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Subject: Tues.10.11.20 daily digest

Roderick

 "201110Tu-Melbourne'Age'-Sydney.tram-a-ss.jpg"
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Tues.10.11.20 Metro Twitter
Moreland and Coburg remain closed until mid-December while work continues on station buildings. Trains run express Anstey - Batman, with buses connecting with trains at Anstey and Batman, also parallel route 19 trams. Bell Street, Coburg, is closed until early Wednesday (level-crossing work). Detour via Moreland Road or Gaffney Street.
Still in force? Spencer St northbound is reduced to one lane near Collins Street, as City of Melbourne upgrades continue outside Southern Cross station. Consider using King Street instead. Works are expected to be completed by mid November.
In force until late 2021.  South Gippsland Highway, Dandenong South is reduced to one lane towards Cranbourne, as level-crossing work continues. Be alert for changes between Princes Hway and Dandenong Bypass. See  http://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/disruptions/south-gippsland-highway-dandenong-south-changed-traffic-conditions
Werribee/Williamstown line: Buses replace trains on sections of the line at various times until the last train of Mon 9 Nov (works).
Buses replace trains on sections of the Sunbury line until 3.30 Sun 22 Nov (works).
19.02 Lilydale line -major delays (a truck hit and damaged Maroondah Hwy boom-gate equipment at Lilydale). 
- 19.08 Buses replace trains between Mooroolbark & Lilydale Buses have been ordered, ETA 1 hour. Consider alternatives.
- 19.25 & 19.45 ETA 35min.
- 19.54  Trains have resumed.
Lilydale/Belgrave lines: Buses replace trains Camberwell - Ringwood from 20.30 until the last train (maintenance works).
Buses replace trains Dandenong - Pakenham from 20.30 until the last train (works).

Mon.9.11.20 Melbourne 'Herald Sun' BIGGEST PLANS ‘NOT THE BEST’. Call for transport rethink MATT JOHNSTON
MEGA transport projects around Australia have suffered cost overruns of $34 billion over two decades and will not provide a post-pandemic stimulus salvation, a new report says.
And with the brakes slammed on population growth due to the coronavirus crisis, governments have been called to revisit business cases for massive road and rail projects to see whether they still stack up in a post-COVID world.
The report, by think tank the Grattan Institute, shows that six projects across Australia — including two in Victoria — are responsible for $24bn of the $34bn in cost overruns since the beginning of this century.
It warns the recent rise of $2bn mega projects has now been replaced by “mega mega projects” worth $5bn or more, causing construction capacity constraints.
The report, led by Grattan’s Transport and Cities Program director Marion Terrill, calls for an audit of mega projects around the country, new rules to force a continuous disclosure of costs to parliaments, and public project reviews to provide lessons for future builds.
With the Andrews government and Morrison government about to embark on a suite of new projects, such as the Airport Rail Link and the $15.8bn North East Link, governments should still “keep options open” and consider whether they stack up.
“The mantra of stimulus does not mean that every project is a good one,” the report says. “Projects conceived prepandemic are likely to suffer benefit underruns. A benefit underrun is just as serious as a cost overrun. Either shortcoming can render a project not worth building.”
One example of a project with massive cost overruns is the North East Link, which was flagged in 2008 as costing $6bn, before being promised in 2015 as a $10bn project now being worth $15.8bn after a business case was done.
The Herald Sun revealed on Saturday that the government was now altering the contract with the builders of the NE Link to reduce the risk of cost blowouts down the track.
The report is scathing of the process by which the Andrews government proposed a new $50bn-plus suburban rail loop before consultation with infrastructure experts.
It is one of 25 projects around Australia worth more than $500 million and committed to since 2016 that didn’t have a business case.
The report says government infrastructure projects could be worthwhile independent of the COVID-19 crisis but they “are not the best form of stimulus because they take a long time to get going” and face construction industry limits.
“When there are already bottlenecks (in the construction industry), racing to build projects dreamt up before the pandemic just pushes up prices,” the report states. “Governments would get bigger bang for taxpayer buck by instead spending more on upgrading existing infrastructure, and on social infrastructure such as aged care and mental health care.”
MEGA PROJECTS AND THEIR MEGA DOLLARS
* NORTH EAST LINK (2021 – 2027) In 2008, a new link to connect the M80 to the Eastern Freeway was tipped to cost $6bn. Eight years later, the Andrews government said the mega-project would cost $10bn. Three route options — estimated to cost $7bn-$23bn — were revealed in 2017. The government selected the “cheapest” later that year but it was estimated to cost $16.5bn – which has since been revised down to $15.8bn.
* MELBOURNE METRO RAIL TUNNEL (2018 – 2025) The $11bn project began construction in 2018, and the Auditor-General found that early works cost $150 million more than anticipated. The Herald Sun last month revealed the state government struck a deal with the project builders to pay for $1.5bn-$2bn in blowouts.
* WEST GATE TUNNEL (2017- 2023) In 2016, the government signed a deal with tolling giant Transurban for a $5.5bn road between the West Gate Freeway and CityLink, as well as a Port of Melbourne link. The cost grew to $6.7bn when the final contract was signed but delays due to contaminated soil are likely to add at least another $1bn. Legal proceedings over who pays are continuing.
* INLAND RAIL (2018 – TBC) The 1700km freight railway line connecting the port of Melbourne to Brisbane was initially proposed as a $4.4bn project in 2010. In 2015, a full business case showed a likely cost of $9.9bn but proponents of a different route say it could end up costing $16bn.
* SUBURBAN RAIL LOOP (2022 – TBC) Described in the Grattan Institute report as “a particularly egregious example of a large project being announced without appropriate scrutiny”. It will be Australia’s most expensive transport infrastructure project, slated to cost more than $50bn.

