Fw: Thurs.13.9.18 daily digest.
  Roderick Smith


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Roderick Smith rnveditor@...>
To: Tdu Transportdownunder transportdownunder@...>
Sent: Sunday, 16 September 2018, 16:19
Subject: Thurs.13.9.18 daily digest.

Has TDU abandoned google?  Two main messages have bounced; also two messages to Peter and Mal querying the bounce.
It seems that many members never did transition to google; they kept on posting to yahoo.  I am now dual posting.
Meanwhile, after everyone gave up hope after 5 months of yahoo frustration, and defected to googlegroups, groups io and facebook, yahoo came good.
The end result is confusion and frustration, and complete disintegration/fragmentation of knowledge.
  The photo of X2.676, posted by MTM then twitter then Melbourne Express was by Mal Rowe.
Attached:
180913Th Metro Twitter - RUOK.
180913Th Melbourne 'Herald Sun':- airport line.- energy, gas & windfarms. all with tdu.
Roderick.
Thurs.13.9.18 Metro Twitter.
8.09 Our friends from Rocky Mountain Moose Stacks have got pancakes at Carrum until 9.00.
- How many say "thanks" for imposition of elevated track?  Ugly and graffiti attracting.  A pancake is no panacea for a property price plunge.
It’s RUOK Day - you can change someone’s feelings of isolation by checking on others. Remind someone close to you that they are never alone.  Metro recognises the importance of this day to our people, passengers and community.
So wherever you are today – in the office, travelling the network, or strolling through Bourke St Mall, if you notice someone who might be struggling, start a conversation.
- Metro staff with their RUOK? posters on display at Melbourne Central, Camberwell and Parliament.
- How about you funnel all of the money you put into giving fines into actual mental health services?
9.41 Route 11 trams are operating in sections with no trams between Stop 12 St Vincent's Plaza & Stop 23 Park St (a traffic incident).  Consider Mernda line trains between Parliament & Rushall to connect.
- 10.05 Trams have resumed, with delays.
11.57 Sandringham line: Citybound delays (an equipment fault near Windsor).
- 12.54 clearing.
17.55 Belgrave/Lilydale lines: Minor delays (an ill passenger at Box Hill).
- 18.00 clearing.
18.10 Belgrave line: Minor delays (police near Bayswater).
- 18.18 now major.
- 18.36 clearing.
- 18.41 How about a bit of communication to the passengers stuck at Blackburn? Told to get off train, and now informed to get back on.
- 7.31 Fri. Are there any delays this morning?Melbourne Express: Thursday, September 13, 2018
8.48:
- The Lilydale line is still experiencing minor delays.
- Bus services in the west are still experiencing delays due to heavy traffic.
8.24 The Cranbourne and Pakenham lines are back to a good service but Lilydale affected by minor delays now.
Melbourne Tram Museum has shared this great image from 1978 of not just the old X2 class tram but of Spencer Street Station pre-wavy roof and new name...
Today is R U OK? Day, a time for all of us to check in with others and pay attention to mental health. Here's a guide to what you can do if, when you have that conversation, someone tells you that they're not okay.
7.47 The Cranbourne and Pakenham lines are still experiencing minor delays.
Trucks with dirty engines could be pulled off key truck routes in Melbourne's inner west for several hours a day and a new 50km/h speed limit imposed.
6.13:
- Cranbourne and Pakenham lines have minor delays and works are affecting the Frankston and Stony Point lines.
- A level crossing fault is affecting inbound VLine Ballarat trains.
<www.theage.com.au/melbourne-news/melbourne-express-thursday-september-13-2018-20180913-p503e5.html>

