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Subject: Fri.18.2.22 daily digest

Roderick

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Fri.18.2.22 Metro Twitter
Aircraft: No ramp access to platforms until late 2021 (pedestrian-underpass works), delayed to March 2022.
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works?
7.23 Hurstbridge line: Major delays (an 'operational incident' near Darebin). 
- 7.26 clearing
12.10 Werribee/Williamstown/Sunbury lines: Major delays clearing after a police action near Footscray. 
14.25 Lilydale/Belgrave/Alamein lines:  Trains may arrive/depart from altered platforms between Burnley and Camberwell (an equipment fault near Glenferrie).
- 16.04 Trains have resumed normal platform departures; delays clearing.
16.33 Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Citybound delays (police attending to an unruly passenger at Westall, and an equipment fault near Dandenong). Trains may run out of timetable order between Dandenong and the city.
- 16.37 clearing.
- 16.57 Why is the 16.51 still not moving at Flinders St?
17.50 & 18.20  Buses replace trains Reservoir - Mernda (an overhead power fault near Lalor). Buses ordered, ETA 60min. Consider alternatives.
- 19.00  Buses operating, adding 30min. Trains operate Flinders St - Reservoir and Epping - Mernda.
- 21.40 Buses running Reservoir - Mernda.
- 3.53 Trains to resume.  First will be the 3.51 ex Flinders St and the 4.48 ex Mernda.
Murray Road, Preston closes in both directions from 7pm to 6am (work).  detour using Bell Street.
Buses replace trains on sections of the Werribee line from 20.30 until the last train of Wed 23 Feb (works).
Buses replace trains Newport - Williamstown from 20.30 until the last train of Sun 20 Feb (works).
21.00 Major delays (police near Pakenham).
Buses replace trains Sunshine - Sunbury from 0.45 Sat 19 Feb until the last train of Sun 20 Feb (works).
0.55 Cranbourne line: Major delays (an 'operational incident' near Dandenong).

Brawl over NSW rail strike 'hypocrisy'. Phoebe Loomes February 18 2022
The NSW government is trying to stop rail workers from carrying out their planned industrial action.
The rail union says workers are "dismayed and furious" at the NSW government after it sought to block them from taking industrial action, saying it could harm the economy.
Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink have applied to the Fair Work Commission to suspend or terminate all industrial action on the state's rail network.
The protected industrial action by workers is planned to begin on Monday and could affect rail services in Sydney and regional NSW through to March 7.
It comes amid a long-running dispute over safety provisions and conditions between the government and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.
"Rail workers are completely blown away by the NSW government's actions today," Alex Claassens, secretary of the RTBU, said Friday.
Mr Claassens accused the NSW government of "pure hypocrisy", saying it had "refused to meet with the rail unions for formal negotiations since 3 February".
This comes after Transport for NSW secretary Rob Sharp said he and his executives met with unions this week, and held more than 30 meetings with the unions over the past six months.
"The people of NSW would be appalled if they knew what the government is trying to do to their public transport network, selling it off piece by piece and not prioritising safety concerns raised by workers, just so they can save a buck," Mr Claassens said.
He said Transport NSW still needed to address a "laundry list of safety and employment issues" raised by employees.
The industrial action could disrupt commuters and "cause economic harm to the NSW economy", a statement from the NSW government said on Friday.
Mr Sharp said the action was taking place at the same time NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet had announced an easing of restrictions across the state.
"Our number one focus is to ensure the travelling public can get where they are going safely and can rely on the public transport system at this critical time," he said.
"During our negotiations, we have made reasonable concessions and we continue to encourage the unions to come back to the bargaining table rather than take action, to work with us to make two new Enterprise Agreements that benefit not just our employees, but also our customers."
<www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7626913/brawl-over-nsw-rail-strike-hypocrisy>

Fri.18.2.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'.  Feb.1972 flash flood.
It was the 50th anniversary yesterday of “The Great Melbourne Flood”, when Elizabeth St turned into a river and cars floated through city streets.
February 1972 is still Melbourne’s wettest month on record, when 238 mm filled the gauge — five times the average for that month.
On the afternoon of February 17 that year, a violent storm hit the CBD and a 17-minute deluge flooded Elizabeth St, which was built over a creek.
A torrent of water surged along the street towards Flinders Street Station and public transport ground to a halt, sparking commuter chaos.
Judy, from Portarlington, well remembers the day that “city streets turned into rivers”, even though she missed seeing it herself.
“The reason the date is etched into my memory is that on that day I was struck down with a bout of gastro and not at work, an office building in Southgate,” Judy says.
“But my father, who worked at an office tower in Market St, rang my mother that afternoon to advise us he would likely be home late, as he had just observed cars floating along the street below!”
The next day, Judy went for her driver’s licence test, which in those days was at the local police station.
Naturally, the CBD flood was the hot topic on everyone’s lips.
“My instructor and the tester were so engaged in conversation about the previous day’s events in the city that except for giving me a few instructions on where to drive, turn and park, they seemed almost oblivious to my performance and I passed with flying colours!” she says.
“During a recent conversation about driving histories, I realised that I had held my licence for nearly 50 years and so a check of the date brought those memories ‘flooding back’!”
WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF THE GREAT MELBOURNE FLOOD? LET US KNOW.

Fri.18.2.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'.  Letters:
* Get back on track. THE revelation that $l3bn of Victorian road and rail projects pledged by the federal Coalition in 2019 have stalled (“Roads paved with pain”, HS, l4/2) triggers anger and frustration for Frankston residents — because extension of the metro rail line was first recommended by government 92 years ago. Yes, 92
years.
In its 2018 budget, the federal Coalition allocated $225m to the project — twice confirmed by Scott Morrison when he visited Frankston that year. Soon after, now federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese also committed to the extension in a rare show of unity. Nothing has happened.
The Coalition and Victorian Labor government have been arguing about when and where to build it since, hanging their hats on a gold-plated 8km extension to Baxter that will cost $1.1-l.3bn. We’re calling on the governments to stop mucking around and extend the line 5km to
Langwarrin — with the cheapest design option costing $400-500m — to realise public transport, economic and social benefits worth $3.2bn.
This section of track is a near-term, national infrastructure priority, puts a station at Monash University’s Frankston campus, allows 37,000 extra residents easy access to metro rail, and would enable building of a commuter park and ride to service 300,000 residents of greater Frankston and Mornington Peninsula.
Our community can clearly see this multimillion-dollar opportunity being botched. Petty political warfare must cease - state and federal governments, it’s time to act and extend the track.
(Ginevra Hosking. CEO Committee for Greater Frankston)
* THE Committee for Melbourne wants us to become the nation's biggest metropolis (HS, l7/2). Why? Bigger is not always better. Living conditions are far more important than the number of people we can squash in.
* I WOULD like to ask the Premier when is he going to clean up the city and Melbourne in general? It's such an eyesore and an embarrassment. Are they unable to see what's around them?