-----Original Message-----
From: Roderick Smith [mailto:rodsmith@werple.net.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 5 June 2018 6:45 PM
To: 'transportdownunder@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: Tues.29.5.18 daily digest

Attached.

180529Tu Melbourne 'Age' - airportline.

180529Tu Melbourne 'Herald Sun' - myki.

180529Tu Yarra Trams - graffiti 'art' C3003 [with windows smothered too].

180529Tu Metro Twitter:
- 1980 Metrol.
- 1981 underground.
- transport mural.

Roderick.

29.5.18 Metro Twitter
There'll be no lift access at Flagstaff station from 9.30 until 14.00 today.
- Preferable to undertake lift maintenance when trains are not running,
around 0.30-5.00 Monday to Friday. The disabled, mums with prams, older
folk with heavy luggage and so on ought not be inconvenienced if it's
avoidable. [all lifts had shutdowns for 'upgrading' work within the last 12
months. How is another shutdown needed?].
8.11 Where was the announcement that the 8.02 was cancelled at Westgarth?
That means there will be one train going through within 20 minutes and the
platforms are already packed. Quality service.
8.59 Frankston line: Minor Delays (an ill passenger requiring medical
assistance at Richmond).
"Behind the Scenes of the Spencer Street Mural" from the Victorian Rail Ways
staff magazine of April 1974 .
- a lot of the work on the mural was done at the VR East Camberwell
electrical sub-station (next to Boroondara Park)..
- And yet it is now hidden where nobody sees or notices.
- It's disgraceful. Should be a feature of the wind tunnel that is Southern
Cross Station.
12.27 Hurstbridge line: Minor Delays (police).
- 12.28 To those passengers on the train between Eaglemont and Heidelberg,
please remain on the train and listen for further announcements or
directions from staff.
- 12.38 Major Delays.
- 12.40 Passengers still stranded.
- 12.49 Delays still major, but clearing.
- 13.33 Are trains running from Heidelberg towards Hurstbridge?
- 13.42 Trains are running; delays are clearing quickly, now up to 10
minutes.
On Friday night the people of Kilmore braved the cold to wave goodbye to the
last of our U-trough beams.
Over the past month we moved 24 beams (over 6700 t) 3500 km from to
Frankston, where they'll form the new rail bridges at Skye /Overton Rd.
The City Loop construction map when Melbourne gained new stations at
Parliament, Museum (now Melbourne Central) and Flagstaff.
With the City Loop came the METROL suburban train control centre. It
commenced operation in late 1980 and was originally located in a special
building close to Flinders St railway station under what is now Federation
Square.

112513: North Melbourne Flyover MURLA Contract 406 Site Down Albury
Passenger S308 20 September 1973.
<www.westonlangford.com/images/photo/112513>

video clip of a U-beam move:
https://twitter.com/levelcrossings/status/1001357125556158469

Melbourne Express, Tuesday, May 29, 2018
16.04 Route 11/12/48/109 to West Preston/Victoria Gardens/North Balwyn/Box
Hill have resumed, with delays.
15.53 [Monday or Tuesday?] Route 11/12/48/109 trams towards West
Preston/Victoria Gardens/North Balwyn/Box Hill are delayed by a tram fault
in Collins St.
9.07 Major delays on the Belgrave line. Minor delays for Alamein, Frankston,
Glen Waverley and Lilydale. The Frankston delays were caused by an ill
passenger. Belgrave delays caused by a fault but it seems some passengers
aren't being notified.
Further out, there's road closures on the Great Ocean Road at Mt Defiance
until Thursday.
8.41 We had a fault on the citybound Belgrave train which meant the train
couldn't continue on safely so it was taken out of service at Ringwood.
Were there no PA announcements onboard the train regarding the fault?
7.32 All roads clear now after earlier crashes in Kooyong and Brunswick.
Police are looking for witnesses to a stabbing at Bayswater Station last
month. Police were told the victim was waiting for the train about 4.30pm on
April 21 when a man started yelling at him.
There was a scuffle and the victim was stabbed in the leg. His attacked fled
on foot. He's described as Caucasian, in his 40s and about 180 centimetres
tall with a medium build and short, dark hair.
6.46 Sydney Road is reportedly closed in Brunswick after a car collided with
a bus. There were reports of passengers trapped inside but police said the
bus had been emptied. There are no injuries. Sydney Road is closed in both
directions at Glenlyon Road.
6.31 Route 19 trams are operating in sections with no trams between Stop 19
Brunswick Road and Stop 28 Moreland Road (a traffic incident in Sydney
Road). Consider Upfield line trains.
6.28 Route 16 trams have resumed after an earlier disruption. Delays may
occur as we restore normal frequency.
6.16 Route 16 trams towards Kew are delayed by a collision in Glenferrie
Road, Kooyong.
5.58 All good on the trains so far bar the works alert on the Frankston and
Stony Point lines due to level crossing removals.
That was a journey again after discontinuing with the train in Ringwood
coming from Belgrave. I'm not sure if you can imagine what that means from
a customer perspective, twice now track faults, this time not even an
explanation.
<www.theage.com.au/melbourne-news/melbourne-express-tuesday-may-29-2018-2018
0529-p4zi2c.html>

