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Sent: Friday, 30 September 2022 at 01:12:13 am AEST
Subject: Sun.27.3.22 daily digest

Roderick

 "220327Su-Melbourne'Age'-Steamrail-Frankston-ss.jpg"
 "220327Su-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-(Poland)container.train-ss.jpg" with ATN and v-n

"220327Su-'SMH'-Sydney-Central-morning.peak-ss.jpg" 

Sydney 2020 vintage tram festival, ~50 min https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHoq_2raT4Q

trolleybus quiz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-WxpDzXfKk

underground loop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m_NYdwO4FI

video: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/wendouree-station-overpass/vi-AAVuuQQ?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a5300ff94be244309694e4783130d295

15 min video: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/opposition-on-trains/vi-AAVv2a9?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a5300ff94be244309694e4783130d295

Sun.27.3.2 Metro Twitter
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works? [reopened by July]
Mernda line: Buses replace trains Parliament - Reservoir until the last train of Sun 27 Mar (maintenance works).  Buses replace trains Flinders St - Reservoir during Night Network hours.
Hurstbridge line: Buses replace trains Parliament - Heidelberg until the last train of Sun 27 Mar (maintenance works).  Buses replace trains Flinders St - Heidelberg during Night Network hours.
Lilydale/Belgrave lines: Buses replace trains Camberwell - Box Hill until the last train of Sun 3 Apr (works).
Lilydale/Belgrave/Alamein/Glen Waverley lines: All trains direct to/from Flinders St all day (maintenance works).   From Loop stations, take a train from pfm 2 or 3 to Flinders St.
Pakenham line: All trains will not stop at Hallam until the last train of Sun 1 May (level-crossing work).  Shuttle buses will operate Dandenong - Hallam - Narre Warren.  No access to station facilities or platforms during this time.
Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Buses replace trains Caulfield - Dandenong/Pakenham from 20.30 until the last train (works).
21.08 Werribee/Williamstown lines: Major delays (an 'operational incident' near Newport. Trains may terminate/originate at Newport.
- 21.25 Now only minor, but trains may still terminate/originate at Newport.

