Launch today at Southern Cross Station, we don't have anything at all booked for today so it seems a little hype. Given it will be 33 degrees this afternoon an ice cream truck would be more then welcomed," he tells Melbourne Express.
No free ice cream for you. Photo: Pat Scala
How to make bad transport projects look good.
A colleague and I were joking with another. 'You guys all inflate your traffic figures to satisfy your clients, don't you?', we said. He replied: 'Oh no, no, no, we are professionals, we have to sleep at night.'
"Then he sort of slyly looked at us and added, 'But it's amazing how little sleep you can get away with'."
Construction will begin on a rail link between Southern Cross Station and Tullamarine airport within less than a decade, the Andrews government says.
Skybus: the closest thing we have to a rail link. Photo: Roy Chu
The most exciting part of Amazon's launch is that it looks like they'll be handing out free icecream at Southern Cross Station. Apparently they will be yellow-and-orange coloured, according to an ice-cream retailer who says he has been given the contract.
You say free, we say ice cream. Photo: supplied
Video has emerged of the rescue of a woman who ended up on the tracks in front of a train at a suburban station. Channel 7 are reporting she was trying to cross the tracks - very bad idea, lady. Make sure you watch the clip, it's pretty frightening.
Melbourne PSOs save woman on tracks
Video has emerged of the dramatic rescue of a drunken woman in front of an oncoming train at an inner city station. Vision: Sunrise.
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-express-thursday-november-23-2017-20171122-gzr297.html>

RACV and Leader give you the chance to have your say about public transport in the On Track Survey 2017.
Leader November 23, 2017.
WHAT are your public transport peeves?
RACV and Leader News want commuters to share your views about the issues which derail your train trips.
You can rate your station or service as part of the On Track Survey, which runs until December 2.
RACV acting public transport and mobility manager Dave Jones said the survey would help the organisation lobby for station and service improvements in the lead-up to the 2018 State Election.
What issues derail your train trips? We want to know. Picture: George Salpigtidis
He said the survey provided an insight into the experiences of people who used public transport and helped identify issues that were of the highest concern.
“The state has committed $1.4 billion for station upgrades over the next five years and this is your chance to tell them what is needed at the stations you use,” Mr Jones said.
“The more data we have, the stronger the message we can send.”
Almost 18,000 Victorians took part in the 2015 survey, which identified a lack of parking at stations was an ongoing issue for commuters.
The highest-rated station in the previous survey was Wyndham Vale, which is serviced by VLine (8.95/10) while the highest rated Metro network station was Ashburton (8.38/10).
Aircraft (4.86/10) and Hallam (5.40/10) were the worst performers.
Aircraft Railway Station in Laverton rated very poorly in the previous On Track Survey. Will its rating improve this time around? Picture: David Smith
The State Government uses feedback from a range of sources when formulating transport policies.
Hayley McNaughton, spokeswoman for Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan, said the government’s commitment to the Metro Tunnel and removing level crossings would lead to more frequent services.
“While we build the infrastructure needed to run more services more often, we’re adding more peak services where they are needed most and building bigger, better trains and trams to move more people around our growing city,” Ms McNaughton said.
New train and tram contracts, which start on November 30, have tougher penalties to address issues such as station skipping, short shunting, late services, graffiti and poor communication.
Take part in the RACV On Track Survey online here.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/east/racv-and-leader-launch-the-on-track-survey-2017/news-story/c46868df120da79c8d83e857b9265491
* Most so-called overcrowding just isn't, by world standards. Infrequent services are the worst aspect, and needlessly so. The worst service anywhere anytime should be 20 min headways. For too many places, that is the best.. Most of the system can sustain 10 min headways for most of the time, but don't get that. Judicious duplication would give more bang for the buck than the ill-justified misnamed tunnel: that capacity increase could have been provided with double-deck trains.
* Extend the Glen Waverley line under Springvale Rd with new stations at Vermont South, Wheelers Hill, Scoresby/Rowville, Ferntree Gully West and connect to the Belgrave line at Ferntree Gully creating a loop.
Run a tram line down the centre of Springvale Road from Nunawading station, intersecting the Burwood Highway Tram line, Glen Waverly station and travel south then West to Monash University along Wellington Road.
Build a train line or light rail from Clifton Hill station along the centre median of the Eastern Freeway to Doncaster, Blackburn North and connect to Ringwood station creating a loop.
* And yet Metro tunnel is the least needed and most wasteful Public Transport project ever.
It just duplicates what is existing on the ground, and decouples 50% of the public transport public from essential locations like the sports and entertainment precinct,a nd ouor premier station flinders St.
