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Sent: Friday, 9 April 2021, 11:57:54 am AEST
Subject: Tues.28.12.20 daily digest, part 1

Roderick 

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15 min UK documentary 'failed railway modernisation plans' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R79tjrdkGJE [Victoria imitated closely]

Mon.28.12.20 Metro Twitter
Frankston line: Buses replace trains Caulfield - Mordialloc from 20.30 until the last train (maintenance works).
22.13 Pakenham line: Major delays (police near Cardinia Road and Narre Warren).
- 22.14 And you wonder why people shouldn't travel on the train anymore this year with this delay.
- 22.55 clearing.

Port Albert. Benjamin Preiss December 28, 2020
there are fresh hopes that plans for Australia's first offshore wind farm in Bass Strait will bring another economic boost.
<www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/hopes-for-a-change-in-fortune-blowing-in-the-wind-at-port-albert-20201225-p56q5t.html>

Airport Rail Link tracks to soar above Melbourne suburbs. Matt Johnston December 28, 2020. 320 comments
Sky rail bridges will be built in three suburbs as part of the $10 billion Melbourne Airport link design.
video: Airport rail could be jewel in Victoria's recovery crown. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he has had talks with the Prime Minister on the Melbourne Airport Rail Link which could be part of the infrastructure…
The new Melbourne Airport Rail Link will soar 55m above the Maribyrnong River and travel over the Western Ring Road via a series of elevated bridges.
The Herald Sun can reveal the design plan for the $10 billion project — to enable travellers to get between the airport and CBD in under 30 minutes — includes sections of sky rail through the suburbs of Sunshine North, Keilor East and Airport West.
Raised tracks will be built over the M80 near Airport West, where an extra station is also being considered to connect thousands of nearby residents to the suburban rail service.
Engineers are also planning to run the new line alongside freight rail tracks between Sunshine and Airport West, which will involve a 383m steel structure across the Maribyrnong — the second highest bridge in Victoria after the West Gate.
Once the line reaches Airport West and crosses above the M80, trains will run alongside Airport Drive.
Stakeholders have been briefed that there will also be a “premium” station at Tullamarine allowing passengers to disembark close to major terminals.
Victorian Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan confirmed elevated structures would be part of the “massive engineering project”, but said the details were still being planned.
Melbourne Airport Rail Link.
“Our experts are taking the time to consult with the community, carefully consider the works required, and work out the best way to deliver them,” she said.
“The confirmed Melbourne Airport Rail route via Sunshine and the Metro Tunnel is the best solution — it means the quickest trip, with the least number of interchanges for the majority of passengers.”
More information on how many kilometres of track will be elevated above suburban rooftops and where the project will impact most on residents is expected to emerge in the coming months.
The elevated sections would be similar to the controversial Cranbourne-Pakenham sky rail — built as part of the government’s level crossings removal program — which has transformed the suburban landscape in Melbourne’s southeast and ­angered many residents living on the line, but proved a vote winner in the area.
The business case for the rail link, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Premier Daniel Andrews agreed to fund together, is still being ­finished.
It is likely to be released early next year and the project quickly put to market, with Mr Morrison and Mr ­Andrews keen to begin construction in 2022, and open to passengers in seven years.
Up to 8000 jobs will be created while it is built, with each government so far having committed $5bn to it.
“It’s key to our recovery and this design means it will benefit all Victorians,” Mr Andrews said.
An artist’s impression of an Airport Rail Link station.
Once finished, services will run every 10 minutes into the heart of the CBD, connecting through the new Melbourne Metro Tunnel and arriving within half an hour.
Sunshine station will ­become a major interchange for the airport rail services, connecting to growth areas in the city’s north and west and regional Victoria.
“The airport link is a ­nationally significant project,” the Prime Minister said last month.
“When complete, the link will slash travel times, bust congestion and be a major boost to the economy.”
Thousands of residents in Airport West, Keilor East, Keilor Park and Avondale Heights have petitioned to be included in the rail link, which could connect them to the suburban rail network.
This is also part of a campaign to improve services through the $50bn to $100bn Suburban Rail Loop — of which the link between the airport and Sunshine is part — before a separate line will continue to Werribee.