Just $3 million spent planning route for $10b-plus airport rail link 29 May
2018. 14 comments.
More than a year after Canberra and the Andrews government agreed to work
together on a $10-billion-plus rail link to Melbourne Airport, just $3
million has been spent on a business case that will dictate where it will
run.
It is the latest sign that planning for the rail project, first promised in
1963, is unlikely to be finished anytime soon - despite a raft of promises
by both Malcolm Turnbull and Daniel Andrews since last April.
A rail route to Melbourne Airport is still a long way off. Photo: Craig
Abraham
Federal transport bureaucrats last week came under questioning in the Senate
over why planning for the long-promised rail route was taking so long to get
underway.
Their answers revealed that - despite pledges from the Prime Minister and
the Victorian Premier in April 2017 that planning was underway - little
formal work has been completed.
Between them, Canberra and Spring Street have pledged $40 million to assess
at least three routes from Melbourne's CBD to the airport. And in a
pre-budget announcement last month, the federal government pledged $5
billion for the actual construction of the line.
But the Victorian government, which said ahead of the 2017 budget that work
was getting underway, is still seeking technical advisers for the project.
"Victoria estimate that they will spend around $3 million before the end of
the financial year, and then, obviously, further money after the financial
year," said Andrew Hyles, a general manager at the federal Department of
Infrastructure and Regional Development.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced funding for an airport rail link
last month. Photo: AAP.
Under questioning from Greens senator Janet Rice, Mr Hyles - who is
responsible for rail policy and planning at the department - said that the
money to be paid to Victoria for their planning work on the project was
still sitting with the Commonwealth.
"We're still waiting on Victoria to provide their project proposal report.
That would allow us to provide the funding to Victoria," Mr Hyles said.
Work by the Victorian government on managing development of the business
case for the project is to be led by a project director - the job ad for
which only closed on Monday this week.
Melbourne Airport's revenue from car parking increased to $145.1 million in
the last financial year, a recent federal government report found - up from
$68.6 million a decade earlier.
The airport's owners - which include AMP, the federal government's Future
Fund and IFM Investors - have seen their profits from parking jump
dramatically in the past decade.The airport's 24,000 parking spaces
generated a profit of $86.7 million last financial year.
Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said on Monday that the technical
advisers the government was now seeking "are the ones that we need for our
bit of the project".
She said that the $30 million Canberra pledged for the project in April 2017
was for a preliminary business case.
"That's to get a preferred route and the good things and the bad things
about the preferred route," Ms Allan said. "What we are doing in addition to
that is how you leverage off the city investment to the regions, and how to
get the full benefits of Metro Tunnel."
Ms Allan said there was "a fair bit of advice already on the bookshelf
because it's been looked at before".
But Greens senator Janet Rice said the Victorian and federal governments
needed to agree as soon as possible on the route and start the project. "We
should've had a train line to Melbourne Airport years ago," she said.
Choosing a route for the airport will see a variety of options considered.
Victorian bureaucrats want to see the route through Sunshine built, while
the federal government has been keen to pursue a far more expensive
underground route via Highpoint shopping centre.