Services resume after CBD light rail breakdown. Tom Rabe November 10, 2020
Sydney's CBD light rail has resumed several hours after a tram broke down near Moore Park, shutting down services from Central to both Randwick and Kingsford.
The tram’s pantograph, which connects the vehicle to overhead wires, became detached close to 7am on Tuesday.
The tram that broke down near Moore Park on Tuesday. CREDIT:RAIL, TRAM AND BUS UNION
While services ran as normal between Circular Quay and Central at Chalmers Street, buses replaced trams from there on both the L2 Randwick and L3 Kingsford lines between 7am and 4.30pm.
"The damaged tram has returned to the Randwick depot for inspection and technicians are examining the overhead wires near Robertson Road as they search for the cause of the incident," a spokesman for operator Transdev said in a statement.
The spokesman said Transdev was still working to determine how the incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon.
"Transdev Sydney apologises to customers for the inconvenience and appreciates their patience whilst repairs are being made," the spokesman said. There were no passengers on the tram at the time of the incident and no staff were injured.
The scene of the incident on ANZAC Parade on Tuesday.CREDIT:RAIL, TRAM AND BUS UNION
Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW division secretary David Babineau said the incident raised concerns over the safety of the CBD light rail.
"The wheels, or in this case what looks to be a light rail vehicle part, are falling off the light rail system only a few short years after it opened," he said.
"How did the NSW government spend more than $3 billion on a new light rail system only to have an incident like this happen?"
<www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-cbd-light-rail-broken-down-services-suspended-20201110-p56da0.html>
* I hope that it was still under warranty.
* Just like Victoria have learned much from NSW about COVID-19 contact tracing I am sure Transdev can learn a few things from our PTV on how to run a relatively trouble-free tram network.
* 7am and no one on board, say's it all really.
* Meanwhile screens were blank and no announcements when people went to catch this morning. I would have checked the real time data... but oh wait that doesn't exist yet almost 12 months after opening.
* You get what you pay for. Unfortunately in this instance, the NSW Liberals paid so much for so little.
* replacing services with buses...tell me again why having buses and dedicated bus only lanes was a worse idea than these fickle light rail contraptions?
* Again.

'Perverse signals': NSW clean power push clouds grid planning, prices. Mike Foley and Nick Toscano November 10, 2020
<www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/perverse-signals-nsw-clean-power-push-clouds-grid-planning-prices-20201110-p56d98.html>

Woman charged after alleged Valley bus incident left man with 'puncture' wound. Matt Dennien November 10, 2020
A woman has been charged over an alleged incident on a Brisbane bus that left a man with a puncture wound to his chest on Monday evening.
Initial investigations had suggested the man was "confronted" while he exited the bus near the corner of Brunswick and Robertson streets in Fortitude Valley about 5.20pm and "struck" with an object, police said in a statement at the time.
The woman was later charged with wounding and due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday.CREDIT:NINE
The man suffered a "a non-life-threatening puncture wound to his upper chest" as a result and was transported to the Royal Brisbane Hospital for treatment.
Police said the 44-year-old woman fled the scene on foot towards Brunswick Street Mall, where she was found off Bonney Lane about 6pm.
She was later charged with wounding and was due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday, a police spokesman said.
<www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/woman-charged-after-alleged-valley-bus-incident-left-man-with-puncture-wound-20201110-p56de0.html>