Using the airport rail link as a part of the SRL would save the government billions of dollars in not having to ­create a separate line, but would mean different grades of train required to run between Sunshine and Werribee compared with Sunshine and the airport.
The Andrews government has also promised the ­Tullamarine train terminal will allow for an eventual connection to Broadmeadows, as part of its planned SRL.
More Coverage West Gate chaos as Melburnians head to coastNew eyes in the sky to provide lifesaving beach patrols
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/airport-rail-link-tracks-to-soar-above-melbourne-suburbs/news-story/57b571883d4521a170cec83e8dc783c6>

Melbourne Airport rail line to soar high over Maribyrnong River. Clay Lucas and Michael Fowler December 28, 2020
A new rail bridge that is set to form part of the Melbourne Airport Rail project will soar 55 metres above the Maribyrnong River and become the second-highest bridge in Victoria after the West Gate.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan revealed details of the 383-metre-long river crossing as part of an update about the project on Monday.
The plans will also involve elevated rail being built through some residential areas, including Sunshine, where the recently rebuilt railway station will undergo another major renovation to turn it into a regional interchange for both airport rail and for train services to growth areas and regional Victoria.
The final cost of the project is yet to be finalised, but it will be built with $5 billion of money from the Victorian budget and $5 billion from Canberra.
A business case for the project has also not yet been completed, but the government intends to run airport trains along the Metro Tunnel rail line through central Melbourne, attracting some criticism from transport experts because it will reduce the number of metropolitan trains that can use the $12 billion tunnel when it opens in 2025.
A rail line to Tullamarine has been on Victoria's infrastructure agenda since the mid-1960s but has never been delivered.
The original plan was for the track to run via Broadmeadows, rather than the more circuitous journey through Sunshine, but with far more housing along the Broadmeadows corridor to be potentially affected by a new express airport rail line, in 2001 a state government planning panel recommended the new route via Sunshine.
That report estimated an airport rail link would cost between $213 million and $516 million. The current official estimate for the project stands at $8 billion to 13 billion, although it is not clear precisely what this budget includes.
Construction of the airport rail link will start in 2022 and finish by 2029, delivering train services to the city every 10 minutes.
Airport trains will run through the new Metro Tunnel and into the south-eastern suburbs via the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines. The government has promised the new rail link will provide a direct connection from the CBD to the airport in under 30 minutes.
A 2019 artist's impression of the station that could be built at Melbourne Airport.CREDIT:MELBOURNE AIRPORT
The route via Sunshine and the Metro Tunnel "is the best solution – it means the quickest trip, with the least number of interchanges for the majority of passengers", Ms Allan said.
The journey to the airport will stop at Footscray, to connect to the Werribee and Williamstown lines, and Sunshine to connect to Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong lines, before arriving at Melbourne Airport.
Moonee Valley Council is also campaigning for the rail project to include a new station at Airport West to ease a transport black hole in the city's north west.
The location of the railway station within Melbourne Airport has not been confirmed.
"Melbourne Airport Rail is a massive engineering project and our experts are taking the time to consult with the community, carefully consider the works required, and work out the best way to deliver them," Ms Allan said.
The Public Transport Users Association is broadly supportive of the airport rail link plan, but spokesman Daniel Bowen said when the details of the project were finalised, it was crucial tickets were affordable.
He said the current SkyBus made sense to catch if you were travelling alone. "But if you're travelling in a group of people, then the cost really goes up and a taxi will be cheaper."
video Tullamarine - 50 years without a rail link
Since opening in 1970, Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport has seen numerous projects for a rail link connecting it to the city fail to get off the ground.
Mr Bowen also said a key group the new rail line needed to serve was Melbourne Airport's 12,000 workers.
"Fares will need to be lower for airport workers if they really want to reduce the traffic pressures," he said.
<www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/melbourne-airport-rail-line-to-soar-high-over-maribyrnong-river-20201228-p56qfa.html>
*  This project is estimated to be between $8 billion and $13 billion from previous media releases. How on earth does it even cost $8 billion? It's nothing more than a branch line from Sunshine that runs above ground for all but the last kilometre or so when it enters the underground airport station. This plus a new bridge and reconfiguration at Sunshine does not equal $8 billion.