A spokeswoman for Ms Allan said that work was "progressing well on the
preliminary business case for an airport rail link, which is on track to be
complete in September".
Paul Fletcher, the federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities,
said planning on the project was on track to be completed according to
schedule.
''The Turnbull and Andrews governments are working together to develop the
business case for Melbourne Airport Rail Link,'' Mr Fletcher said.
"We look forward to the preliminary business case being completed later this
year."
Related Article State election will be a tale of two toll roads, but what
about rail?
<www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/just-3-million-spent-planning-route-for
-10b-plus-airport-rail-link-20180529-p4zi6v.html>
* The real question needs to be how on earth these consultancy contracts
cost so much to the taxpayer. That's where the real outrage should be.
Absolutely making a killing.
* Please tell me that any decision made will also benefit regional rail
access corridors to the Melbourne CBD inc. Geeelong fast rail. Without out
such forethought and planning it will only tighten Melbournes population
growth challenges into the foreseeable future and beyond.
* Why is it so expensive ? Perth is building a 8.5 km underground rail line
to the airport for $1.86 billion, or $220 m per kilometer including 3
stations. For Melbourne Airport rail line a 15 km line with a 9 km
underground section is being touted at $10 billion, or $670 m per kilometer.
It's just like in Utopia, once a price is publicly announced the tender
process ensures that it never comes down - the construction companies make
sure of that.
* How about putting in a new train line for that area that suits the area
poplulation the best (daily commuters) and NOT go the airport - the new
train line would take suffucient traffic off the Tullamarine freeway to make
bus / (open to competition - greyhound etc) or car transport easier
* Extend the Broadmeadows route, and extended the Flemington Spur, The
airport will need two paths, in case of a line shutdown.
* It should cost about $120 not $3 million. 2 hours for a public servant to
find the last 50 business cases, proposals and feasibility studies. Here is
a hint - it in the bottom draw under "not in our lifetime".
* Avondale heights and Maribrynong desperately need a station, they are
suburbs only 11kms from the CBD but do not have any stations the community
benefit will be massive.
* it's an election year, Uncle Dan has other priorities on his political
plate
* The Victorian Government would have built it if they had the money. But
the Federal Government finally came to the party, and now they want to
determine the route. So they have to plan and negotiate.
* You could say exactly the same thing of the federal government. Both are
waiting for respective elections, so they can make more claims. Remember
much of the money has been 'promised' already. But why not count it again,
most of the electorate won't notice.
* Just another Utopia episode in the making. You couldn't make this stuff up
if you tried ...
* It should go through Avondale Heights and Maribyrnong.
The North-Western suburbs desperately needs train stations, so it would be a
win-win.
Going thorough Sunshine might be cheaper but the community benefits is much
lower.
* Running it through Sunshine and Footscray allows it to connect directly to
the Ballarat line, the Bendigo line, and the Geelong line, for direct
transfers to these services.
See why planning the route is important? There are choices that have to be
made, and there will be no perfect route. Just a good one.
* If it goes through the old Maribyrnong Munitions Factory who is going to
pay to clean it up properly ?? The Chinese that Turnbull wants to sell the
land to for $1.50 so they can build 30 Storey ghettos and get in and out
with huge profits ?

