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Subject: Wed.7.7.21 daily digest

Roderick

"210707W-Melbourne'Age'-Sydney-LunaPark-fire-ss.jpg" [with ATN]

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Wed.7.7.21 Metro Twitter
Aircraft: No ramp access to platforms until late 2021 (pedestrian-underpass works).
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works.
Buses replace trains between North Melbourne/Sunshine and Sunbury stations at select times until the last train of Thursday 8 July (works). See https://bit.ly/3gY61fe
Argyle Avenue, Chelsea closes at the level crossing until Friday 9 July as part of level-crossing removal works. Use the Bondi Road or Chelsea Road crossings. see http://levelcrossings.vic.gov.au/disruptions/argyle-avenue-chelsea-level-crossing-closure
St Kilda Road is closed between Flinders Street and Southbank Boulevard until early Monday 12 July (YT renewal work). Southbank Boulevard is closed between St Kilda Road and Sturt Street. see http://yarratrams.com.au/projects/st-kilda-road-and-southbank-boulevard-melbourne
7.03 Werribee/Williamstown lines: Buses to replace trains Footscray - Newport (a train hitting a car). Buses will take up to 45 min to arrive.  Consider alternatives.
- 7.10 Buses will take up to 35min to arrive.
- 7.17 Buses will take up to 30 min to arrive.
- 7.25 Buses will take up to 35min to arrive.
- 7.30 Buses are replacing trains, adding 30 min travel time.
- 8.41 Trains are resuming.
Buses replace trains South Yarra - Sandringham from 20.15 until the last train (maintenance works).
Buses replace trains North Melbourne - Upfield from 20.35 until the last train (maintenance works).
Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Trains will run to an altered timetable Flinders St - Caulfield from 9pm to last train tonight, while works take place. All trains will stop all stations Caulfield - South Yarra during this time. 
Pakenham/Cranbourne Frankston lines: All Frankston trains will terminate/originate at Caulfield from 21.00 until the last train.Change to/from Pakenham/Cranbourne trains, which will stop at all stations, and run direct to/from Flinders St.  From loop stations, take a train from pfm 4 to Richmond.  [travelling to loop stations wasn't considered].
Werribee/Craigieburn lines: All trains terminate/originate at Southern Cross from 21.00 until the last train (maintenance works).  From Flinders St, take a train from pfm 1, 2 or 3 to SC.  [travelling from loop stations not mentioned].
Buses replace trains Ringwood - Lilydale from 22.30 until last train (level crossing works).
Construction at Cheltenham is complete.  The new multi-deck carpark and the final section of the landscaped Charman Road forecourt are now open. The forecourt has green space, a Parkiteer, seating, landscaping and safe access to the Charman Road shops [another useless PTV station, with a requirement to climb up to the entrance before descending to a trenched station].
- But limited shaded areas.
- A useless track and platform layout, with inadequate points and signalling.
At Town Hall station the construction team is full steam ahead with the installation of waterproofing materials, steel, and concrete for the grand central cavern. Check out the construction in action.
- Why is it even being called Town Hall when they are really just extra platforms for Flinders Street? Surely it’s just going to cause unnecessary confusion.

Million-dollar reward for Luna Park fatal fire as families wait 42 years for answers. Laura Chung July 7, 2021
<www.theage.com.au/national/nsw/million-dollar-reward-announced-for-luna-park-fatal-fire-20210707-p587l8.html>

Spotswood: Car hit by train, Williamstown and Werribee railway line delays. Kiel Egging July 7, 2021 Maribyrnong Leader
A driver was forced to ditch his car and run for his life after it stalled and was hit by a train in Melbourne’s west this morning.
A train collided with a car which stalled at the Hudson Rd level crossing at Spotswood on July 7. Picture: Tony Gough
A driver has run for his life and had a lucky escape after his car stalled on railway tracks and was hit by a train in Melbourne’s west.
Emergency services rushed to the level crossing at Hudsons Rd in Spotswood following the incident about 6.45am.
Police believe the driver was crossing the tracks when his car stalled and couldn’t be restarted.
The man then jumped out of his car as a citybound train approached and manage to escape before it was hit at low speed and pushed off the tracks.
No one was injured in the accident and the car was towed for repairs.
Metro Trains staff investgate following a collision between a car and a train near Spotswood railway station on July 7. Picture: Tony Gough
Fire Rescue Victoria crews attended the scene and assisted Metro Trains staff to help train passengers disembark onto a platform at nearby Spotswood railway station.
The crash shut down part of the Werribee and Williamstown railway lines and buses replaced trains between Footscray and Newport stations into the morning.
Services began to resume on both lines about 8.45am and police are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the crash.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/west/spotswood-car-hit-by-train-williamstown-and-werribee-railway-line-delays/news-story/60d172ffd6d46dd6aa5265380e15d04f>

Wed.7.7.21 Melbourne 'Herald Sun' letters:
* IT will take more than $5 parking to bring Melbourne back to life (HS, 5/7). Had the weekend up there. Deserted, desolate and half the businesses closed, ridiculous caps and masks in the ones that are open. Andrews and Capp have thoroughly destroyed Melbourne.
* MOST of my 30-year working life I have been working in the city.  Now working from home is great: aupporting my local trade; not polluting the environment with car fumes by driving into town.
I save 40 hours on travelling a month. I wonder what the percentage of bicycles is compared with motor vehicles in the CBD? All the bicycle lane infrastructure is paid for by motor vehicle road users, without consultation. Yet cyclists can roam around free and unaccountable.
State and local governments need to wake up to themselves and not take people for granted.

Wed.7.7.21 Melbourne 'Herald Sun' Geelong fast rail
FOR decades, Victorians have been told it’s coming, a fast-rail connection between Melbourne and the state’s second biggest city, Geelong.
Work and education commuting would finally be fast-tracked.
All aboard to the future! The far off, distant future. Even now, after the economic benefits of Geelong fast rail were most recently touted in 2018 and a promise for the project became a key election pledge a year later, the pace of progress remains glacial.
As reported in yesterday’s Herald Sun, the $4 billion fast rail project is unlikely to be completed until the end of the decade. The timing of Geelong faster rail, designed to cut travel times to 50 minutes from current peak services of just over an hour, is being tied to the construction of the new $8bn-$l3bn Melbourne Airport Rail Link, scheduled to open in 2029.
Yet each project has lines on separate alignments: Geelong fast rail relies on an upgrade to the Werribee corridor and the Melbourne Airport link runs via Sunshine station and is connected to the new Melbourne Metro Tunnel. Both projects have joint federal-state funding and should be pursued as priority projects.
Indeed, if we are to get regional Victoria, beyond Geelong, booming as part of a decentralised future for the state, then effective fast rail has to be part of the plan to even more destinations.