And from the same summit:
https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/federal-infrastructure-minister-says-melbourne-falling-behind-sydney-with-new-road-and-rail-projects/news-story/b6349e2323e0372f38f1bf40705bf712
Federal infrastructure minister says Melbourne falling behind Sydney with
new road and rail projects
Benedict Brook, news.com.au
June 12, 2019 3:55pm
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Melbourne is falling behind Sydney with the Victorian capital creaking
under the weight of ageing transport infrastructure which will have to cope
with rapid population growth for years to come.
That’s the view of federal Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge who said
today that of all the major cities, Melbourne was his “main concern” when
it came to new roads and rail programs.
The warning comes as population growth in Melbourne outstrips every other
major Australian city with hundreds of thousands of new people arriving
annually. Many of those new residents are going to school and work on
already strained existing trains, trams and roads.
Unlike Sydney, where commuters are now riding the first phase of the $20
billion driverless Sydney Metro service
https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/what-its-like-to-ride-on-sydneys-shiny-new-metro-northwest-driverless-trains/news-story/8b247f49b59a136c864509614b54b175,
Melburnians will have to wait another six years for the commute busting $11
billion Melbourne Metro to take its first passengers.
The Sydney Metro is up and running but Melbourne commuters will have to
wait six more years. Picture: Joel Carrett/AAP
Mr Tudge made the comments at this year’s Australian Financial Review
National Infrastructure Summit held in Melbourne.
He also had a dig at the state Labor government for scrapping a major new
motorway five years ago that would right now be nearing completion.
Mr Tudge spruiked the federal government’s 10-year $100 billion
infrastructure plan that has earmarked investment in mega projects — such
as faster rail between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and their satellite
cities — as well as more modest plans including $500 million to build and
improve commuter car parks.
“In Sydney, the city will be transformed within two or three years as some
of the massive projects from the huge NSW infrastructure program will be
completed, while others are just getting started,” he said.
These include the multi-billion dollar North and West Connex motorway
projects, several phases of which are due to open this year, as well as the
city’s light rail which — while delayed — is finally nearing completion.
But the same could not be said of Melbourne, Mr Tudge said.
“Of the big cities, my main concern over the medium term is Melbourne,” he
said.
The federal Infrastructure Minister said Melbourne was his ‘main concern’
when it came to road and rail projects. Picture: Allan Lee/AFP
The Grattan Institute’s transport and cities program director Marion
Terrill said her research suggested that Mr Tudge had a point.
Research in 2017 by Ms Terrill showed commuters from Melbourne’s outer
suburbs suffered from longer snarl-ups getting to work than people in
Sydney.
In the morning peak, the average CBD-bound trip in Sydney took 70 per cent
longer than it would in the middle of the night, but about 80 per cent
longer in Melbourne.
“To my surprise I found that Melbourne did seem a little more subject to
delays and unpredictability than Sydney,” she told news.com.au at the
summit.
But she warned that shiny, and very expensive, new roads weren’t
necessarily the congestion killers their supporters claimed. More mundane
solutions, like road pricing, could be just as effective.
“Melbourne is less advanced in time of day pricing for public transport,
there’s a lot of parking in the CBD, more than in Sydney and it’s cheaper
so the state government is addressing some of this but it’s taking time,”
Ms Terrill said.
News.com.au has contacted Victorian infrastructure minister Jacinta Allen
for comment.
Originally published as Melbourne’s multi-billion dollar fail
https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/federal-infrastructure-minister-says-melbourne-falling-behind-sydney-with-new-road-and-rail-projects/news-story/b6349e2323e0372f38f1bf40705bf712
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