State election will be a tale of two toll roads, but what about rail? 29 May
2018. 18 comments.
Victorian voters will get a choice between two competing visions for new
toll roads in Melbourne on November 24 but analysis for the Andrews
government suggests both parties have bypassed a better project.
A study for Infrastructure Victoria of eight proposed major transport
projects for Melbourne found the North East Link would perform better than
the East West Link on most counts but that a new cross-city rail tunnel,
Melbourne Metro 2, would do more to solve Melbourne's transport woes than
any new road.
The road to power.
All roads point to a new tollway after the election. Photo: Pat Scala.
Labor will build the North East Link, the "missing link" in Melbourne's ring
road, creating a 150-kilometre orbital freeway between Werribee and the
Mornington Peninsula.
The 11-kilometre, $15.8 billion tollway would cut travel times between the
south-eastern and northern suburbs by about 30 minutes and divert about
15,000 trucks off local roads such as Rosanna Road, the business case for
the project found.
The North East Link Authority explains the latest connectivity design plans
for the road project proposed to be completed by 2027. Video supplied by
North East Link
The project would be put out to market within 100 days of the Andrews
government being re-elected and will open in 2027.
The Turnbull government also committed $1.75 billion to the project earlier
this month.
The Coalition wants to build both roads. It says it would first revive the
East West Link, infamously cancelled by Labor three years ago and then build
the North East Link.
Stage one of the East West Link, a new tollway between the end of the
Eastern Freeway and CityLink, was to have cost $12.8 billion to build and
was scheduled to have opened in 2020 had it not been scrapped.
The former Napthine government signed contracts for the project two months
before it lost the 2014 election.
An auditor-general's report found it cost taxpayers more than $1.1 billion
to compensate the consortium that would have built the toll road.
The Opposition is yet to reveal its proposed dates for building the East
West Link and North East Link, although Shadow Treasurer Michael O'Brien
said this month it would be "a short timeline" to get started on the East
West Link if the Coalition were elected.
What would North East Link do?
A detailed analysis of the two projects, by engineering consultancy Arup,
has found the North East Link will perform better than the East West Link in
a range of measures including improving traffic flow around Melbourne,
dealing with population growth and helping more people get to jobs, schools
and hospitals.
It will reduce traffic congestion in inner Melbourne by 5.7 per cent and
bring an extra 5.9 per cent of Melbourne's population within 45 minutes of
the CBD, a key measure of a project's ability to boost access to jobs.
It would also reduce the total amount of time trucks spend travelling on
Melbourne's roads by 1.1 per cent, and cut journey times between the Port of
Melbourne and container terminals by 4.7 per cent overall.
The toll road itself will carry 18,000 to 23,000 trucks a day, mostly to and
from the industrial estates of Thomastown and Somerton, or the wholesale
fruit and vegetable market in Epping.
What would East West Link do?
The East West Link would do significantly more than the North East Link to
reduce congestion in the inner city, cutting it by 15.3 per cent, Arup's
modelling found. But it would also increase congestion in the northern and
eastern suburbs, by 2.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.
It would bring an extra two per cent of Melbourne residents within 45
minutes of the CBD.
It would also reduce the total amount of time trucks spend travelling on
Melbourne's roads, by 0.9 per cent, and cut journey times between the Port
of Melbourne and container terminals by 2.5 per cent.
What would North East Link and East West Link do?
Arup's modelling also looked at the impact of building both roads, as the
Coalition has promised to do. It found this would likely eat into the
benefits of each project, as they would compete for cross-city traffic.
"If both projects were built to their individual specifications as assumed
in this analysis, the joint economic performance may be less efficient than
with each project in isolation," Arup's analysis found.
What about a rail tunnel?
Melbourne Metro 2 would boost public transport access to the city by 20 per
cent. Photo: Mal Fairclough
But it has also found one other major transport project - not promised by
either side of politics - would do more to address these issues than either
toll road: Melbourne Metro 2, the proposed new underground rail line between
Newport and Clifton Hill.
Melbourne Metro 2 would connect the Werribee line with the South Morang line
(soon to be the Mernda line) and run beneath the planned new suburbs of
Fishermans Bend, with new subway stops at Flagstaff and Parkville.
It would cost up to an eye-watering $20.3 billion to build, according to
Arup's preliminary calculations, and would never repay that investment based
on conventional cost-benefit analyses, returning just 40 to 50 cents to the
economy for every dollar spent.
But Arup's analysis rated the cross-city rail tunnel ahead of either toll
road for its ability to service Melbourne's boom suburbs, to meet growing
demand for access to central Melbourne and to improve access to major
employment precincts in the middle and outer suburbs.
The rail tunnel would increase public transport access to the city centre
from the outer suburbs by an enormous 20 per cent and cut road congestion in
the inner city by 1.1 per cent.
Arup's analysis found the rail tunnel would also provide most help with the
movement of freight around Melbourne, by reducing demand on the roads,
although on this metric it would contribute less than either tollway.
video: North East Link design update.
<www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/state-election-will-be-a-tale-of-two-to
ll-roads-but-what-about-rail-20180529-p4zi3x.html>
* Who would ever chose a toll road over a decent public transport system?