Budget to include $3.3 billion for Vic road and rail networks David Crowe March 27, 2022 100 comments [cynical and sarcastic]
Victorians will be promised a $3.3 billion federal government plan to expand road and rail networks across the state including new freight projects meant to take 5500 trucks off the roads around Melbourne every day.
The federal government will back two new freight terminals as part of the Melbourne Intermodal plan to send more goods by rail, setting out a plan that could ease differences with the state government over the preferred location of a single freight hub.
video Victorian government update Jacinta Allan, the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, is making an announcement about the suburban rail loop.
The spending promises, to be confirmed in the federal budget on Tuesday night, also include cash for road upgrades around Melbourne as well as Ballarat, Mickleham and Nowa Nowa in East Gippsland.
At $3.3 billion in additional funding, the Victorian commitments are in line with the amount being promised to NSW but significantly below the $3.9 billion being promised to Queensland, including new and faster passenger rail networks.
The federal budget will also include tax and spending measures to deal with rising costs including changes to fuel excise worth 44 cents per litre at the petrol pump.
“We know this is biting and that we’ve done the homework and spent the time to get the right design on the packages to support Australians right now when it comes to cost of living pressures,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said while campaigning in Perth on Sunday.
Scott Morrison pressing the flesh in Cairns last week.CREDIT:ADAM TAYLOR
Labor treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers dismissed the coming budget as “Spakfilla” that would try to smooth over the cracks in the government’s economic plan when inflation was eroding wages.
“So much of what the government is proposing is just taking a problem and pushing it from one side of the election to the other,” he said on Sunday.
Mr Morrison is aiming to use the budget to claw back political ground when the government is under pressure to hold its seats in Victoria while it seeks to take marginal seats from Labor in the battleground states of NSW and Queensland.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese is preparing a rival infrastructure package to add to existing commitments such as $125 million for the second stage of the Barwon Heads Road duplication, south of Geelong, and $150 million for the Camerons Lane interchange at Beveridge, north of Melbourne.
While the government has a list of dozens of Queensland projects gaining new funds in the federal budget, the Victorian list is shorter because of the $600 million difference in overall funding as well as a central decision to put the vast majority of the money toward the Melbourne Intermodal Terminal plan.
The new measures commit a further $3.1 billion to the freight plan by putting $1.2 billion toward a freight terminal at Beveridge, $280 million into road connections around that terminal, $740 million toward a freight terminal at Truganina and $920 million to the rail connection to that terminal.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and his ministers preferred the Truganina terminal to the west of Melbourne while the federal government preferred the Beveridge location to the city’s north, resulting in a compromise in the budget with both locations gaining federal funding.
In a key move to match Labor on one road project, the freight terminal package includes funding for the Camerons Lane Interchange at Beveridge as part of the $280 million for the connecting roads.
The Beveridge location is key to the wider federal infrastructure plan because it connects the Melbourne Intermodal scheme to the Inland Rail, a project strongly backed by the Nationals to connect Melbourne to Brisbane through the west of NSW.
Under the plan, the Beveridge terminal would take freight for the Inland Rail along a new line to Albury and on to Brisbane. The government has already taken an option on a 1100-hectare site at Beveridge.
The government is pitching the freight plan as a benefit to voters across the greater Melbourne area because it would support jobs while taking 5500 trucks off the road each day in the first 15 years of operation.
Foreign Affairs and National Security Reporter
The Beveridge site is in the federal electorate of McEwen, held by Labor’s Rob Mitchell by a margin of 5 per cent but seen by some in the Coalition as a potential target in their hope that voters in semi-rural and outer-suburban seats will side with Mr Morrison at the election.
In an example of a major project in a safe seat, the budget will include $109.5 million to support the Victorian government’s “big build” by upgrading the Mickleham Road at Greenvale in the federal electorate of Calwell, held by Labor’s Maria Vamvakinou by 18.8 per cent.
The budget plans also include $45 million to upgrade the road from Ballarat to Ouyen in the west of the state as well as $500,000 for the Princes Highway at Nowa Nowa in East Gippsland.
While the Victorian package does not have the commuter rail pledges offered to Queensland and NSW, the federal government is pointing to its previous commitments to say it has pledged $35.5 billion to about 300 projects across the state since 2013.
The government has previously promised $5 billion to the Melbourne Airport Rail Link, $2.3 billion to the regional rail package and $2 billion to the faster rail service being built between Melbourne and Geelong.
On roads, its previous commitments include $1.75 billion committed to North East Link and $1.1 billion committed to the state’s suburban road upgrades.
RELATED ARTICLE Kananook station was promised an enlarged car park at the 2019 election. It was then abandoned and it is now back as part of an increase in car park spending to be confirmed in Tuesday’s budget. Coalition earmarks more cash for commuter car parks in marginal seats
RELATED ARTICLE Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison the day after the historic budget. Never mind the economy - the election outlook counts more
EDITOR'S PICK Anthony Galloway on the frontline in a village east of Kyiv. Approach with caution: A 6000-kilometre journey through a war zone
<www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/budget-to-include-3-3-billion-for-vic-road-and-rail-networks-20220327-p5a8bu.html>
* Even if he wins it won't happen for a long time ... he never finishes anything.
* He rarely starts anything.
* So after 50+ years of the Victorian rail network being systematically dismantled at the behest of the trucking industry, we are being asked to believe that it is going to be turned around? Interstate rail freight gets the crumbs that the trucks don’t want and within Victoria it’s almost all gone, trucks now move the wheat harvest.
* No word yet on returning passenger trains to Mildura, one of Victoria's fastest growing regional cities with a population rapidly approaching 100,000!
https://www.population.net.au/mildura-population/
* 50% of These funds will be awarded through contracts to the politicians friends and again no improvement.
* I’m not so much interested in how much they promise to spend, but rather how much they actually deliver, and in with the Morrison government, the ‘delivery’ is sadly lacking.
* Rowville Rail anyone? That was promised many elections ago and is still to materialise. Feasibility studies have been done and they have concluded that it should proceed. The flyers that Mr Alan Tudge sends around, always mention that there is a paltry sum of monies allocated to building the rail but state government won’t commit. Excuses upon excuses. A proposal for a bus (trackless tram) to go down the middle lane is what they think will solve the problem now. It will still stop at the same traffic intersections as the current bus does now. Huge waste of money. Meanwhile the people in the outer south east and eastern suburbs sit on the jam-packed roads, with the bus, for far too long, trying to get to their destinations. Both current state and federal governments have let the people down in these suburbs, spectacularly. Neither should be voted back in
* This inland rail project has been going on longer than living memory and nothing seems to have been done. Has Barnaby Joyce delivered a report yet?
* All these promises? Most at last election!! Will the Kooyong voters be fooled once again?? Probably!! What about putting 5500 electric trunks on the road?? And encouraging EV take up? and getting Morrison and Frydenburg’s gigantic fuel guzzling tradies utes off the road!!
* Where’s the money coming from Morrison?
* You and your grandchildren and their children. Certainly not from our most wealthy multinational companies!!
* How’s that fast train from Geelong going Joshy, you know, a porky from the last election you and Scotty promised?
Could have knocked it up during lockdown when construction was working and there were no rail commuters.
That’s right, you were too busy throwing the promised funding to your business mates via JobKeeper, even though they were making good profits and didn’t need it.
As if you had any intention of honouring the promise anyway.
So now all your hot air porkies aren’t worth the breath their promised with.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-03/fast-regional-trains-geelong-melbourne-coalition-election-pledge/10332060
* They still use slow, dirty diesel trains between Victoria's two biggest cities!
* Unlikely to happen as this Government delivers nothing, however whilst they do the usual smoke and mirrors, can we move the trucks out of the right hand lanes??
* Announcements. Pork barrelling. Trillion dollar debt. No plan. No vision. It is beyond time we kicked this mob out.
* Is this a case of back to the future? We used to have a very extensive rail network until successive governments either tore them up or degraded them to limited weights and speed. What we are going to end up with here is a big rail/road transfer station which is inflexible (think modern just-in-time logistics) and trucks lumbering through the suburbs anyway! Look at the detail - these are future projects no one really needs or wants at the moment.
* Treating Victoria as a second-rate state will not be forgotten, no matter how much you try to pribe us for.
* Sick to death if these bs announcements from the PM of "Announcements and do nothing".
* Scott Morrison pretending to be someone else in that photo.
* An announcement from the king of announcements isn’t worth the paper it’s written on
* Any chance of a review of all the promises from all the other budgets that Scott never delivered on? We know he won’t deliver anything he announces tomorrow elected or not.
* Messsage to Scott Morrison. The majority of Australian have lost confidence in you, along with your party. Please have the guts to tell us the election date so we can do our countdown and get on with our lives.
* Promising is one thing, delivering the product is another. Regardless which govt is in power, how many times do they promise the world and actually cut the ribbon when it is finished? Dont fall for any promises, if it seems too good to be true it probably is, from either party.