A station Dan himself said EVERY train HAS TO go through.
Apart from that, upgrade all Myki reader to next generation, so Phone apps and credit card payments can be introduced.
* obviously you are not a person who has used an Underground system elsewhere. Take London. The Melbourne Underground is following the same model. rather than one system have two, three or four, layered under each other that can interconnect by walkways, escalators and lifts The new underground takes two of the busiest lines out of the existing loop and runs them under the city creating new stations North and South that DON'T EXIST. That's how you detangle the existing loop.
It's not duplicating anything at all.
Research it.
* It has been pointed out to you numerous times that we cannot run any more trains unless this project is done. I'm not sure exactly how it is possible to get that message through to you, but if anyone has any ideas, by all means go for it.
* A double line section between Lilydale and Mooroolbark would be nice.
* a third track from Glen Waverley to the city would allow express trains.
* The fourth platform at Box Hill station built 20 years ago has never been used because there isn't a fourth track!
And definitely Lilydale line needs duplication to Lilydale.
* If you live in Doncaster, having a bad train station isn't a problem.

MYKI
It’s been a decade, but commuters are still whining about the implementation of the Myki electronic public transport ticketing system.
Eyeing the chance to build its own system from the ground up, the Bracks Labor government selected a consortium named Kamco to establish electronic ticketing in Victoria by 2007.
The original tender was for $494 million. The final cost was $1.5 billion, and it was finally available on metropolitan services by mid-2010.
The Ted Baillieu-led Coalition, long promised to look at scrapping Myki but squibbed it after it won the November 2010 state election, instead opting a few months later to retain Myki and continue the rollout.
Myki became the only fare option on V/Line services to Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo and some regional bus services in 2012, but there are no plans to replace paper tickets on trains to places like Swan Hill, Shepparton, Warrnambool or Albury.
Thurs.23.11.17 <www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/the-big-australian-brand-ideas-that-bombed/news-story/0247a59ef60e497e6d1f70f531f5b490>

November 23 2017 Alinta buys Loy Yang B brown coal power station in $1.1 billion deal with tdu.
<www.theage.com.au/business/energy/alinta-buys-loy-yang-b-brown-coal-power-station-in-11-billion-deal-20171123-gzrf77.html>

November 23 2017 Elon Musk's giant battery is set for testing in South Australia with tdu
Bloomberg with BusinessDay. <www.theage.com.au/business/energy/elon-musks-giant-battery-is-set-for-testing-in-south-australia-20171123-gzrbru.html>

November 23 2017 Melbourne Airport rail to be under way within 10 years, premier says.
Construction will begin on a rail link between Southern Cross Station and Tullamarine airport within less than a decade, the Andrews government says.
The Melbourne Airport rail link will also bring huge benefits to country Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews will announce on Thursday, by untangling the V/Line rail network from congested metropolitan tracks in Melbourne's west..
Planning is set to begin on building an airport connection that will also free up trains on the Geelong and Ballarat lines, and reduce travel times between the two regional cities and Melbourne.
Journey times between Melbourne and Geelong could be cut to less than 40 minutes, under a model for airport rail being considered by the Andrews and Turnbull governments.
Related Articles
The fake economics cookbook: making bad projects look good
Cheapest, shortest route to be chosen for North East Link
Mr Andrews will tell a gathering of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Geelong on Thursday that an airport rail link will be under construction by the time the $11.3 billion Metro rail tunnel opens in 2026.
A Melbourne airport rail line has been planned since the mid-1960s.
In his speech, the premier will rule out building a rail link that is simply an urban connection between the city and the airport.
"It can't just be an expensive funnel for tourists and businesspeople between the CBD and airport," Mr Andrews' speech states.
A rail link to Melbourne Airport has been mooted since the 1960s. Photo: Andrew Quilty
"Instead, it can transform the way people live, work and travel across Victoria. In our view, the airport rail link has the potential to unlock western and northern Victoria."
The announcement follows a meeting between Andrews and Turnbull government transport ministers on Wednesday to begin planning for the link.
The two governments have committed $30 million towards a planning study on the best way to build the airport rail connection.
The study will look at combining an airport rail link with the electrification of rail lines to Melbourne's western suburbs that are currently part of the V/Line diesel network.
New tracks between Southern Cross Station and Sunshine station, potentially involving tunnelling, will also be considered.
"Ultimately, that means we can deliver real, high-speed rail to regional Victoria," Mr Andrews will say.