North East Link spokespeople assure that "People don't avoid toll roads",
and yet my son, on a minimum wage, can't seem to afford the $17 daily toll
for CityLink. Politicians and all their costly consultants have no idea how
the rest of us live, never mind what we want.
* The country has been taken over by road builders with the help of their
lobbyists and kowtowing politicians.
* The rail extension to Mernda was a waste of money, really only benefiting
real estate developers and extending metropolitan boundaries. A more
efficient use of the money spent would have been duplicating the various
single line sections in the existing system and upgrading the signalling
which is ancient in some sections of the system.
* About time to get more money that is owed to Victoria out of
Turnbull/Morrison first and the all these projects could be built.The NWL
should be the 1st priority.
* Melbourne's proposed toll roads; the East Waste and North-east toll roads
are a waste of money.
These outrageously expensive toll roads will increase congestion not reduce
it.
The state government is hiding the likely toll charges on the North-East to
hoodwink motorists and taxpayers as to the true cost.
The North-East toll road will cost taxpayers and motorists a lot more than
the $16 billion construction cost because the toll road operators will be
wanting to make their usual excessive profits.
Andrews should be building the Doncaster railway line and duplicating the
remainder of the Hurstbridge line which is still single track.
This will increase public transport patronage and reduce congestion, not
increase it.
Both Andrews and Guy and his LNP cronies want to build these toll roads, not
because they are needed, but because the believe that the projects will win
them votes.
A huge and wasteful pork barrel exercise.
"But Arup's analysis rated the cross-city rail tunnel ahead of either toll
road for its ability to service Melbourne's boom suburbs, to meet growing
demand for access to central Melbourne and to improve access to major
employment precincts in the middle and outer suburbs."
Spending billions on further rail construction is undoubtedly the best and
most effective solution.
* Why is a project's ability to bring people closer to the CBD faster a key
measure? We should be de-centralising AWAY from Melbourne, not bringing more
and more people into the grid.
* The EWL is actually to move traffic around the CBD so the existing traffic
doesn't have to fight its way from one side to the other. Been there, done
that for many decades when working.
* Both ALP & LIBS have questions to answer about their behaviour in the last
8 years. That said, if Victorians vote to return the LIBS to government then
we can only conclude that swinging voters are plain ignorant.
LIBS were in government for 4 years -What did they build? Very little. Ted
Baillieu - planned the 'Melbourne Rail Link' - promised a railway to Avalon
Airport - promised Doncaster rail. Where are all these? They did one thing
well!! - One month before they knew they were being dumped they signed the
East-West Link' contract, as well as Michael O'Brien the former Victorian
treasurer signed the so-called "side letter" which accompanied the contract
awarded to the East West Connect consortium - binding Victoria taxpayers to
a massive compensation payment. Yeah sure put LIBS back in charge now.
* What a hold the trucking, fuel and (freeway) infrastructure industries
must have over both labor and LNP. Build them (tollways) and they (cars and
trucks) will come. Short-time to gridlock. Passenger rail and freight rail
must be priorities. Freight rail is rarely discussed, just the need to
somehow re-locate the container trucks onto other roads.
* There doesn't need to be tolls. Money from Vic roads, police, income
taxes, etc can pay for it. The rich are you off.
* I'm actually curious now: I wonder how much extra speed-camera (and
related voluntary fine) revenue gets generated by building roads like this?
Anyone crunched the numbers on this?
(fwiw I think both road options are a futile waste of time and money that
would be much better spent on rail, but the point is mostly moot anyhow so
long as population growth continues at its current astronomical rate).
* Victorian voters in a STATE election get a choice of two toll roads in
Melbourne. I'd be thrilled if I lived in Geelong or Shepparton.
* After several GENERATIONS of prioritising road ahead of rail ... could our
elected officials and their bureaucracies actually change track? Or is it
beyond them? Whilst I will be putting the LibLabs well down my voting
preferences at the next state election . I will make sure that I at least
put the Lab half ahead of the Lib half, as they at least seem to be aware of
the rail system. Even if they continue to prioritise cars over rail (the
rail crossing removals are of FAR more benefit to road users), they at least
are doing something. Unlike their predecessors, who did little other than
paint railway stations in swing seat electorates.
Oh for a truly visionary and forward looking government!!
* Labor is building Melbourne Metro, an extension to Mernda, duplication to
Rosanna and regional rail improvements. None of these would have happened
under an LNP government. Labor will electrify to Melton and extend to Clyde.
These won't happen under Labor. You can't have two major rail projects
happening at once. The impact would be too great, Metro must be finished
first before the airport link or Metro 2 start. Labor will continue with the
rail grade separations, the Libs will do "road separations" instead, so that
people can get faster to the next set of traffic lights. In the meantime,
the Libs will cut education, health and environmental funding- reason enough
to vote against them.
* If only previous governments had finished these infrastructure projects
off when they were originally built we wouldn't have the congestion
problems, and huge construction bill we are now facing. How and why does
forward planning continually fail to happen?
* Unfortunately the road lobby is too strong still in Victoria for such
projects to get up. The truck, the asphalt, the concrete, the petrol lobbies
are still too strong.
* Ships and planes move freight but only trucks deliver.