* Its like watching a rerun of Utopia......Scotty from Marketing rolling out more nothingness.
* Frydenburg shafting Victorians and Queensland over NSW and W.A. again.
* How about a few billion on Health, Aged Care, Education, Social Housing.
* Another photo op, this time with a koala. Another disingenuous announcement. This time it’s roads - more like we’re on the road to nowhere. More bulldust. Over exposed and under performing.
* I see - a gift to the fossil fuel industry and the donor road construction companies. What a sales pitch: I've got something to sell you that you don't know you want yet, and it fixes everything!
* When will the funds come through? Everything this government does is stage managed for effect. Delivery is always in the far distant.
* Promises, promises. Let me guess - the whole package is contingent on the East-West link being built first.
* Voters well know that none of this will ever happen.
* I can tell you, voters in McEwan will not side with Morrison, even through the sitting ALP member is a lightweight. Voters are fed up with the duplicity, cynicism and non-accountability of this government.
* The Liberals have denied Victoria its fair share of infrastructure spending for 9 years. Recycled announcements & un-delivered projects proves the Liberals only care about NSW & QLD
* Scomo proving he is a PM for Liberals and not Australia. Do we really want the Liberals playing with our roads, considering their history of wrecking everything they touch in the brief times they are in power. We are still living wiht the mass demolition of schools and mental health facilities in the Kennet era, the destruction of Tafe in Napthine's era., this political party makes poor decisions. It's bad enough that Green dominant councils are so anti-car and affecting the flow of traffic and available parking believing we will walk or cycle instead.
* These are largely recycled announcements. And Victoria is getting short changed compared to other states. The only time we even hear about infrastructure - or anything from the Libs is a month out from an election.
* Maybe not the only time we hear about, perhaps that's just when we listen and take notice.
* With the LNP in Canberra and a Labor Govt in Victoria Victoria will always get dudded as the LNP don't want to help the ALP in any way so we will get the bare minimum liar Morrison and Sniper Frydenberg think they can get away with!
* Three years of inaction, and then suddenly a flurry of activity just prior to an election.
* Pork barrelling to the end. Worst economic managers this country has ever seen.
* I wonder if Friedenberg will do a Mirabella and tell his audience "you're only getting this if you vote for us".
* Written elsewhere - only 20% of the projects funded are on Infrastructure Australia's list past & present (approx $3.3 or the $18Billion announced).
* $500k at Nowa Nowa? What are they going to do? Fix a footpath? Mickleham rd has hardly changed in 30+years and both sides of politics have ignored it except to get a wire rope ,while the population has gone through the roof! Time to vote the opposite of what you normally vote if you ever want something done in your area.
* Bit short sited. Many communities rely on the Princes Highway in East Gippsland.
* False promises- you can’t do this from Opposition- clowns A leading surgeon has blasted Wentworth MP Dave Sharma for misleading voters by claiming he has restored cardiac surgery to the Sydney Children’s Hospital when the statement was “far from the truth”.
* Pork barrelling (or announcements of pork barrelling) on a grand scale. Does the Federal Government really think this’ll make us vote for them after attacking us non-stop for two years?
* Albo is going to dazzle us with $275m!
* He might actually use the money instead of, endlessly, announcing the same money. The Government announces a lot of things and delivers very little. Then they make pig’s ear of what they do touch; like the rorted Job Keeper.
* If empty announcements and promises that come to nothing get your vote Wizard, then go for it, vote as you wish. How's the progress on the nearest commuter carpark to your place going? How's the replacement of the train / tram crossing on Glenferrie Rd near Kooyong that Josh promised going? How's that inland rail project going? Vote 1 for empty meaningless undelivered promises and announcements about announcement.....
* Pork barreling at it's finest. There is nothing Scomo can do to convince me to vote for the Liberals.
* Good luck to you, Bob. Why do you think any of us need to know how you intend to vote?
* Congratulations Frydenburg Australia's first and only ONE TRILLION dollar DEBT man. That's $80,000 for every working Australian to pay off and we got NOTHING to show for it.
* Not true. We know that our treasurer is not worth the $443kpa salary the taxpayer gives him
* The man responsible for keeping wages growth the lowest since the Great Depression, innocent political refugees in jail for 9 years, the illegal Robodebt scheme, ignoring flood and bushfire victims, now thinks holding a cuddly koala bear will win your vote.
* He was an absolute disgrace at the way he has treated flood and bushfire victims, but flooded big business with cash during the pandemic.
* Was a disaster with vaccine procurement and roll out. Job keeper was required but again a disaster. They can't do anything right.
* the state which has been treated as some sort of pariah is getting lots of money... oh we're near the election .... give me a break. The coalition is on the nose and they know it... my vote is going anywhere but the Liberals. If Bugs Bunny was a candidate id vote for him...
* Some great proposals...too little too late. Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic..
* Sounds interesting. Good investment in rail. Look forward to more details. Anything to reduce road congestion is welcome. Wish it weren't so close to an election as our State needs a lot of this without the 'electioneering'.
* Just when do you expect these announcements to be followed through? I’m my 70’s so, I’ll guess not in my lifetime.
* Who knows when there will be follow through. And yes I agree - too many announcements, not enough delivery. I guess that's one reason why the polls are tipping a big change in government.
* If the LNP get in don’t expect to see the money. Sir Announcealot doesn’t do delivery.
* We already have a major road project being built where a lot of research and statistics went in to where it was needed most. I'm sure with the Libs their projects are based on a guessing game with little substance and it will be a mess like most of their projects.
* "The Beveridge location is key to the wider federal infrastructure plan because it connects the Melbourne Intermodal scheme to the Inland Rail, a project strongly backed by the Nationals to connect Melbourne to Brisbane through the west of NSW." Gotta save those Nationals seats.
* More promises with strings attached. How about simply returning our tax dollars so the state government can continue to get on with it.
* Why am I skeptical of whatever the budget "promises". Just one big over blown announcement to try and win votes .
* Another announcement. Coal for Ukraine? No way of delivering it apparently. $800 bonus for our (underpaid) "hard-working aged care sector employees"? Still not in their bank accounts yet.
* Gonna parachute in the coal to Ukraine. Not so sure what the Ukrainian's are going to do with the coal, throw is at tanks!! The announcement sounds like another ill-considered grab a few minutes of News cycle waste of effort.
* Who cares about delivery? The important thing is that the right people have benefited from the government's purchase of the coal - a purchase apparently made without any of the requisite government processes such as an advertisement for tenders. I'm sure that the ties between the coal provider and a Liberal MP are nothing but coincidence and it's all perfectly legal, just like brown paper bags labelled "blind trust".
* Inland Rail will rail if Beveridge is the preferred terminal site. Heavy vehicles would need to travel 60km between there and Melbourne. It makes sense to just keep running that truck further up your Hume instead of stopping at Beveridge and having the container lifted onto a train because that adds cost and time.
* Morrison's promises aren't worth a hill of beans. Remember the car parks? They were announced just before the last election.
* And car parks this election: <www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/coalition-earmarks-more-cash-for-commuter-car-parks-in-marginal-seats-20220327-p5a8c7.html>
* Such a barrage of new promises from any government around election time makes me furious. Either the projects are worthwhile at any time and therefore should be funded without regard to elections, or they are not worthwhile and should be abandoned. A government which sensibly and seriously approached such issues all the time would be very attractive to voters.
* Where is all the money coming from for these pledges? They can promise the world, deliver nothing.
* Yep election time is here and the usual LNP bread crumbs are supposedly going to Victoria. Another announcement which will amount to nothing. I now take anything the LNP announces with a grain of salt. Let’s move on. Nothing to see here.
* How much of joshy's $40 billion jobkeeper rorts will be included in the budget? Feds handing our money back as if they are giving it to us? Of course, there is an election coming up. Stand by for a daily drip feed of these BS announcements.
* So that means if Morrison gets re-elected Victoria will miss out on a $3.3 billion federal government plan to expand road and rail networks across the state, because these clowns never deliver anything that they say they will.
* ridiculous basic infrastructure development needs to rely on "pork barreling" type promises, whoever is in government. either it makes sense, or not.
* Look at the speed of the elections promises. Everyday day, promise after promise, to be paid by the taxpayer.......if they eventuate. Scott Morrison aka the LNP, will do anything to get votes, but mainly lie. In the last election, and the one before that....and before that...... We not longer believe you LNP. Your fault. Too late. And not brave enough to even call an election date.
* What happened to the deficit emergency of a few years ago?
* Shhh...we aren't supposed to think about that. But the Libs are always the best economic managers... apparently it's in their DNA.
* And the vote buying begins
* All the anti-Victorian rhetoric of the last two years must be delivering some terribly internal polling.
* If you are relying on a budget to save you from political oblivion five minutes before the election you really do have problems. People will see through the pathetic attempt at vote buying.
* Im'm a McEwen voter and if you want my vote the easiest way is to fix the Calder, 4 lanes from the WRR to Sunbury and a full interchange at Calder park and an interchange at the WRR.
* That's nice, but don't expect us Victorians to suddenly reward your for discovering we exist. We haven't forgotten the disgusting treatment over the past 2 years
* How much money has been spent, of the billions promised by the LNP at the last election, in and around Geelong on fast rail and road duplications ? At a guess I would say about zero.