* Meanwhile, Skybus already gets you to your terminal door in about 25 minutes.
* I think the gouvernment needs to update their pro-forma railway promise. It should say, eventually a 10min service could be delivered. I can hear it now........"to save costs we didn't use high speed signialling"....."once we have purchased the additional rolling stock and trained more drivers there will be a 10 min service"......"Because we added additional stops, services will not be 10min"
* Super idea (not)! Spend $8-$13 Billion to replace a bunch of buses, and end up with the same journey times and the same ticket cost. The only way a business case will stack up is if the government penalises / taxes every other way of getting to the airport in order to force people to use the train.
* This route will do nothing to ease congestion for those beyond Sunshine. A dedicated line from the city to Sunshine would allow better service to Ballarat and electrification to Melton. Instead all the money being spent on a slow, shared service over a bridge that will blow out the budget.
* Why doesn’t Ms Allan go to London and look at the Heathrow Express to get some advice instead of taking it from the Trades Hall and ACTU?
* This service, being so slow and expensive, may end up being a white elephant. Even Skybus looks good in comparison!
* This plan makes it even more annoying that they aren’t running the metro tunnel/airport line via south Yarra station
* “..to soar high over Maribyrnong River” But, no higher than the existing steel trestle railway bridge, or the E.J. Whitten road bridge nearby. It is hard to understand what the point of the headline is.
* SteamRail Victoria! Quick! Organise another trip over the Maribyrnong River Viaduct so we can get some photos before the vista is ruined by a new bridge next to the old one.
* What’s in it for Angus?
* Why is the do nothing but complain Liberal State governments proposal?
* Tell em their dreaming.
* Looks like our Rail Project Committee members must be related to the Taxi Association & Skybus Operators, both groups NOT really wanting the govt to go ahead with the Rail Link!!
* The taxi industry is a big big donor to both parties. They're not stupid
* 30mins to the CBD? Way too slow. Sydney can do it in 15-20 mins. Get serious Melbourne.
* Tullamarine Airport is twice as far from the CBD as Kingsford Smith Airport is from Sydney CBD. Apples and oranges.
* maybe that's because Sydney airport is CLOSER to the City?
* Not going to happen. I will only believe it will if it ever starts construction
* How does the mixed use train work? Commuters with baggage? The memorable airport trains have travellers only with fast direct, one or two stops. The mixed use trains are memorable only as the reason to catch a taxi next time..
* * It works ok in Brisbane with their frequent Airport trains travelling to the Gold Coast.
* Just build it already
* They should have a lottery to predict ticket prices - I’m thinking $28 one way in today’s money.
* Which if you are even close to that figure will make it one of the most expensive airport trains in the world, very short term thinking, I would agree with the price if the train was only going to be around for 10 years and investors wanted their money back fast but if this white elephant is going to be here for good why do the fares have to be exorbitant? If Mc Dougalls Bigmac was $50, huge profit per burger, would you wonder why they went out of business so quickly? Thats why they rely on lots of customers, volume and lower profit per sale and they still make billions by not ripping people off, quickly.
* I'm surprised the airport train isn't going to the city via Bendigo and Ballarat. I'm sure there are shorter and cheaper routes to the city than via Sunshine and the Maribyrnong river.
* Shorter, maybe. Cheaper, not a chance. Any other solution requires a massive lot expensive tunnel.
* Unbelievable waste of tax payers money, 30 minutes to get from airport on an express train is ridiculous in this day and age.
* It isn't at all.
* This is a more scenic route than Puffing Billy! The crucial item of the airport station location is still a mystery. No-one will use it unless it takes you to the terminal door or inside. Don't expect to dump people at the long term car park or hike 500m with cases and use this white elephant.
* It must terminate inside the terminal
* If it terminates inside the terminal, it should be called a terminus not a station.
* Which terminal? T1, T2, T3, or T4? And what future terminals is the airport planning for?
* How on earth did the price go up almost 40-fold in just 19 years?
* Kennett stopped it being built nineteen years ago with his cosy deal with City Link. He created a barrier to competition.
* yet people still listen to him as if he has your wellbeing at his heart! Not by a long way.
* Just Do It!
