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Subject: Sat.17.4.21 daily digest

Roderick

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Sat.17.4.21 Metro Twitter
Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Buses replace trains Caulfield - Westall until the last train of Sun 18 Apr (works).
Buses replace trains Heidelberg - Hurstbridge until the last train of Sun 18 Apr (maintenance works).
Sunbury/Craigieburn/Upfield lines: All trains run direct to/from Flinders St all day (maintenance works). From loop stations, take a train from pfm 2 and change at Southern Cross.

First homes to be taken for Suburban Rail Loop late next year, residents told. Matt Johnston and Kieran Rooney April 17, 2021
Hundreds of property owners in the path of the multi-billion dollar Suburban Rail Loop have been told to start packing their bags.
video: Suburban Rail Loop, where it goes and what it means The state government will spend $2.2m on early works for the Suburban Rail Loop which will transform Victoria’s public transport system
The first of up to 300 home and business owners forced to make way for the multi-billion dollar Suburban Rail Loop could be packing their bags by the end of next year.
Letters sent to the affected property owners — about half of which are homes — last month say they are now “likely” to be bought out to make way for Stage One of the underground rail line from Cheltenham to Box Hill.
“While different properties will be required at various stages of the project, we expect that the first compulsorily acquired properties required for Stage One will not need to be vacated until at least late 2022,” a letter to residents and business owners say.
The affected sites of the Suburban Rail Loop, Stage One.
The government has confirmed the acquisitions process will start late next year after planning and environmental approvals, but that most families won’t be kicked out for a further two years.
Herald Sun can also reveal that half of the homeowners set to be acquired for the mostly-underground project live in one apartment block in Box Hill.
Other areas impacted include five other station precincts at Cheltenham, Clayton, the Monash University Precinct and Burwood, as well as around a proposed stabling yard at Heatherton.
Information packs sent to affected owners outline the buyout process, including that market rates will be paid, plus stamp duty and conveyancing for new homes or commercial buildings, and the potential for up to 10 per cent compensation for “non-financial disadvantage”.
Property owners in the path of the project have previously told the Herald Sun they did not want to move but accepted that the SRL would enhance public transport.
Carlo Corallo and tradies building 13 townhouses that are likely to be torn down for the Suburban Rail Loop in Burwood. Picture: Jason Edwards
Carlo Corallo, who is building 13 townhouses across two blocks his family has owned for generations, said in February it would “break my heart” if the under-construction homes were demolished.
The SRL acquisition process is further complicated by local planning matters, including next to Glen Waverley Station where a car park that has been earmarked for the Loop is also the subject of multiple proposals by Monash City Council.
The council last week deferred a commitment to build a multi-rise car park on the site, partly supported with funds from local traders, while awaiting final confirmation it will be demolished for the SRL.
The area has also been earmarked as part of the council’s Glen Waverley Activity Centre.
A local church opposite the car park is also concerned about its future.
Suburban Rail Loop Minister Jacinta Allan. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Luis Ascui
A government spokeswoman said the 26km train tunnel and six new stations for Stage One were primarily underground but “some disruption and property acquisition is unavoidable for a project the size and complexity of Suburban Rail Loop”.
“Suburban Rail Loop will open up Melbourne’s middle suburbs, making it quicker and more convenient for all Victorians to access our fastest growing employment, health, education and retail centres,” she said.
The government says the final number of properties required “will be determined after the planning and approval processes are complete”.
More Coverage: Travel times for Suburban rail loop revealedFury over plans to plonk trains on ’promised’ park land
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/first-homes-to-be-taken-for-suburban-rail-loop-late-next-year-residents-told/news-story/df14dae52d71ccc85690e2aa3dc8667e>
* The business model of Melbourne’s CBD has changed permanently, the volume of people daily commuting in, won’t go back to pre Covid times. Working from home is permanent, employee and employer are huge winners, and neither could give a stuff about Dan’s ridiculous new ‘train set’. New high capacity trains, more services, more stations, but less punters, sounds like another ridiculous ‘Dan Plan’ !!!
* That's the point though isn't it. We are connecting the suburbs now rather than requiring the centralisation of the CBD.
* We will all be dead by the time these projects are completed. In asia they can put a rail line in within 12 months.
* they obviously pay workers poorly and have no unions
* Pretty big generalisation for a pretty huge part of the world there. I'm sure they would say that unions here destroy or cripple more than they claim to preserve. The answer is somewhere in the middle, leaning into metropolises in Asia like Tokyo, HK, Shanghai, Singapore and Bangkok. For all those posting about... these places are all tremendous and inspirational "business cases".
* Expect much more “big build” from the Andrews Labor government to divert voters from its fatally bungled Covid response. The problem with its major projects though is they’re either in the wrong place, over time, over budget, or all three.
* They have not even looked at the business case for this project, because they do not have one!
* It is good to have ideas but action speaķ louder than words. I believe the the North East Greensbrough F3 Freeway to Bulleen was shown in Melway edition no 2. Houses were purchased.then.We also have the proposed F4 North South through Mill Park, it keeps popping up, ah the great Victorian, its like a game òf Two up, come in spinner, CHINA.