Coalition earmarks more cash for commuter car parks in marginal seats. Shane Wright March 27, 2022. 155 comments [mainly7 sarcastic/cynical]
Railway station car parks promised to key seats at the 2019 election are getting a fresh funding boost and even resurrection as the Coalition attempts to keep faith with commuting voters.
As part of an infrastructure package to be confirmed in Tuesday’s budget, an extra $47.5 million will go to five car park projects in Victoria and NSW. Hundreds of millions of dollars will also go to larger transport projects, with a substantial proportion going towards marginal seats in both states.
Kananook station was promised an enlarged car park at the 2019 election. It was then abandoned and it is now back as part of an increase in car park spending.CREDIT:JUSTIN MCMANUS
The $660 million Commuter Car Park fund was the focus of a scathing report by the Auditor-General that found 77 per cent of its projects were pledged to Coalition seats. Most were in Melbourne’s east and south-east, where the Liberal Party was defending a string of marginal electorates.
Both sides of politics went to the 2019 election promising extra parking around suburban railway stations. Some of the projects pledged by the Coalition were also on offer from Labor.
This month, four car parks worth $65 million that were promised for Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong were abandoned in the face of community opposition, large cost blowouts and the axing of one railway station.
In Tuesday’s budget, $18 million will be earmarked for a car park at the Kananook railway station in the Melbourne Labor-held marginal seat of Dunkley. The car park was promised in the 2019 election, was ditched early last year, but has now been saved with extra cash.
The cost of the Kingswood station car park in the Sydney Liberal-held marginal seat of Lindsay was originally forecast at $20 million. In the budget, that will be topped up with another $12.5 million.
Top-ups for stations at Woy Woy and Panania (both NSW) and Hampton in Victoria will also be made. Woy Woy is in the Liberal-held marginal seat of Robertson, which will also be promised $336 million in road upgrades for the town centre and $51.2 million towards a road intersection upgrade.
Another large top-up is earmarked for a major road project in the Labor-held marginal seat of Gilmore, which the Coalition hopes to win with former NSW cabinet minister Andrew Constance.
The government previously committed $400 million to the bypass of Milton-Ulladulla, a popular tourist area in the middle of Gilmore. The entire project was originally forecast to cost $500 million. Under the Coalition’s pre-election pledge, it will pump an additional $352 million into the project, which is expected to be completed in 2026.
An extra $352 million will be promised for a road bypass in the key seat of Gilmore, which the Coalition’s Andrew Constance hopes to win at the May election.CREDIT:RENEE NOWYTARGER
As part of the package, an additional $53.4 million will go to road projects across Liberal-held seats in south-eastern Melbourne.
This includes $23.1 million for an upgrade of Canterbury Road, which connects Kooyong to the eastern edge of Deakin, which is held by frontbencher Michael Sukkar. The road runs through Chisholm, the government’s second most marginal electorate.
Over recent weeks, Labor, which has criticised the government for pork barrelling, has been announcing its own projects, which have heavily favoured marginal seats.
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers defended Labor’s plans, saying they had been developed with local councils and communities.
“The difference couldn’t be starker between a government which sits around poring over colour-coded spreadsheets. It gives one amount to one seat because it’s Liberal, another amount to another seat because it’s Labor,” he said.
Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.
RELATED ARTICLE The carpark at Surrey Hills railway station in Josh Frydenberg’s electorate of Kooyong. Voters left stuck in the electoral traffic as car park fund falters
RELATED ARTICLE Bill Shorten’s electorate of Maribyrnong received $717,000 while Josh Frydenberg’s Kooyong got $5.8 million.  Tapping the pork barrel: How the Yarra divides millions in grants
<www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/coalition-earmarks-more-cash-for-commuter-car-parks-in-marginal-seats-20220327-p5a8c7.html>