The $3.6 billion Regional Rail Link, between Southern Cross Station and west Werribee, opened a little more than two years ago and has separated V/Line and Metro services in the western suburbs.
But it has also increased peak-hour overcrowding on the Geelong and Ballarat lines and brought no reduction to travel times.
Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester said the business case for the Melbourne Airport rail link was already in development.
"Our expectation is we need to work with the Victorian government, that they need to get on board and be fair dinkum about this process – and we think we can get this done in 12 months – and get the Victorian public a design they can work with, and get on with the job of working out how we fund it," Mr Chester said.
Paul Fletcher, the federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure, said Sydney and Brisbane have airport rail links, and Perth is building one.
"A city of the scale and importance of Melbourne deserves such a connection, that is why the Turnbull government has committed $30 million for a business case process," Mr Fletcher said.
The concept of linking airport rail to the wider V/Line network, instead of just the metropolitan system, has also been proposed to the Andrews government by Rail Futures, a group of expert rail advocates.
Would you use the airport rail link?
Yes 94%
No 6%
Total votes: 4923
Poll closes in 2 days.
Airports make mega-profits on parking
Revenue from car parking is a major earner across Australia's four largest airport with Melbourne at the top of the list.
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-airport-rail-to-be-under-way-within-10-years-premier-says-20171122-gzqywe.html?login_token=BLu-z8-7_q0HsyJTSdXQ06HzJK2xwEc6dVJSCrx6NQ2oPs3iOidVAKzOUgRxMtIIcgXa4gmAYoRzF6CtGX8T1Q&expiry=1511415733&single_use_token=HdNtLRtWd2c026nNTp9xLqwMF_Y2KDO6GHYBGzhDzS8Ez2Ekq5F1b7OuVdJZhC22opDzAkOeGkc6JJZYdTwmzg>
* I'll bet my left are that it won't.
We all have heard these long term promises, and they all full of hot air, just like the current & past politicians.
In 10 yrs time Premier Andrews and his cohort will be enjoying their generous retirement packages and will not be held to account for these and a littany of other 'promises'. We deserve better!!!
* I agree! This is the airport rail link you talk about when you don't want to talk about the North East Link. In other words, it is a distraction. As for untangling railway lines in the west, that is what the Regional Rail Link was supposed to do until Labor stuffed up the design. Faster trains to Geelong and Ballarat? That's what Labor promised in 2000 in the Regional Fast Rail project when they spent $800 million compared to a budget of $80 million and there was no improvement in train times. Another dud, overspent infrastructure project by Labor. Airport rail link? Not under a Labor government.
* We deserve what we get!
We just dont aim very high thats all.
This so called rail link should be down the centre of the freeway or as close to it as possible not going out to the boondocks, a short trip not a suburban expedition. And it should be finished in 10 years not just starting to think about maybe possibly building it if they get around to it. And what defines 'real high speed rail' to this govt? Not 400kmh not 300kmh not 200kmh but probably just getting up to maybe 160kmh sometimes if the sails are trimmed correctly. Come on guys you know and we know that the fantasy of an airport rail link is just that a fantasy.
Where will you build the airport terminal?
I go to the airport almost everyday and see the congestion that is being foisted on the travelling public by the Airport road system especially around drop off and pick up areas. they are literally trying [unsuccessfully] to stuff 10 lbs into a 5 lb bag and you know what happens then.
* Then Blame Kennett. He signed the deed that stopped it being built. He did a deal with Trans Urban
* Once again, looks like the rest of regional Victoria does not exist.
* Dan is only interested in keeping two groups happy, the unions and the inner city that may drift off to the greens.
* Don't start in 10 year's time., get it happening within the next year. An airport rail link would have been built and running within the year in China, instead there has been endless discussion by government after government while Melbourne lags other cities. Get to it Dan Andrews-now!
* Planning, planning, planning. That is great for planners but what is really wanted/required is action. We have had planning since the 60's and no delivery! Even the last Victorian LNP govt did planning (actually I think it was marketing with no substance).
Surely it is not too hard to have construction happening concurrently with the Metro work so when Metro is finished 'airport link' dove tails in to it so benefits flow faster.
* 60 years late but at least it may get done in my lifetime.