From the Archives: The solemn opening of the Shrine of Remembrance. November 10, 2020
First published in the Age on November 12, 1934
DEDICATION OF THE SHRINE OF REMEMBRANCE
PERFORMED BY DUKE OF GLOUCESTER
SOLEMN, IMPRESSIVE, INSPIRING
Aerial view of the dedication ceremony in 1934.CREDIT:STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
Over 300,000 People Attend
Distinguished Visitors From All Parts Of The Empire
In what is probably the most notable and profound expression of community ritual experienced in the history of Australia, Victoria’s war memorial, The Shrine of Remembrance in the Domain, was dedicated yesterday by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
From the earliest hours former soldiers of the A.I.F. and citizens assembled in and around enclosures at the Shrine, the sun shone fitfully from masses of cloud, and by three minutes to eleven on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, Armistice Day, 317,500 people stood alert as the bugles and trumpets sounded a warning “G.” At 11 o’clock a gun was fired to indicate the solemn hour of world armistice sixteen years ago. This great crowd then stood hushed for three minutes, heads bowed, tears in many eyes, until the melancholy sound of the Last Post was followed by a Reveille rousing the mass from its simple act of worship to the consciousness of new and bracing life.
The dedication ceremony, which followed, was opened with the singing of the Old Hundredth, a prayer, and brief speeches by Sir H. Chauvel and the Premier, who read Rudyard Kipling’s ode, specially written by the British poet for the historic occasion. In the course of his dedication speech, the Duke said: “This noble Shrine is not only intended as a symbol to be seen by all who come to this great city, but as a reminder also that the sacrifice of these men and women lays a duty on us who follow them.”
At the head of an impressive cortege, guarded by A.I.F. and regimental color parties, the Duke entered the Inner Sanctuary of the Shrine and laid the first wreath, from the King, and the Rock of Remembrance. Wreaths of international and Empire significance were also placed in the Sanctuary, and throughout the day constant streams of people visited the memorial. From dusk till midnight, floodlights made of this magnificent structure a monument beautiful in its austerity. It will continue to be illuminated every night of the year.
HISTORIC OCCASION
AN EXPRESSION OF COMMUNITY RITUAL
MEANING OF THE SHRINE
Accustomed to the magnificent massing of soldiers and civilians every Anzac day, the people of Victoria little realised what an historically notable occasion the dedication of the Shrine of Remembrance on Sunday, 11th November, 1934 – Armistice day – would prove. The concentration yesterday of hundreds of thousands of people on the Domain to mark the completion of a memorial, which has taken seven years to build, was inspiring tribute to the immortal men of this State who gave Australia dignity in nationhood. On Armistice day the memory of the dead is even more alive than that of the living. Years of universal heroism, 1914 to 1918, are recalled with a pride tempered by the sorrow of a lasting grief. But once more we strive to fulfil the same prediction of C. H. Sorley, the young English poet, who made the supreme sacrifice at Loos, when he wrote of our attitude towards our racial enemies:
“We’ll grasp firm hands and laugh at the old pain. When it is peace.”
The essence of the occasion yesterday was the dedication ceremony performed by the Duke of Gloucester. As the cortege arrived, which from an avenue of fixed bayonets stretching from Domain Road to the approaches, marching slowly in procession round the western pavement of the Shrine to enter the Inner Sanctuary, the crowd became petrified in that solemnity of thought and spirit commingling death with life. Overhead the drone of planes could be heard, but as a gun boomed out on the stroke of 11 o’clock the great concourse fell into an awed silence, terrifying, profound, sacred.
The Silence
A single gunshot, two warning notes on the trumpet. Then the two minutes’ silence, when every head was bowed. Thought long and dolorous passed through the mind in these moments when above all others we commune with those who did not come back. Buglers then sounded the Last Post, the last bugle call of the soldier’s day, the requiem of the dead. Then followed the cavalry reveille, emblematic of the dawning of a new day, of the victory over death, of resurrection. To infantrymen this bugle call is not well known, though most have heard it in camp. The popular ditty that accompanies it begins, “Soldiers arise, and put your armor on,” words not inappropriate to an occasion of solemnity.
<www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/victoria/from-the-archives-1934-the-solemn-opening-of-the-shrine-of-remembrance-20201105-p56bxu.html>

Tues.10.11.20 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'. Letters:
RING of steel? I’ve been on the train between Geelong and Melbourne every day for work for last couple of months and not checked once.