Coal dispute risks billions in exports 29 May 2018.
<www.theage.com.au/business/companies/coal-exports-dispute-could-inflict-a-2
-billion-hit-on-queensland-s-state-budget-20180529-p4zi5g.html>

Melbourne 'metro' tunnel station designs revealed
Herald Sun 29.5.18.
GRAND entrances and massive open spaces will be showcased at Melbourne's
five new Metro Tunnel stations, with fresh images revealing the visual
impact the $11 billion project will have on our city.
The Andrews Government will on Wednesday release final designs detailing
what each station will look like by the time the tunnel is open to services
by 2025.
After months of consultation, the new pictures show how each station has
been planned to represent the areas they will service.
In North Melbourne a large brick arch will pay tribute to the suburbs
industrial past, while a glass feature roof at the Grattan St entrance in
Parkville will filter sunlight and views of trees to morning commuters.
The new North Melbourne station concourse.
The Laurens St entrance to the new North Melbourne station.
Inside the new North Melbourne station.
The Town Hall station Federation Square entrance.
The Town Hall station City Square entrance.
Laneways around the CBD will be redesigned and feature new cafes and stores
to suit the design of the State Library and Town Hall stations.
A massive canopy will protect passengers from the weather as they swap
between trains and trams in Domain.
"The final designs for the Metro Tunnel's five new underground train
stations will deliver the best passenger experience in stunningly designed
and spacious settings," Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said.
"The Metro Tunnel will deliver five new architectural landmarks for
Melbourne and the turn-up-and-go train system our city needs."
Parks and community spaces will also be built around the new stations once
construction is finished and underpasses will connect the CBD platforms to
the rest of the rail network.
The Town Hall station concourse.
A Town Hall station platform.
State Library station Swanston Street entrance.
State Library station.
State Library station platform 2.
City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the stations would be "bold and
exciting additions to the Melbourne landscape, enhancing the experience of
the city's commuters."
The designs were a collaboration between leading architects Hassell, Weston
Williamson and Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners.
In February, the Andrews Government announced construction of the tunnel
would wrap up a year early as work on the multi-billion dollar projects
ramps up.
North Melbourne, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac were all
selected as station names after a competition that drew more than 50,000
suggestions.
The Anzac station concourse.
Anzac station platform.
The St Kilda Road entrance to Anzac station.
Parkville station.
The Parkville station concourse.
The Grattan st entrance to Parkville station
But it hasn't all been smooth sailing for contractors, with concerns raised
by stakeholders in the Parkville medical precinct that digging the tunnel
and introducing regular train services could render lifesaving equipment
inoperable.
The owners corporation of the iconic Manchester Unity Building have also
expressed fears about the impact of construction work on the tower's
historic facade.
NAME OF TUNNEL STATION TO CONFUSE COMMUTERS.
TUNNEL BOSS SAYS PROJECT FACES CHALLENGES.
TUNNEL DIG COULD REVEAL TREASURE TROVE.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/melbourne-metro-tunnel-train-station-des
igns-revealed/news-story/eea79694795c95bfbb82cbc88277c101>