* So Andrews canned the East West Link because the business case "didn't stack up" yet he goes like a bull at a gate with a pie in the sky project with an "estimated" budget of $50 billion with no real costing, no completion date and no business case whatsoever. How hypocritical is that? Have no doubt that the cost will blow out to over $75 billion. This is all about keeping the unions on side and Labor in power... they are no doubt rubbing their hands with glee because once it gets under way the ambit claims will start stacking up. No doubt Setka and his cronies are sharpening their pencils...
* Looking forward to seeing union blockades and the Greens members of parliament out to protest these acquisitions, just like they did in Clifton Hill and Alexandra Parade for the East West Link or will be the typical selective outrage, when it only affects them or their side of the equation.
* This is a red team project, not a blue team!
* The protesters all came from the Labor party groupies
* They getting COVID prices?
* The Andrews Government should be removed from power tomorrow, the damage this mob is doing will still be felt in a 100 years.
* What rot The underground loop will make it easier around Melbourne. We won’t have to travel into Flinders Street all the time and all great cities have underground loops
* Both you and I will be long gone when our Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren are still paying for this inept Government. But something that hasn't been said, where is all the rolling stock? Where are these trains that will be departing every two minutes coming from? Just another pie in the sky spin from this inept State Government.
* Do you do that a lot ?
* You miss the point - you’re talking about the underground loop when the article is about the $50bn (est) suburban rail loop. We do need to new Melb Metro project. And this new suburban loop would be good to have too. But that doesn’t mean Andrews and his cronies are not historically, monumentally incompetent fools. They are.
* The greatest waste of money in the states history. 
* Don’t worry Talking to a person, has told me it will be 2024 before Airport Rail will even put a Shovel in the ground! That’s why they are bringing the crossings removals forward!
* Total waste of money. In 50 years time, when this is supposed to be finished, we will have no reason to travel. Everything will be done from home; work, shopping, visiting relatives etc.
* It's going to take 50yrs to complete?
* and has never had a business case ....
* Best of luck Melbourne destroyed this Government fails to complete Monash Carpark still under construction Drove from Scienceworks to Gippsland 5 hours on goat tracks Horrendous road conditions, no workers or car accidents
* Some Heatherton residents near the proposed "Train Stabling yard" would rather their homes acquired than be forced to live beside the instrusive noisy decade long construction works and eventual 24/7 rail facility. Not to mention the loss of amenity in their suburb due to a key local road being permanently, the loss of "quiet enjoyment" when walking around the area and living in their homes, and the risks of contamination in the area due to the "stabling yard" and construction being done on and beside 4 ex-landfills with varying degrees of fill type. If the government keep insisting it must be on this proposed site, they also need to be prepared for the acquisition and compensation claims from residents. The Heatherton residents have spent 25 years protecting this site for future Green Wedge parkland, and this government promised the parkland as well, as recently as the 2018 state election. If the residents hadn't protected the site the government wouldn't even be able to consider using it now. So where are the alternative sites they could use which would have less impacts on the whole community? Industrial facilities belong in Industrial areas, not residential and Green Wedge areas.
* Yet I bet many of those same people probably protested and/or voted against the EWL, and in favour of SlyRail.
* Where’s the love for Dan’s strong arm government?
* Typical move of a totalitarian socialist government.
* It had better get built or this pack of clowns should never be elected ever again. The massive disruption to decent citizens simply demands it.
* Business case and coatings yet? This Government loves being unaccountable and gets more brazen each time they dodge that.  
* and they keep repeating that there was no business case for the East West tunnel. How hypocritical! And the lefties still stick with them. Amazing.
* There never has been a business case for this one and there probably never will be because it doesn't stack up economically.
* Love to see the business case for this! Given that was the reason for labor tearing up the east west contract and Merlino still saying the business case didn’t stack up.
* There never has been a business case for this project. It was dreamt up as an election promise at the last election before any serious economic analysis was done.
* apparently the EW link business case stacked up very well...more lies
* Underground Train lines are built in London without acquiring property.  Why are they acquired in Melbourne?
* Because Andrews says so
* Perhaps because London did theirs before houses were there. 
* you are forgetting all the other transit systems round the World. No property required in much of them.
* totally agree. Not just London, everywhere you see underground rapid transit systems. Remember when there was concern the little five station tunnel that they are building was to go beneath the Yarra river? The heavens were going to fall in, as was the river. So typically Melbourne.
* For station entrances and car parks.
[Standard propaganda and photo opportunity. There has been very little real justification of this project: just spin. Following a tradition of naming tunnelling machines after women, all bulldozers should be named 'Jacinta'. Today's engineers just can't cope: management convenience is the top priority.]