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To:australiantransportnews@... australiantransportnews@...>
Sent: Tuesday, 13 October 2020, 08:15:56 pm AEDT
Subject: Wed.8.7.20 daily digest

Roderick

"171003Tu-MetroTwitter-USA-LosAngeles-PacificElectric-San Pedro.7th-~1960.jpg"

 "200708W-Melbourne'Age'-TownHall.station-ss.jpg"
 "200708W-Melbourne'Age'-USA-LosAngeles-commuter.distancing-ss.jpg"

Metro Twitter, Wed.11.10.17
54 years separate these photos of the same location along Clarendon St.
Today: posted with Sun.10.5.20 daily digest.
Then: Port Melbourne Line at Clarendon Street: Up Port Melbourne two-car swingdoor suburban train, 12D nearest.  10 July 1964.  (Weston Langford)
<www.westonlangford.com/images/photo/104831>

Metro Twitter, Thurs.12.10.17
Carnegie: VLine loco N466 leading the Maryvale superfreighter towards Gippsland.
N466 'City of Warrnambool' leads 9461 Maryvale superfreighter. 10.2.97 (Weston Langford)
http://westonlangford.com/images/photo/121887

Sept.17 Metro Twitter:
A view of the viaducts towards Southbank on 17.8.87 at the corner of Market St & Flinders St. 8415 down Sale passenger train, N465; northbound tram Z1.79.
http://westonlangford.com/images/photo/116141

Sept.2017 Metro Twitter:
Rebuilt Harris 904M-3504T-3503T-903M pass over Southern City Ford and Queensbridge St on 1 Oct 85. Today, this is the site of Crown Towers.
851001 Port Melbourne Line at Queens Bridge Up Suburban 4-car Rebuilt Harris 904 M 3504 T nearest.  (Weston Langford).
<www.westonlangford.com/images/photo/115525>

Sept.2017 Metro Twitter:
Westona: In a council competition, this name was suggested as it's...West of Altona. 
920207 Westona Looking towards Altona (Weston Langford)
<www.westonlangford.com/images/photo/118170>

Sept.2017 Metro Twitter:
Spencer Street at Bourke Street Looking North Overhead work for Light Rail conversion 3 June 1987
http://www.westonlangford.com/images/photo/116006
http://www.westonlangford.com/images/photo/116007

Metro Twitter, Tues.3.10.17
* A famous Pacific Electric Railway interurban rolling the streets of LA in 1960. (American-Rails.com)
The famous Pacific Electric Railway, largest of all the interurbans (>1600 km): A "Red Car" at San Pedro/7th St in LA, c1960.
* We're removing the Reservoir levelcrossing. Drop in to our community info session tonight from 4-7pm.

Wed.8.7.20 Metro Twitter
Buses replace trains Dandenong - Cranbourne from 8:40pm Tue 7 Jul to last train Sun 12 Jul, while levelcrossings works take place.
Buses replace trains on sections of the Frankston line from 10pm Sat 23 May to last train Sun 26 Jul, while levelcrossings works take place.
Buses replace trains Frankston - Stony Point from 10pm Sat 23 May to last train Sun 26 Jul, while levelcrossings works take place.
17.28 Pakenham line: Major delays due to vandalism in the Hallam area.
- 17.48 Delays clearing after an vandalism in the Hallam area. Trains may terminate/originate at intermediate stations to alleviate congestion.
Buses replace trains North Melbourne - Upfield from 8:05pm to last train tonight, while maintenance works take place.
Buses replace trains Newport - Werribee from 8:15pm to last train tonight, while project works take place.
Buses replace trains South Yarra - Sandringham from 8:25pm to last train tonight, while maintenance works take place.
Buses replace trains Dandenong - Pakenham from 8:30pm to last train tonight, while project works take place.
Sunbury/Craigieburn/Werribee lines: All trains will terminate/originate at Southern Cross from 8:45pm to last train tonight, while maintenance works take place. From Flinders St or City Loop stns, take City Circle train to Sthn Cross and change trains.
Sunbury line: Buses replace trains North Melbourne - Sunshine from 8:50pm to last train tonight, while maintenance works take place.
Pakenham/Cranbourne/Frankston/Sandringham lines: All trains direct to/from Flinders St, not via City Loop from 9pm to last train tonight, while maintenance works take place. From Sthn Cross or City Loop stns, take any train to Richmond and change for connecting train.
Stage 3 ‘Stay at Home’ restrictions were reinstated for those who live in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire 11.59pm on Wednesday 8 July.