Industry calls for NEG resurrection to end 'cycle of hope and despair'. 13 September 2018. 3 comments.
<www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/industry-calls-for-neg-resurrection-to-end-cycle-of-hope-and-despair-20180913-p503is.html>
Experts warned on high costs of Sydney light rail project six years ago. 13 September 2018 13 comments.
The state government was warned as far back as 2012 of the limited benefits from a new light rail line in central Sydney relative to its high-cost, leaked reports marked “cabinet-in confidence” reveal.
An analysis for the state's transport agency six years ago found none of 26 possible routes – including the one that was eventually chosen – had a benefit-cost ratio above 0.8, meaning the cost of constructing and operating the line would exceed the value to taxpayers.
video: Light rail trial a part of 'history': Berejiklian.
NSW Premier Berejiklian is one of the first people to catch a ride on the government's light rail project during a trial in Sydney.
The report concluded travel-time savings for commuters were likely to be a minor benefit of the project, pointing out expected journey times for trams were similar to buses.
Shortly after the government committed to the line in late 2012, a second analysis for Transport for NSW put the benefit-cost ratio at between 1.1 and 1.3.
But those figures were reached only after other “non-use” and wider benefits such as those from higher-density living and pedestrianising parts of George Street were factored in.
The economic analysis of the light rail project in the documents, seen by the Herald and the ABC, did not canvass the likelihood of major disruptions from construction and the cost to businesses and residents.
Construction of the light rail project has been disruptive and costly for many businesses along the route of the line.  Photo: Jessica Hromas.
The project has turned into a major headache for the Berejiklian government due to repeated delays, legal battles and prolonged disruption to businesses and residents.
The cost of the project has already blown out to $2.1 billion, and the government faces the risk of further increases following a $1.1 billion lawsuit against it by the Spanish subcontractor building the 12-kilometre line from Circular Quay to Randwick and Kingsford.
Acciona's case against the government returns to the NSW Supreme Court on Friday.
While the economic analysis in the reports for Transport for NSW did not factor in the prospect of major disruption, Infrastructure NSW decided against supporting the project in 2012 due to fears it could be disruptive and financially costly.
The state's peak infrastructure body favoured a bus tunnel in the CBD, but Transport for NSW deemed it “not feasible”.
The line is not expected to be opened until March 2020, a year later than planned. Photo: Jessica Hromas.
In contrast to the light rail, the benefit-cost ratio for the proposed $15 billion-plus metro line between central Sydney and Parramatta has been put in internal government documents at well in excess of 2.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the reality was the light rail would be a transformative project, pointing out the early appraisal reports did not factor in the benefits of a new station for a metro train line next to the light rail in the CBD.
“What was also not foreseen was the $26 billion of property investment on George Street in terms of turning it into one of the most incredible boulevards in the world. We are going to continue to see unexpected benefits as a result of light rail,” he said.
Transport for NSW said the reports in 2012 and 2013 pre-dated final planning approval and contract signing, and were only two of more than a dozen documents used to inform the final business case.
“Even with the conservative revised valuation of $3 billion in project benefits, [the project] boasts a benefit-cost ratio [BCR] of 1.4. Any project with a BCR of 1 or more is considered to be a of viable economic value to NSW taxpayers,” it said.
And the agency said the addition of pedestrian benefits to the economic appraisal in 2013 recognised the “significant value to the city's pedestrians” from the project.
The leaked reports show that among the 26 routes considered in 2012 for the light rail line were those limited to the CBD, as well as links from the central city to the University of Sydney at Camperdown.
One of the CBD-only routes involved extending the line from George Street to the Rocks, and along Hickson Road to the Barangaroo redevelopment.
The estimated cost of constructing the 26 options varied from about $390 million for a 3-kilometre line along George Street in the CBD to more than $1...4 billion for one incorporating a tunnel under Surry Hills.
The 2012 report for Transport for NSW found the greatest improvement for commuters in terms of the reliability of their journeys compared with buses would be for those travelling the full-length of a line from Circular Quay to Randwick. The improvements for those taking short journeys such as from Town Hall to Surry Hills were deemed small.
A state parliamentary inquiry into the impact of the light rail project on businesses and residents will resume next month.
Related Article How did Gladys make such heavy work of light rail?
<www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/experts-warned-on-sydney-light-rail-project-six-years-ago-20180910-p502ty.html>