See the light and ditch daylight saving March 27, 2022.  86 comments
<www.theage.com.au/national/see-the-light-and-ditch-daylight-saving-20220324-p5a7pe.html>

Sydney commuters to receive 12 free days of public transport. Tom Rabe March 27, 2022.
Commuters will travel for free across Sydney’s entire public transport network for 12 consecutive days during the Easter holidays as the government seeks to spur a return to city centres and make amends for widespread disruption.
The fare-free deal comes after weeks of tense negotiations between the state government and rail union over pay and workplace conditions which culminated in a 24-hour shutdown of the train network last month.
Early morning commuters at Central Station.CREDIT:BROOK MITCHELL
The NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union last week threatened to take new industrial action every Friday until June unless the government made travel free for commuters as an apology for last month’s 24-hour shutdown.
Transport Minister David Elliott reached an agreement with the union on Thursday to forego that action, and confirmed on Sunday that Greater Sydney’s entire transport network would be free between April 14 and 26.
“To commuters affected by recent rail disruptions, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for your patience,” Mr Elliott said.
“I hope the fare-free 12 days of Easter is a way for you to enjoy quality time with family and friends during the school holidays, while at the same time helping to revitalise our city centres and local communities.”
Mr Elliott, who is also the NSW Veterans Affairs Minister, has asked government colleagues to consider making two-up legal for three days over the Anzac Day weekend, rather than the usual 24 hours.
The fare-free days cover all Opal network services in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra. It includes train, bus, light rail and ferry services.
Another five weeks of negotiations are scheduled between the government and the RTBU, which is still seeking to negotiate a new enterprise bargaining agreement after it expired last year.
Aside from an ongoing pay dispute between the state government and the union, the RTBU is also seeking assurances around safety on the new intercity fleet trains, as well as a guarantee the NSW rail network won’t be privatised.
Sydney’s entire rail network was shut down by the government for 24 hours in February amid confusion as to how industrial relation measures it had agreed to would be implemented.
Mr Elliott faced heavy criticism for his handling of the saga after revealing he did not learn of the shutdown until he woke up early on the Monday morning it occurred.
He said the government recognised recent months had proven challenging for hundreds of thousands of Sydney commuters, citing COVID-19 restrictions, as well as rail disruptions, and hoped the fare-free period would help boost traffic for small businesses across the city.
While the government has not confirmed what the 12 fare-free days will cost the state in lost farebox revenue, it is likely to be in the tens of millions.
Sydney Trains received $480 million from passenger services revenue in 2020/21, according to its most recent annual report, far lower than previous years because of the impact of COVID-19.
This comes as Mr Elliott on Saturday revealed that 99 per cent of the tracks for the first stage of the $2.4 billion Parramatta light rail had been installed, with the final 50-metre segment of the 12-kilometre line to be laid in the coming weeks.
Stage 1 of the Parramatta Light Rail will connect Westmead to Carlingford via the Parramatta CBD, and is expected to commence passenger services next year.
“We’re expecting by next year you’ll see some trams on these tracks,” Mr Elliott said
<www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-commuters-to-receive-12-free-days-of-public-transport-20220326-p5a86n.html>