* There is already an excellent freeway to the airport - hardly anyone will choose to use this service. People would much prefer to use Uber or the equivalent from home directly to the airport, presumably with an AI driver by the time this lands in 2031 or so, no doubt billions over budget. Totally insane waste of money.
* The cost of taxi or Uber for those who live on the other side of the CBD is prohibitive.
* By 2031 will the freeway be a car park? New residential subdivisions are underway now east of Sunbury & on the Lancefield Road with more to come likely.What is the transport plan for these subdivisions? Is there one?If not the freeway will clog along with surrounding roads.
* What plan you give people too much credit.
* I see it will have the scenic route out to the airport. It might make you decide to not come back.
* Yes, I agree, some of that route is quite scenic.
* Stop talking about it and just do it or say you're not going to do it. I've heard a hundred different plans. All sounds like stalling tactics to me. I'm sick of hearing about it. They've beenbanging on about it for years.
* decades
* Project just seems messy. I mean the airport is so close to the CBD already and this train will take 30mins... should be 20mins maximum! Also as if this will be finished by the end of the decade
* What difference does it make? 10min is nothing.
* That’s right. Reliability and predictability far more important. One prang on the freeway and you are screwed.
* I guess Tim if you set a ceiling time limit then you have to build effectively to meet those times. If you think that 10 mins one way or another doesnt matter, you fall into the trap that has afflicted public transport in this country since day dot. The argument that close enough is good enough, has been the bane of every bit of infrastructure built so far. We always build to lowest denominator, take the Tullamarine for example, I have lived in Melbourne for 27 years and it has been widened at least twice since then and the Ring Road at least once.
Why arent the experts saying "Lets look at the growth of Mel and in future we are going to need X amount of stuff and it is cheaper to build it now than in the future?" No! They dont so every time they have to rebuild something { Hello NBN} it costs us 10s of billions of dollars extra out of taxes etc. We are the country that waits till it desperately needs something before we think about building it, no forward thinking, planning, budgeting, imagination, nothing.
And then we complain about the cost and inconvenience. So 10 min becomes 20 and then the 1015 to the airport arrives at your station at 1035 and then you miss your plane.
We accept that a train arriving 5 minutes late is still on time, not good enough, but we don't seem to care about making it work better. Our signalling is from the 18th century, we still have boom gates, sydney doesnt they saw the case to get rid of them decades ago.
* Close?
* Another major project that will be stuffed up by the Andrew’s Govt because they will rush it through and not take the time to properly manage the costs and it will revert back to us the taxpayer to clean up
* Andrews government hasnt stuffed up any projects. The taxpayer always pays for government projects. Thats what taxpayer money is for.
* Look at the huge cost over-runs for the Westgate tunnel and the new rail project. The North West link will cost billions more than budgeted and the Andrews govt paid over a billion dollars to NOT build East West link which was once again re-affirmed as a necessary project by recent transport planning paper. If they had gone ahead with it, it would be finished by now.
* Hotel quarantine was a major stuff up D Martin
* They arent rushing anything. Youre thinking of City Link which already grid lock at peak times
* Waste of money
* Great idea for when travel resumes.
* Great, for the purposes yet again of saving a penny when in the grand scheme of things it's loose change we set ourselves up for problems down the track. The Dandenong corridor is congested with all the new housing estates which have now extended past Pakenham East and the Metro Tunnel was meant to add more capacity. Now, this extra capacity won't be fully realised because it is taken up by Airport trains.
 Is anybody going to raise the question of whether the trains will have dedicated luggage compartments for large bagge because the way I read it is the same trains that are for commuters will also be the same trains as for airport travellers...Goodluck to those travellers and tourists inconvenienced by having oversized baggage taking up space along the corridor and taking up seats.
* Plenty of room for some new housing estates either side of the runways!
* I don’t follow the objection on behalf of the Pakenham line. It’s surely immaterial to them whether their train continues on past the CBD to the airport or not. Their services will be just as regular, and if they go to the Airport, more convenient! It’s the other Western Suburbs route that will get reduced services, not the Dandenong corridor.