Labor vows to lower ticket fares for airport trains 13 September 2018. 18 comments.
'Sydney Morning Herald'.
Labor has promised to lower the cost to passengers of travelling on the train to Sydney Airport and scrap the so-called station access fee altogether for people who work at Kingsford Smith, if it is elected to government next year.
A day after the Berejiklian government announced that a new $2.6 billion motorway link to the airport would not be tolled, the Opposition pledged to help road congestion at Mascot by cutting the cost of train fares and increasing bus services to Australia's largest airport.
The station access fee is $14.30 for adults and $12.80 for concession card holders. Photo: Dean Sewell.
Under the plan, the station access fee on the airport rail line would be cut from $14.30 to $5, and abolished altogether for the tens of thousands of people who work at the airport.
Labor leader Luke Foley said it would cost the state about $30 million a year to cut the station access fee, but emphasised that the policy would help bust congestion on roads around the airport while boosting public transport usage.
“Our priority here is to get cars off streets around the airport and get people onto trains,” he said.
Congestion on roads around the Sydney Airport is one of passengers' biggest gripes. Photo: Dallas Kilponen.
Mr Foley said the promise to cut the fee to $5, instead of removing it completely for airport passengers, was a trade off between the cost to the state budget and wanting to encourage more people to use trains.
“We think getting it down to $5 would provide a big incentive for people,” he said.
A one-way journey from central Sydney to the domestic and international terminals costs an adult passenger $18.70 during peak hours. Of that single-trip fare, $13.80 is for the station access fee.
The access fee does not count towards the daily travel cap for holders of Opal cards.
Under the contract with the private operator of the stations on the airport line, the government is entitled to 85 per cent of the sales revenue – almost all of which comes from the station access fees.
The Airport Link Company paid the state almost $87 million last year, and the amount is set to top $100 million this year based on patronage growth.
But Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the Opposition leader had failed to outline the full cost of his policy, which he said could exceed $1.5 billion to the state over the next 11 years.
“He now has to come back ... and tell the community how he is going to pay for it, and which services he is going to cut to pay for it,” he said.
Mr Constance sidestepped questions about whether he would rule out cutting the station access fee, but said it was needed so that the government could put on an extra 200 train services a week on the T2 Airport line. 
Labor's plan to boost bus services would involve putting on a new service from Miranda in Sydney's south to the airport via St George, and increasing the frequency of the Burwood-to-Bondi buses that travel via the domestic and international terminals.
Related Articles:
Canadian David waiting for the bus to Sydney Airport at Banksia train station.
How travellers are avoiding the high cost of catching the train to Sydney Airport.
<www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/labor-vows-to-lower-ticket-fares-for-airport-trains-20180913-p503j4.html>

$30 million carpark at Frankston station on Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s election list.
Herald Sun September 13, 2018.
video: Same train line - same announcement - six weeks apart - new PM.
A MULTI-LEVEL carpark for 450 commuters will be built at Frankston station if the Coalition wins November’s state election.
The $30 million carpark, announced by Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, is the latest in a blitz of spending promises from both major parties targeted at the critical marginal seats in Melbourne’s southeast.
The Coalition has also vowed to electrify and duplicate the Frankston line to Baxter, improving services through the key growth corridor.
Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy (left) announces plans for 1600 more carpark spaces across Melbourne as Prime Minister Scott Morrison looks on in Frankston. Picture: AAP
“I have a plan for a new carpark at Frankston station and to electrify the train line to Baxter, while Daniel Andrews is talking about a $70 billion tunnel to Broadmeadows sometime after 2050,” Mr Guy said.
The Opposition has already unveiled plans for 1600 new car spaces at train stations across Melbourne, costing $42.6 million, and is expected to announce more new carparks to make it easier for outer-suburban residents to catch the train.
Michael Lamb, the Liberal candidate in Frankston, said local residents had “time and time again” raised the lack of parking at Frankston station with him.
“We’re going to fix that,” he said.
WHERE TRAINS WILL STOP ON EXTENDED FRANKSTON LINE.
LIBS PLEDGE EXTRA SECURITY AT VIC STATIONS.
GUY PANS CARRUM CROSSING REMOVAL PLAN .
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/state-election/30-million-carpark-at-frankston-station-on-opposition-leader-matthew-guys-election-list/news-story/76c59e922213b2f9f5c60b2cbe1d515e>

Pedestrian hit by train in Brisbane’s west
Brisbane 'Courier-Mail' September 13, 2018.
A pedestrian suffered a significant leg injury. Picture: File photo.
AN ELDERLY woman has suffered a significant leg injury after being hit by a train in Brisbane.
Emergency services were called to the Graceville train station just after 12.30pm following reports a woman had fallen off the platform in front of a train.
Queensland Ambulance Service said the woman suffered serious leg injuries and also head injuries.
The woman was taken to the Princess Alexandra in a serious condition.
Queensland Rail earlier announced trains on the Ipswich and Springfield lines were suspended as police and ambulance attend an incident at Graceville station.
The Queensland Ambulance Service said “a patient with a significant leg injury is being assisted following a train and pedestrian incident at 12.38pm”.
The trains were temporarily not running between Corinda and Roma St, Queensland Rail said in a social media post.
Buses were being arranged to replace trains through the impacted area but at 1.50pm TransLink said Ipswich and Springfield line trains had returned to regular stopping patterns and that passengers should expect residual delays of up to five minutes.
Anyone seeking help should contact Lifeline on 131 114.
<www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/southwest/trains-on-ipswich-springfield-lines-suspended-after-station-incident/news-story/9c4027844f22e51153dfec715c0471b5>

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