Freight terminals on the way but state must contribute. Tom Minear and Jade Gailberger March 27, 2022
Two giant freight terminals are the centrepiece of the Morrison government’s $3.3bn spend on Victorian ­infrastructure in Tuesday’s budget.
video: Government wants more money 'staying in people's pockets'.  Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes says the government wants to ensure more money is "staying in people's pockets", with the federal budget to be handed down on Tuesday. "We understand as a Coalition government that you cannot deliver anything unless you have a strong economy, and ensuring that people are in work," she told Sky News host Chris Smith. "It's ensuring that those tax cuts are delivered, it's ensuring that people, as they re-enter the workforce, particularly as we come out of COVID, that more and more of that money is staying in their pocket."
TWO giant freight terminals will be built in Melbourne’s north and west, creating thousands of jobs and taking 5500 trucks off arterial roads every day once finished.
However, the $3.1bn commitment – the centrepiece of the Morrison government’s $3.3bn spend on Victorian ­infrastructure in Tuesday’s budget – includes $2bn that was announced a year ago.
That leaves Victoria worse off than other states and territories, with $3.9bn promised for road and rail projects in Queensland, $3.3bn for NSW and $2.8bn in South Australia.
The federal government unveiled the intermodal terminal project in last year’s budget, but while it was pushing for a site at Beveridge, the state government and leading freight providers wanted the new hub at Truganina.
Scott Morrison on Monday will announce support for both sites conditional on contributions from the Andrews government.
The commonwealth will commit $1.6bn to the Beveridge terminal and $280m for nearby road upgrades, ­including the Camerons Lane interchange at the Hume Fwy. Another $740m will be allocated to the Truganina terminal, plus $920m for a rail connection.
More freight terminals on the way but the Victorian government must also contribute to the project.
“Victoria is the freight and logistics capital of Australia,” Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher said.
“To maintain this advantage, the delivery of two modern and advanced intermodal terminals in the north and west of Melbourne to support inland rail, as well as east-west freight rail flows, is a priority.”
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said the projects were crucial to maintaining Australia’s success as an exporting nation, ensuring “we have the right infrastructure in place at the end of the line to get these products to their local and global destinations”.
The terminals will support 1350 jobs during construction and 550 positions once they are operational, with another 5455 jobs stemming from the associated road and rail works.
Tuesday’s budget will also announce $109m to upgrade Mickleham Rd and $18m to reboot the cancelled commuter carpark project at Kananook station, plus $45m for road ­improvements between Ballarat and Ouyen and $23m to ­upgrade Canterbury Rd.
BUDGET SPEND ON VICTORIAN INFRASTRUCTURE
Total: $3.3bn
NEW PROJECTS
Melbourne Intermodal Terminal Package: $3.1bn ($2bn was announced in last year’s budget)
— Beveridge Interstate Freight Terminal: $1.2bn
— Beveridge terminal road connection upgrades: $280m
— Western Interstate Freight Terminal: $740m
— Outer metropolitan ring rail south: $920m
 Mickleham Rd upgrade: $109.5m
Kananook commuter car park: $18m
Princes Highway East (Nowa Nowa safety works): $500,000
EXTRA FUNDING FOR EXISTING PROJECTS
Pakenham roads upgrade: $11.5m
Ballarat to Ouyen road works: $45m
Canterbury Rd upgrade: $23.1m
Princes Highway intersection upgrades (Pakenham to Beaconsfield): $3.8m
Hampton commuter car park: $8.5m
Yarra Boulevard upgrade: $2m
Tortice Drive and Warrandyte Road intersection upgrade in Ringwood North: $4.5m
The Hampton commuter carpark – which has no start date three years after it was promised – will have its budget expanded from $4m to $12.5m.
Overall, $17.9bn will be pumped into new and existing projects nationwide, creating about 40,000 jobs and taking the government’s rolling 10-year infrastructure pipeline to more than $120bn.
“By investing in these projects we are delivering the infrastructure that the Australian economy needs to grow, to get Australians home sooner and safer, and generate thousands of jobs and new opportunities for small businesses,” the Prime Minister said.
The coalition has invested $35.5bn in almost 300 Victorian road and rail projects since 2013, with 99 completed.
Australian Local Government Association said the budget needed to include a $2bn, four-year extension to the $2.5bn local roads and community infrastructure program. Its president Linda Scott said $500m a year would deliver libraries, community centres, sporting facilities, bike paths and playgrounds.
“The last two years have been expensive for all governments but cutting this program now would be selling our communities short,” Ms Scott said.
“Many of our councils and communities are still reeling from the cumulative impacts of droughts, bushfires, Covid-19 and flooding, and need ongoing support.”
* BUDGET SPEND ON VICTORIAN INFRASTRUCTURE
Total: $3.3bn
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<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/freight-terminals-on-the-way-but-state-must-contribute/news-story/932a464f0ba98d846b3884f29b810f02>