* given how many people work (or at least prior to 2020) at the airport, and those who take very lttle, why does it matter - the airport is for so much more than a family off to Phuket
* Wrong. This project will balance the demand east and west. The current imbalance is why they are building a turn back at West Footscray as part of the metro tunnel. Also - the new tunnel and upgrades along the whole corridor will result in the ability to run 1200 passenger trains every 2.5 mins.

Longer trip time for commuters during shutdown of Harbour Bridge to trains. Matt O'Sullivan December 28, 2020
Commuters have been warned that journeys across Sydney will take up to 20 minutes longer due to a 10-day shutdown of the rail line across the Harbour Bridge.
Trains will stop traversing the bridge – a key part of the city's rail network – from early on New Year's Day as work starts on a $100 million project to replace a wooden deck dating to the 1930s with large concrete slabs and sleepers.
The bridge's wooden deck will be replaced over the next two years as part of a $100 million project.CREDIT:BROOK MITCHELL
Buses will replace trains on the T1 North Shore and Western line, operating at high frequency on four routes between North Sydney and central Sydney.
The closure of the bridge to trains will have a ripple effect across the rail network, as all suburban lines except the T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line will operate at reduced frequency on weekdays, which will be similar to a weekend timetable.
Sydney Trains acting chief executive Suzanne Holden said the major maintenance work was a "big job right in the heart of our network", noting that 450 trains a day typically crossed the bridge.
"The bridge works are absolutely critical. This gives us an opportunity over the 10 days to re-deck 550 metres of the bridge and extend the life of the bridge for 120 years," she said.
The wooden rail deck on the Sydney Harbour Bridge dates to the 1930s.CREDIT:FAIRFAX PHOTOGRAPHIC
The work during the 10-day shutdown will complete about half of the bridge project. The rest will be carried out over the next two years during standard weekend closures for rail maintenance, which typically average six a year on lines.
The installation of large pre-cut slabs of concrete will make rail journeys across the bridge quieter by reducing the rattling of trains.
Transport officials have chosen early January for the work because significantly fewer people travel on the rail network during the summer holiday period.
Transport for NSW acting deputy secretary Howard Collins said he expected journeys to take an extra 15 to 20 minutes during the 10-day period, and he urged people to plan their trips.
Transport for NSW acting deputy secretary Howard Collins is again urging commuters to wear masks on public transport.CREDIT:RHETT WYMAN
"If you do not need to come into the CBD, for whatever reason for those 10 days, please if you can work from home, stay away from the rail network," he said.
Patronage across public transport has more than halved during this Christmas period compared with the same time last year. "We're down over 50 per cent on most routes, whether that's rail, bus, light rail – and certainly ferries is even greater than that," Mr Collins said.
Patronage usually drops by about 20 per cent during the Christmas period.
Mr Collins urged employers to encourage staff to work from home during the first weeks of January, especially those whose regular commutes would be affected by the work on the bridge.
"One of my messages is: please, wear a mask. It really is important, and we notice more people started to wear masks but still not enough on public transport," he said.
<www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/longer-trip-time-for-commuters-during-shutdown-of-harbour-bridge-to-trains-20201228-p56qfj.html>
*  Meanwhile in other parts of the world such work is done without complete closure. There are two tracks. Use one of them bi-directionally at reduced frequency. Work on the other one. Its bizarre to me to hear the guy in charge of the rail network saying: "stay away". He actually said that about his own rail network. Its so inconvenient to them to have customers around :). Absurd.
* This is a fantastic idea from the NSW Government. The Harbour Bridge is a world icon and carries so much traffic it must be hard to get time to do any serious maintenance there. Closing the rail line for two weeks while most people are on leave is great planning. Well done!!
* It’s great to urge commuters to wear masks , but what about the transport employees ?(I remover unions making a fuss about availability of masks at start of pandemic ). At Wynyard station I rarely see any of the staff there wearing masks , considering they are in an enclosed area with poor ventaliation hours on end they should be wearing masks , not make a fuss about the commuters who are catching empty trains and social distancing for short periods of time
* Why on earth would you wait until New Year's Day to do this? Newsflash, most large employers in the city force staff to take at least the week between Xmas and New Years off. If they had started on Xmas Day they could have had ten days of reduced capacity and had full service for the 4th of January when commuter numbers are FAR higher than the week between Xmas and New Years. Classic LNP "Government" incompetence!
