-----Original Message-----
From: Roderick Smith [mailto:rodsmith@werple.net.au]
Sent: Sunday, 3 June 2018 3:35 PM
To: 'transportdownunder@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: Sun.27.5.18 daily digest.

I got cross muddled between Sat.26 & Sun.27.5 photos this weekend. Some of
today's appeared yesterday, & vv.

Attached.

180526Sa Melbourne 'Age' - bomb scare.

180526Sa 'Adelaide Now' - new tram line.

180527Su Melbourne 'Herald Sun' - letters (Thomas & energy). at flickr.

180527Su Metro Twitter - ~1940s Flinders St.

<www.flickr.com/photos/13175590@N00> (for 7 days, search on tag
'workaround').

Roderick.

Metro Twitter Sun.27.5.18
5.53 Pakenham line: Outbound delays up to 20 minutes in the Narre Warren
area (vandalised trackside equipment).
8.27 Major delays Dandenong - Cranbourne (an equipment fault near Lynbrook).
- 9.04 Buses will be replacing trains, with an additional 30 minutes travel
time.
- 10.38 The old equipment fault strikes again.
- 10.39 trains resuming. [but not resumed?].
10.38 Minor delays Sydenham Watergardens - Sunbury while police attend to a
trespasser.
11.45 Werribee line: Minor delays Footscray - Newport (an equipment fault at
Yarraville).
- 11.51 The driver on the 11.16 Laverton - Flinders St made a very good
announcement at Yarraville level crossing.
- 15.44 Skipping the Altona loop indefinitely is not a minor delay. When can
I go home? This is pathetic.
- 15.55 The station and train are giving the opposite advice. One is saying
get off at Newport and the other says go to Laverton. This is absolutely
horrendous service.
- 17.20 Because of two equipment faults (Yarraville & Spotswood), outbound
trains will run direct between Newport & Laverton until further notice.
[announced rather late].
- 18.04 more money towards public transport! [provided that it is spent on
something useful. Newport and Cranbourne signalling are comparatively
recent, but give constant trouble].
13.18 Alamein/Belgrave/Glen Waverley/Lilydale lines: Outbound services will
run direct to Richmond (an ill passenger in the loop).

Have your say on Melbourne's worst traffic spots. [paywalled; with tdu].
Melbourne's worst roads suffer six hours of peak hour pain.
Herald Sun May 27, 2018.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/melbournes-worst-roads-suffer-six-extra-
hours-of-peak-hour-pain/news-story/3b08f405827b87037f3f44544a2f532a>

Bus timetable updates for Melbourne's west.
From 27 May, 17 bus routes in Melbourne's west will get updated timetables
to make services more reliable and improve connections to trains.
Route 406 will be increased to every 15 minutes in peak periods with five
extra trips per weekday. Connections to trains at Ginifer Station on Route
423 will also be improved.
Timetable updates will be introduced on the following routes:
..Route 406 Keilor East - Footscray via Avondale Heights and Maribyrnong
..Route 407 Highpoint SC - Avondale Heights via Maribyrnong .Route 408 St
Albans Station - Highpoint SC via Sunshine Station .Route 409 Yarraville to
Highpoint SC via Footscray .Route 410 Sunshine Station - Footscray via
Ballarat Road .Route 411 Laverton Station - Footscray via Altona Meadows,
Altona, Millers Road .Route 412 Laverton Station - Footscray via Altona
Meadows, Altona, Mills Street .Route 414 Laverton Station - Footscray via
Geelong Road .Route 415 Laverton Station - Williamstown via Altona .Route
417 Laverton Station - Laverton North .Route 418 St Albans Station -
Caroline Springs via Keilor Plains Station .Route 419 St Albans Station -
Watergardens Station via Keilor Downs .Route 421 St Albans Station -
Watergardens Station via Keilor Plains Station .Route 423 St Albans Station
- Brimbank Central SC via Cairnlea .Route 424 St Albans Station - Brimbank
Central SC via Albanvale .Route 425 St Albans Station - Watergardens Station
via Delahey .Route 461 Watergardens Station - Caroline Springs Town Centre
via Fraser Rise Check back in mid-May for the new timetables or call 1800
800 007 for more details.
<www.ptv.vic.gov.au/getting-around/network-changes>

Adelaide tram works: SA commuters forced to wait months to use trams to east
end Sunday Mail (SA) 27.5.18
video: See where the Adelaide city tram extension will go.
..Earlier this month: Trams will get rolling along North Tce within weeks.
..MFS fire truck gets stuck on new raised tram lines on North Tce.
..Marshall promises to make North Terrace tram services turn right.
SOUTH Australians will be forced to wait until at least July to hop on a
tram to Adelaide's east end.
Transport Minister Stephan Knoll said a series of "technical issues" had led
to the project missing another deadline.
"The best advice when I first came into this job was that by the start of
June we would see trams operational, that has blown out now in this testing
phase," he said.
"We've actually found a series of minor electrical faults that need to be
dealt with before the tram becomes operational."
The Government now hopes trams will cross King William St for the first time
in July, after the issues are fixed and testing and mandatory driver
training completed.
Mr Knoll said there would be a review into why the $80 million tram
extension project had taken so long to be completed.
He said he would be meeting the project's contractors to "sit down and
review where things went wrong with this project", with an outcome expected
in the coming months.
video: Drone footage of North Terrace tram upgrade "South Australians have a
right to know how their money has been spent and why this project has been
pushed back by months," he said.
"It's absolutely unacceptable that it's going to take around 12 months to
lay one kilometre of tram tack and get passenger services up and running."
Mr Knoll denied any personnel changes in the Department of Transport,
Planning and Infrastructure had contributed to the delay.
Construction work on the new tram lines on the corner of North Tce and King
William St. Picture: AAP/Russell Millard DPTI chief executive Michael Deegan
was sacked by Premier Steven Marshall shortly after the March state
election.
"Michael Deegan was the chief executive when the project was supposed to be
completed in March. Unless Michael Deegan was going to click his fingers the
day after he got sacked, the reality is he was in charge of this project
over its life," he said.
"The staffing in DPTI has not contributed one iota to this project being
delayed."
Mr Knoll said he had received no feedback that the contractors had been
improperly stringing out the project, but pointed to new laws that would
penalise construction companies for having traffic restrictions in place for
longer than they needed to be.
Labor Transport spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said the Government had to
explain why it had failed to meet two deadlines already on the project, to
finish in April and May.
Mr Koutsantonis said the project was on time and on budget when the former
Labor government left office in March, and blamed the delays on Mr Deegan's
sacking.
"Meanwhile South Australians have to put up with more and more delays and
they haven't got an adequate reason," Mr Koutsantonis said.
"They're just blaming the contractors. I mean, it's the last refuge of a
scandal to blame the contractors for the Government's interference in a
project."
Comments 52
Construction on the new tram lines on the corner of North Tce and King
William St. AAP/RUSSELL MILLARD
<www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-tram-works-sa-commuter
s-forced-to-wait-months-to-use-trams-to-adelaides-east-end/news-story/71d8f1
0a6644373c944da276ec5bdced>

Christians all in a huff about Thomas the Tank Engine, while real threat to
children is ignored 27 May 2018.
<www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/christians-all-in-a-huff-about-thomas-th
e-tank-engine-while-real-threat-to-children-is-ignored-20180525-p4zhlr.html>
Ernest the Enginecar, sexism <www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYPV97Lg23A>