Indeed, Daniel,
It was Jim Kennan, Minister of Transport in the Cain/Kirner government, who propounded the conversion. It was also his action in removing conductors.

Hamish Haugh

On 19 May 2019, at 09:22, Daniel Bowen danielbowen@...> wrote:

On Sat, 18 May 2019 at 17:24, Mal Rowe mal.rowe@... mailto:mal.rowe@gmail.com> wrote:
On 05/05/2019 16:22, Mal Rowe wrote:
> The driver for the Upfield line was a desire by the Kennett

> government to prioritise motor traffic in Sydney Rd - and avoiding

> the potential cost of level crossing removals on the Upfield railway.

> There are no grade separated crossings between just north of

> Flemington Bridge and Boundary Rd, just south of Fawkner station!

>

Last Thursday night at the TDU gathering in Melbourne, John Gilmour
kindly gave me a copy of the Kennett era pamphlet promoting the
conversion of the Upfield railway to light rail.

Very interesting, however it says light rail would be coming in 1991 - that makes it pre-Kennett - he became Premier in October 1992.

Daniel