* Planning takes a long time for a project like this. They can't just respond because you feel the timing should be brought forward a few weeks
* What great timing to have train restrictions. But remember to wear a mask "please" it will be you're protection.

As it happened: Sydney New Year’s Eve restrictions announced by Gladys Berejiklian; Harbour foreshore to be shut down as NSW records five new cases
Laura Chung and Nigel Gladstone December 28, 2020
* 20.35 Summary
- NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant is urging people with symptoms to get tested in order to pick up undetected chains of transmission in the community
- NSW Health is investigating the missing links between several otherwise unconnected cases who attended the Belrose Hotel on different days. Authorities remain concerned by a handful of mystery cases that have no clear link to the Avalon cluster.
- A 24-year-old man has been arrested after attempting to escape a Melbourne quarantine hotel almost a week after he arrived from Sydney
- A 49-year-old woman who escaped from a Perth quarantine hotel on Saturday has also been caught and now faces a $50,000 fine or 12 months behind bars
- NSW recorded five new locally acquired cases from nearly 15,300 tests on Sunday. There were nine new cases detected in people who acquired the virus overseas.
- NSW Health is investigating the missing links between several otherwise unconnected cases who attended the Belrose Hotel on different days. Authorities remain concerned by a handful of mystery cases that have no clear link to the Avalon cluster.
- David Jones city store, Coles supermarket in Edgecliff, Bondi beach Woolworths, and Uniqlo in Pitt Street Mall, as well as buses around Bondi and north shore line train services, are among a new list of places visited by people infected with coronavirus recently,
- The Sydney harbour foreshore will be shut down for New Year's Eve. Premier Berejiklian is urging people to stay at home this New Year's Eve, with outdoor gatherings across Greater Sydney reduced from 100 to 50 people.
- Police fined a dozen residents of the northern beaches who attended a wedding in Pyrmont on Sunday
* 19.33 Police finalise plans to control Sydney's New Year's Eve. Fergus Hunter and Mary Ward. The Harbour Bridge will still light up for New Year's Eve but Sydneysiders will struggle to get near the action as health authorities investigate a coronavirus case they believe predates the Avalon cluster.
NSW Police are rapidly finalising plans for a sweeping enforcement operation, with an announcement on Tuesday expected to reveal how officers will be deployed to curb large gatherings, a major and complex challenge on what is already a demanding day for the force.
From 5pm on Thursday, key fireworks vantage points in the CBD and lower north shore such as Circular Quay and Milsons Point will be accessible only to residents and those with bookings at restaurants or hotels under a permit system for areas which previously hosted hundreds of thousands of revellers.
North Sydney, Inner West, Hunters Hill and Woollahra councils have announced plans to close other popular vantage points outside of the permit zone as Premier Gladys Berejiklian again urged Sydneysiders to see in 2021 at home.
* 17.55 New venues visited by people with COVID-19. Nigel Gladstone. David Jones city store, Coles supermarket in Edgecliff, Bondi beach Woolworths, and Uniqlo in Pitt Street mall as well as buses around Bondi and north shore line train services are among a new list of places visited by people infected with coronavirus recently, NSW Health reported on Monday.
Anyone who took any of the following transport routes is considered a casual contact who should monitor for symptoms, and if they appear, immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received:
Route 333 Monday, 21 December, 7.30pm-7.45pm, from Bondi Junction Station to Bondi Beach, Campbell Pde, Stand C
Route 333 Tuesday, 22 December 9.45am-10am from Bondi Beach, Campbell Pde, Stand A to Bondi Junction Station
Route 333 Wednesday, 23 December, 9am-10am from Bondi Beach, Campbell Pde, Stand A to Taylor Square, Oxford St, Stand A
Route 333 Wednesday, 23 December, 10.40am-11.30am from Taylor Square, Oxford St, Stand D to Bondi Beach, Campbell Pde, Stand C
Trains
T1 North Shore Line Wednesday, 16 December, 1pm-1.09pm from North Sydney to Wynyard
T1 North Shore Line Wednesday, 16 December, 8.16am-9.05am from Waitara to Wynyard
T1 North Shore Line Wednesday, 16 December, 4.52pm-5.31pm from Wynyard to Waitara
T1 North Shore Line Thursday, 17 December, 8.17am-9.01am from Waitara to Wynyard
T1 North Shore Line Thursday, 17 December, 6.40pm-7.22pm from Wynyard to Waitara
Train on Monday, 21 December 7pm-7.30pm from Redfern via Town Hall to Bondi Junction
Train on Tuesday, 22 December, 10.05am-10.35am from Bondi Junction via Town Hall to Redfern
* 11.05 Victoria’s border to New South Wales shut over New Year’s Eve. Michael Fowler. Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said the border between the states will stay closed for at least another week as the northern beaches cluster rumbles on, but he was unwilling to forecast whether it will still be shut in a month.