Septa, Philadelphia (USA) <www.iseptaphilly.com>

'New phenomenon': Why the borders between NSW and Victoria will shut July 6, 2020
<www.smh.com.au/national/new-phenomenon-why-the-borders-between-nsw-and-victoria-will-shut-20200706-p559j4.html>

Metro Tunnel workers test positive to COVID-19, Town Hall site shut down July 8, 2020
Two workers on the $11-billion Metro Tunnel project have tested positive to COVID-19, shutting down one of the project's sites on Wednesday night.
Contact tracing is under way to determine if the affected employees at the Town Hall site had close contact with co-workers.
The Town Hall site of the Metro Tunnel, which was connected to the Federation Square site in June 2020, has been shut down after two workers tested positive to COVID-19.CREDIT:JUSTIN MCMANUS
The overnight shift was cancelled on Wednesday night with operations set to resume sometime on Thursday after a deep clean was conducted. Other sections of the underground train project, including tunnelling works at Flinders Street, were not affected by the positive cases, a spokesman said.
"Two project team members from the Metro Tunnel's Town Hall Station sites have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days. The team members are isolating at home and have mild symptoms. As a precautionary measure, all Town Hall site team members have been offered a COVID-19 test," he said.
"The health and safety of the community and our team is the number one priority of the Metro Tunnel Project. There are comprehensive health and safety procedures in place for COVID-19."
Late last month, two Metro Trains staff working at Flinders Street station tested positive, sending 13 staff into quarantine.
In early April, two major building sites in Melbourne were temporarily shut down after two workers tested positive.
The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining Energy Union and redundancy funds manager Incolink provided thousands of tests for workers in the industry, which did not shut down during the pandemic.
RELATED ARTICLE Thirteen Metro staff have been sent home to self-isolate after coming into contact with a Flinders Street staff member who tested positive for coronavirus. Second Flinders Street Station worker tests positive, 13 staff isolate
<www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/metro-tunnel-workers-test-positive-to-covid-19-shutting-down-site-20200708-p55aca.html>

As the day unfolded: ACT records new COVID-19 cases all linked to Victorian outbreak; Melbourne lockdown preparation begins as NSW border closed July 8, 2020
<www.theage.com.au/national/coronavirus-updates-live-melbourne-victorian-regional-areas-prepare-for-covid-19-lockdown-nsw-border-closed-indefinitely-20200707-p559w3.html>

State border closure worth the economic pain July 8, 2020. 37 comments
<www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/state-border-closure-worth-the-economic-pain-20200707-p559u6.html>

Jul 8 2020 Expats returning to Australia: 13 things that shock people who have been living overseas [public transport is included]
<www.traveller.com.au/expats-returning-to-australia-13-things-that-shock-people-who-have-been-living-overseas-h1p7hk>

Long queues at Albury-Wodonga as NSW Premier warns of tougher border restrictions July 8, 2020
<www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/long-queues-into-nsw-as-border-closure-enforced-20200708-p55a1d.html>