* monorail..monorail
Heard the minister for motherhood statements, Jacinta Allen, spruiking this morning.
and I quote..."while our plan is identical to Dennis Napthine's, ours will be better because 1. we're spending $30M on it and 2. we know we have to look more green following the Northcote disaster"
* With such projects projections need to include for future generations (plural) hence the wider concept and the description by Andrews are welcome
This is the same with the link thru Bulleen, where the advantage of being the least expensive because it is the most direct can be maximised by design and function to provide for future generations (plural)
Melbourne is an old City hence the bottlenecks because of traffic intersections which will always be a fact - including in the CBD - and the constrictions on metro rail because the corridors are what they are - and the cost of double decker trains was not embraced including with the tunnel system where it should have been
Money spent today to the benefit of projects that are going to provide for the foreseeable is the requirement
So well past our life times
That is the cost/benefit analysis for these projects
The abandoned so called East/West link the Opposition continue to promote will only funnel more traffic onto a stressed Hoddle Street exit - and any long term benefit of the removal of 50 of Melbourne's hundreds of thousands intersections will be a waste of money because of who it selectively accommodates and therefore any benefit including projected usage and benefit
You attend projects that have wide community benefit and you maximise that benefit in contemporary terms because the benefit is for our future generations
So do it once and do it well
Aka the Desalination Plant and Eastlink
Then there is driverless vehicles which are the future and the impact on road usage which needs to be factored in
* I find it astonishing that the proposal would result in a 40 min train journey from Geelong to Melbourne! That is SLOW. 40 years ago, I regularly took a train from Reading to London in England, roughly the same distance, in 26 minutes.
Geelong to Melbourne express should be no more than 25 mins.
Words fail me.
* Reading is 56 km from London whereas Geelong is 73 km from Melbourne. But your point is valid.
Journey times from Melbourne to Geelong as fast as 45 minutes were possible in steam days. That's an average speed of only 97 km/h which is not particularly fast.
The current trains can do 160 km/h so with an average speed of 130 it should be possible to do Melbourne to Geelong express in about 33 minutes. With a couple of stops, 40 minutes sounds about right.
Express in 25 minutes would require an average speed of about 175 km/h. Possible with a 200 km/h train but that would probably require a lot more work on infrastructure and signalling.
* Same for Ballarat. Daily commute is a sham - anywhere between 1hr 20m and 1hr 40m to go 100km. Should be under an hour, both ways.
The trains were running faster before the Regional Rail Link rollout.
UTOPIA.
* It takes longer now than it did in 1980
* Now cue Transurban threatening huge compensation for competing with their tollways (thanks Jeff), the taxi industry blockading in protest at lost business and the airport corporation making everything really difficult, so their lucrative parking income stream is maintained.
When the first train is running from SC to Tulla I will believe it. Until then it is just more talk.
* First thought: about time.
Second thought: I'll believe it when I see it.
I want to be more positive, but there have been so many "plans", "feasibility studies" and empty words over the years that it's hard to trust, particularly given the time-scale involved. After all, it only takes one short-sighted (or intentional) mis-positioning of infrastructure on a vital piece of land, one term of LNP anti-public asset sale/destruction, one "strategic refocusing" or quiet shelving under cover of other distractions to make this whole plan evaporate like all the others.
Still, Andrews does seem a bit more proactive and capable than other state governments have been in recent times, so I won't entirely write off the possibility.
* does this launch Victoria into the 1960's or 70's
It's a crime that we build wider longer toll roads and we can't (all past & present goverments) build a rail link to and from the airport - while we are at it, how about a light rail right down the guts of the Eastern freeway (Perth were able to do it)....just imagine the volume drop in traffic just with those 2 rail links - but when you have a state of politicians devoid of imagination...we get toll roads.
* There is already Box Hill the distance that is from Westfield and for Templestowe residents , Heildeberg
The issue is parking, so public transport servicing those stations
There is also the very successful park and drive at the intersection of the Eastern Freeway and Doncaster Road
So why another option?
* If Spencer Street Stations (ahem... 'Southern Cross') is supposed to be the state's primary rail hub, why are we not using it as a terminus for the airport rail? It works just fine for the bus!
It seems to me that the best option is a mag-lev underground/overground solution with an underground platform at Spencer St and tunnel to come up somewhere in the broad vicinity of the Queen Vic markets (perhaps Flagstaff gardens, perhaps the big roundabout at Flemmington & Elizabeth, perhaps on the edge of Royal Park just past the hospital, perhaps somewhere else!)... then 'skyrail' along Flemmington Rd and the Tulla. directly to the airport.
We could add check-up facilities at the station so that people didn't have to drag their bags onto the train and simply run the occasional baggage train on the same tracks.
Or... even more off-the-wall... what about building a line from Doncaster to the airport via the city. That way the government could incorporate the two most requested rail projects into one and ignore both of them!
* Maglev is an expensive toy. Airport rail needs to integrate with the existing rail network and run through the City Loop.