"Well, it's certainly not going to be this week and we'll continue to take the advice of public health officials as to when that will be the case," he said. "There is no chance of the borders reopening for New Year's Eve ... we want to make sure those borders, particularly to the red zones of Sydney and the Central Coast, stay shut down."
The Health Minister said the borders were a "day by day, week by week proposition" and Victoria was regularly liaising with NSW Health and the AHPPC.
Regional NSW remains open for free travel into Victoria.
Mr Foley assessed NSW as "not out of the woods yet" after five new cases were announced on Monday.
"There's 100 cases now associated with the northern beaches outbreak, and there are multiple daily additions to exposure venues right across Sydney," he said.
"That's why we have a hard border in place both at the river, and now over 30 crossing points, as well as at the airport."
* 10.32 Breakdown of New Year's Eve restrictions. The following arrangements will be introduced from midnight tonight:
A short, seven-minute fireworks display will continue at midnight, with the NSW Premier urging people to watch that from home instead
<www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/coronavirus-australia-updates-live-sydney-covid-19-cluster-concerns-grow-as-mystery-cases-emerge-outside-the-northern-beaches-20201228-p56qd5.html>

Man dies after Queens Park train station assault. Cameron Myles December 28, 2020
A 52-year-old Mount Claremont man has been charged for the alleged murder of a 70-year-old man at a Perth train station.
Police were called at about 5.50am on Monday to Queens Park Train Station with reports a man had been assaulted.
The victim, Allan Thomas, was taken by ambulance to Royal Perth Hospital, but died a short time later.
Mr Thomas, who had an intellectual disability, had been on his way to work at a charity shop.
WA Police found Mr Thomas's belongings — including a Christmas present, cap and packed lunch — strewn over the train track.
A neighbour of Mr Thomas, Michael Papas, told Nine News Perth he had been a kind man.
"(He) was willing to help everybody," he said.
"Friendly as, never hurt a person or anybody. He'd be the first person to come and help you do anything.
"I'm disgusted ... I'm pretty angry actually ... everybody in my family knows him ... my mother was in tears."
Transperth cancelled trains on the Armadale Line between Victoria Park and Armadale due to the incident with normal services resuming at about midday.
The 52-year-old man was charged on Monday afternoon and is due to face Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
CORRECTION Allan's name has been corrected after first being published as Alan.
<www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/man-dies-after-queens-park-train-station-assault-20201228-p56qfx.html>
* 10.59 Trains on the Armadale and Thornlie Lines are cancelled between Victoria Park and Armadale due to an incident. Train replacement buses are running. Please allow extra travelling time and be aware that replacement buses may not connect with timetabled bus and train services.

Mon.28.12.20 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'. Drivers get tunnel scare. Pursued car drives on wrong side. JACK PAYNTER
MULTIPLE drivers have had lucky escapes after an allegedly stolen car drove through a Melbourne tunnel in the wrong direction, frightening dashcam footage shows.
...The police pursuit came to a spectacular conclusion when the allegedly stolen Nissan crashed into several cars outside Southern Cross Railway Station about 8pm.
Police said they quickly arrested the driver but the passenger allegedly ran off into the station.
Protective services officers searched the station and arrested a teenager allegedly hiding in a train a short time later...

Mon.28.12.20 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'. Letters:
* METRO has started running the new high-capacity trains. They will cost billions but still you have to press a button to open the door. What a joke.
Holiday-makers had a slow start to their journey due to delays on the West Gate Bridge. The annual work on the West Gate seems badly timed this year