'Open windows': Supercomputer plots changes for 'airborne virus' July 8, 2020
Tokyo: Supercomputer-driven models simulated in Japan suggest that operating commuter trains with windows open and limiting the number of passengers may help reduce the risk of coronavirus infections, as scientists warn of airborne spread of the virus.
It comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledged "evidence emerging" of airborne transmission, following an open letter by 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined evidence they said showed floating virus particles can infect people who breathe them in.
A commuter talks to her son on the train in Los Angeles on Monday.CREDIT:AP
The scientists urged improvements to ventilation and the avoidance of crowded, enclosed environments, recommendations that Shin-ichi Tanabe, one of the co-authors of the letter, said Japan broadly adopted months ago.
Using the world's fastest supercomputer, the Fugaku, research giant Riken simulated how the virus travelled in the air in various environments and advised several ways to lower infection risks in public settings.
Its lead researcher, Makoto Tsubokura, said that opening windows on commuter trains could increase the ventilation by two to three times, lowering the concentration of ambient microbes.
video WHO acknowledges virus may be airborne World Health Organization is studying 'emerging' evidence that the novel coronavirus may be spread through the air more easily than previously believed. Meanwhile, the NIH's Dr Anthony Fauci says it would follow the example from a similar de...
But to achieve adequate ventilation, there needed to be spaces between passengers, the simulations showed, representing a drastic change from Japan's notoriously packed commuter trains.
Other findings advised the installation of partitions in offices and classrooms, while in hospitals, beds should be surrounded by curtains that touch the ceiling.
As Japan tamed the pandemic, with more than 19,000 confirmed cases and 977 deaths so far, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura credited its success to the 3Cs and its cluster-tracing strategy.
"In Japan, the committee for COVID-19 countermeasures insisted on the 3Cs at an early stage," said Tanabe, a professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, referring to Japan's public campaign to avoid "closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings". "This is ahead of the world."
Even if the coronavirus is airborne, questions remain about how many infections occur through that route. How concentrated the virus is in the air may also decide contagion risks, said Kyoto University professor Yuki Furuse.
WHO has previously said the virus that causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease spreads primarily through small droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person that quickly sink to the ground.
Because those smaller exhaled particles can linger in the air, the scientists in the group had been urging WHO to update its guidance.
"We wanted them to acknowledge the evidence," said Jose Jimenez, a chemist at the University of Colorado who signed the pen letter.
"This is definitely not an attack on the WHO. It's a scientific debate, but we felt we needed to go public because they were refusing to hear the evidence after many conversations with them," he said in an interview.
Speaking at a daily briefing in Geneva, Benedetta Allegranzi, WHO's technical lead for infection prevention and control, said there was evidence emerging of airborne transmission of the coronavirus, but that it was not definitive.
"... The possibility of airborne transmission in public settings — especially in very specific conditions, crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings that have been described, cannot be ruled out," she said.
"However, the evidence needs to be gathered and interpreted, and we continue to support this."
Jimenez said historically, there has been fierce opposition in the medical profession to the notion of aerosol transmission, and the bar for proof has been set very high. A key concern has been a fear of panic.
The admission comes as US President Donald Trump's administration sent a letter to the United Nations withdrawing the US from the WHO over its handling of the pandemic.
The notice of withdrawal was delivered to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a senior administration official said. Under the terms of a joint resolution passed by Congress in 1948, the US must give a year's notice in writing and 
pay its debts to the agency in order to leave.
Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday.CREDIT:AP
It is not clear whether the President can pull USA out of the organisation and withdraw funding without Congress approval. When Trump first threatened to withdraw, Democratic lawmakers argued that doing so would be illegal and vowed to push back.
"To call Trump's response to COVID chaotic & incoherent doesn't do it justice. This won't protect American lives or interests – it leaves Americans sick & America alone," Democratic Senator Robert Menendez tweeted.
RELATED ARTICLE The Age, News, 06/07/2020 photo by Justin McManus. Housing Commission Towers in Flemington that have been locked down due to Coronavirus. As the day unfolded: ACT records new COVID-19 cases all linked to Victorian outbreak; Melbourne lockdown preparation begins as NSW border closed
RELATED ARTICLE The question of how easily the new coronavirus can spread in the air is still up for debate. Scientists divided over key coronavirus question
<www.smh.com.au/world/asia/open-windows-supercomputer-plots-changes-for-airborne-virus-20200708-p55aa6.html>

Working for Victoria: Quarantine hotel guards pumped up job scheme numbers July 8, 2020. 12 comments
<www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/victoria/working-for-victoria-quarantine-hotel-guards-pumped-up-job-scheme-numbers-20200708-p55aa3.html>

British backers behind super-sized solar farm proposed for Queensland July 8, 2020
<www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/british-backers-behind-super-sized-solar-farm-proposed-for-queensland-20200708-p55a5h.html>

COVID-19 'genie is out of the bottle' says doctor who helped Ruby Princess July 8, 2020. 69 comments
<www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/covid-19-genie-is-out-of-the-bottle-says-doctor-who-helped-ruby-princess-20200708-p55a7o.html>

WA's wallet-fattening battery dream closer to reality with mini-factory plan July 8, 2020 [lithium mining for batteries]
<www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/wa-s-wallet-fattening-battery-dream-closer-to-reality-with-mini-factory-plan-20200708-p55a8x.html>

Road-building to be revved up [with ATN]
Wed.8.7.20 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'