* how many decades has this been talked about and not done. It's about time that it was done, and not in 10 years, do it now. It's not like there hasnt been any studies on where to route it, how to go about it. Just do it already. This is a joke
* Dan like your opposition your all bullshite artists, there is no reason why this should be delayed one more month.
Secondly Melbourne airport need more runways and upgrades, also the government must step in and reduce stupid parking fees as these fees are nothing but hwy robbery.
Stop talking and start doing as this project has been talked about for the last twenty years, same as dual track to hurstbridge... all talk slow action, as this was promised by labor local politicians 20 years ago.
While your at it might as well increase rail to Whittlesea.... and think of a outer outer circle railway,
Get moving dan and invest in public transport instead of giving transurban a monopoly of our roads....the cost of city link and east link are a joke
* Who sold the airport? Your mob .
And what did the Victorian public receive from the proceeds?
This government has been in Office for 3 years and we see the infrastructure projects under way .
Obviously you cannot attend everything at the one time .
Further, who has occupied the Treasury benches in Victoria over the last generation?
So do not be too quick to criticise Andrews .
When I first came to Melbourne the Eastern Freeway finished at Thompson Road in Bulleen - and Box Hill Station was a hole in the ground
Plus we had red rattlers
So progress has been made
* Underway within 10 years? What idiotic processes delay it that long? The 70km Mandurah rail line in WA took just 4 years from Cabinet decision to first train.
* Why can't the build start next week?
* Why aren't you on the field at the Gabba today?
Because others are preferred ahead of you
* election time it must be. Wonder which will come first during our life time, the high speed rail between Sydney and Melbourne or the Melbourne Airport link. Or should it be pondered outside our life time?
* " Built within ten years"......what a bloody joke! What an embarrassment. What a debacle this has been and probably will continue to be. This should have been built ten years AGO !! Lagging behind rest of the world. Even third-world countries fare better with an airport rail link, but no, not Melbourne (WMLC) we're too caught up in politics and red-tape bureaucratic BS, tip-toeing around the issue. Dare l say Sky Bus and the Taxi Industry are in cahoots with the government in this lucrative business? I recently travelled a 50km stretch from Shanghai Airport to CBD on board a bullet-train. The fare was a fraction of what Sky Bus charge (for a bus trip) and arrived in 15 minutes at an average speed of 300Km/hr with departures every 10 minutes....Melbourne is a joke compared to the rest of the world.
* 10 years just to get started is this a joke?
London is about to complete its cross city rain link that is a huge undertaking project started construction 2007.
Wake up folks we waste so much planning to no end. Great if you are a consultant you never have to be accountable for your work because it never comes to fruition.
Will I ever ride the rails? I'm 60 odd now so I hope so.
* A brilliant example of a politician with no vision. This bloke must think we’re all fools, to be played along until the next election. If this man had any vision or sense of what’s right, he’d start it right now and get it done in 2 years or less.
I seriously despair for Australia. We’re led by timid and vacuous no-hopers and the sooner the state governments are got rid of and the sooner we get a Lee Kwan Yew at federal level, the better and more prosperous we’ll all be.
* Really! or another expensive study!
* My main take out from this article (nobody will be holding their breathe waiting for a rail link to the airport) is what a massive failure the $3.6 billion RRL has been. That's a lot of money to make things worse on the VLine trains. Is there anyone left in VIC who has half a clue about building and maintaining transport infrastructure?
* Dump the West Gate Tunnel Toll road and get on with building more rail.
* Get Alannah MacTiernan over from WA to show Dan how it should be done. She got a new 70km rail line, including 12 stations and a tunnel under the CBD, built in about 4 years for just $1.2 billion. Trains run at 130 km/h down the middle of a freeway for most of the journey. It now carries over 20 million passengers per year.
Perth is now getting an 8.5 km railway to its airport, most of it underground, for $1.8 billion. Again it will take only 4 years to build.
* History suggests it would be quicker and cheaper to move the airport to the city
* I would genuinely like to know how much money successive governments have spent on 'feasibility studies' over the years for this rail link!
Like seriously… does anyone know?
* The rail link from Johannesburg international airport into town is fantastic. Just thought you'd like to know, Dan.
* What utter rubbish...delays , maybes. Mr Andrews ...have a look at the mess on the Tullarmarine freeway. Get it done NOW. Our airport access is about Kathmandu standard
The problem is city access to Airport. Full stop . Mr Guy, show us that you are the leader you claim to be and announce when you will start construction
* $30M for a study? I'll do it for $15M.