Major issue threatens to derail airport link. Kieran Rooney and Matt Johnston March 27, 2022 Herald Sun
A spat between the federal and state governments over one crucial aspect of the planned airport rail link is threatening to derail the $10bn project.
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 projects fast-tracked as the economy recovers from the coronavirus. Courtesy Seven News
A dispute over where to put a new Tullamarine station for the $10bn airport rail link is threatening to send the project off the rails.
Herald Sun can reveal that the Andrews Government is digging in about building an elevated structure, while the Morrison government and airport had favoured a tunnel.
The push for a cheaper “sky rail” station began last year, and had been blamed for delays in releasing a business case for the long-awaited project.
Several packages of work have been released to the market for the rail link, which will be built in stages via Sunshine, with Laing O’Rourke the preferred contractor for early works.
Insiders briefed on negotiations said those backing an underground station argued it would future-proof the site for another rail link to the north.
A business case for the project has still not been released, with state transport chiefs only handing over the document to the Commonwealth in December – almost a year after it was expected to be delivered.
It is understood the business case investigated a range of options for stations, including sky rail options and tunnels below terminals.
A dispute over whether to build a tunnel or sky rail is threatening to delay the airport rail link project.
But concerns have been raised about elevated rail construction requiring the shutdown of key airport roads, with cheaper build costs potentially offset by commuter chaos.
The airport, tipped to more than double its annual passenger figures to 76 million by 2042, has spent millions upgrading roads and parking around the terminal to tackle congestion and had voiced concerns about an above-ground station impacting those investments – sparking discussions about compensation.
Infrastructure Australia is now considering the business case, and will then refer the project to a joint steering committee with state and federal experts involved.
Several packages of works have already been released for the major project, which will be joint funded by Victorian and Commonwealth taxpayers with the Morrison and Andrews governments pledging up to $5bn.
The airport construction poses the most headaches for planning, with the facility required to submit a major development plan as part of the process – once an alignment and construction method is selected.
Representatives of federal and state governments declined to discuss their preference for the design of the station, but said they were working cooperatively on the project.
A federal spokeswoman said it was “a large and complex project that the Australian Government has committed $5bn towards”.
“The Australian Government separately provided $30m towards the business case for the rail link, which is currently being assessed by Infrastructure Australia.”
A spokeswoman for the Victorian government said: “The business case has been with the Commonwealth since 2021, and we look forward to jointly releasing it as soon as possible.”
Previous master plans for the airport have also sought to keep options available for future rail connections other than one to the city.
This could include a route to the north or a future high-speed rail connection to the city.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/major-issue-threatens-to-derail-airport-link/news-story/12f3a593204283e4d0d80340b1591095>

Sun.27.3.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun".  Letters.
* Load of old bollards. So $1.7m is to be spent in the city on 28 additional bollards (SHS, 20/3).
While I am all for pedestrian safety, even though we now have electric scooters making us duck for cover at every turn, I pondered the cost. At $60,714 per bollard, are they going to be made out of solid gold or is the cost is due to a whole stream of people jumping on the gravy train along the way?
I can only assume the latter.
* Blinkers off, Sally. DURING Moomba weekend we travelled by train into the city to see the Chanel exhibition at the NGV followed by lunch. After two years of lockdowns the city was buzzing; families enjoying the sunshine and the many Moomba activities.
But below the surface lurks the dark side of Melbourne: filthy, smelly streets strewn with rubbish, and people holed up in doorways.
Furthermore, our lunch in Degraves St was marred by beggars demanding money from us. Our journey home was not uneventful either, as we again were assaulted by a mentally unstable man who wanted to “touch our hair”.
For more than 40 years, I’ve travelled into the city by car and by public transport and until last weekend I have always felt safe and proud of our beautiful city.
If Sally Capp wants to invigorate the CBD, she needs to remove her blinkers and view the filthy streets through the eyes of visitors.
Town Hall, clean up our streets. Move the homeless out of the Elizabeth St Skid Row and pay for security guards in outdoor eating areas. Clean up our city. Now. Today.

Sun.27.3.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun".  Budget.
* INFRASTRUCTURE. A $2.26bn commitment to complete Adelaide’s North-South Corridor has been announced, made in partnership with the South Australian government.
Regional bridges across the country will be upgraded as part of a $4Om plan to keep freight moving and supply chains open over the next four years. Regional airports will also be given $27m for their upgrades.
Seven priority gas infrastructure projects have been identified, which the government has pledged $50.3m to accelerate.