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Subject: Sun.18.9.22 daily digest, archive

Roderick

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Sun.18.9.22 Metro Twitter
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works.
Because of tunnel works, Degraves St subway at Flinders St is closed until 2024. No platform transfer via Degraves St subway. Passengers should use Elizabeth & Swanston St entry/exits.  Campbell Arcade remains closed to 2024. Platform  interchange via that subway was available until mid 2022.
Buses replace trains North Melbourne - Sunbury until the to last train (maintenance works).
Buses replace trains Essendon - Craigieburn until the last train (works).
Bell: No lift access to platforms until Oct 2022, while works continue around the station precinct. A shuttle bus will run from Bell to Preston and Thornbury.
Buses replace trains Macleod - Hurstbridge until the last train of Mon 19 Sep (works).
7.52 Belgrave/Lilydale/Alamein/Glen Waverley lines: Major delays (a trespasser near Richmond).  Trains may terminate/originate at intermediate locations. Consider alternative transport.
- 8.16 clearing.
7.53 Pakenham/Cranbourne/Frankston/Sandringham lines: Major delays (a trespasser near Richmond).  Trains may terminate/originate at intermediate locations. Consider alternative transport.
- 8.17 clearing.
Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Buses replace trains Caulfield - Westall from 20.30 until the last train (works).

Eight Level Crossings to Be Removed in Melbourne’s North.  7 May 2019 NICK BUCKLEY
The $1 billion investment will cross Coburg, Brunswick and Preston.
Photography: Brook James
Eight level crossings in Melbourne’s north – split between the Upfield and Mernda lines – will be replaced with elevated rail designs as part of a $1 billion investment.
Three Coburg crossings at Bell, Reynard and Munro streets, and another in Brunswick at Moreland Road, will be removed. Next year, works will start on raising a section of track in Preston on the Mernda line to remove level crossings at Murray Road, Bell Street, Cramer Street and Oakover Road. The Preston works are due to be finished by 2021. Raising the Mernda line will also create more open space.
“Removing these four level crossings in Preston will make a huge improvement to people’s lives, said Member for Preston Robin Scott in a statement. “It will mean no more huge waits at peak hour and will unite East and West Preston as one suburb.”
The works will also include building new stations at Coburg, Moreland, Preston and Bell. Heritage-listed station buildings at Coburg and Moreland will be preserved.
The Andrews Government says elevating rail lines will take 18 months less than lowering them would. It also says around 15,000 vehicles per day travel through the eight crossings and that during the two-hour morning peak boom gates can be down for as much as 40 per cent of the time.
One person has died and two have been injured at the crossings since 2005. And there have been 50 near misses.
In Melbourne’s south two more level crossing removals – at Clyde Road, Berwick and Cardinia Road, Pakenham, both on the Pakenham line – will begin within a year.
More information can be found and submissions made at levelcrossings.vic.gov.au.
<www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/city-file/article/eight-level-crossings-be-removed-melbournes-north>

Rail union threatens ‘alternative strategy’ after ditching Opal action. Matt O'Sullivan September 18, 2022
The state’s main rail union is threatening alternative forms of industrial action after a legal move by the NSW government forced workers to abandon plans to switch off Opal ticket readers at train stations.
A day after dropping planned action to shut down Opal readers, Rail Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) state secretary Alex Claassens said members would continue to pressure the government by taking industrial action and delegates would meet on Monday to discuss an “alternative strategy”.
The rail union has abandoned plans to completely shut down Opal readers,CREDIT:PETER RAE
“We’re not going to let [the government] skip away yet again, just due to a dirty legal trick that they pulled at the last minute,” he said.
He declined to specify the alternative actions that members would pursue in their long-running dispute with the government over pay and modifications to the state’s new intercity train fleet.
However, he said the union would have to give 10 days’ notice of any action, which meant that Sydney’s rail network would avoid disruptions for at least the next two weeks.
Claassens dismissed suggestions that the union had backed down after the government’s urgent application to the Fair Work Commission in the early hours of Saturday to prevent the shutdown of Opal readers. “This is about us being smart and strategic,” he said.
Rail Tram and Bus Union state secretary Alex Claassens.CREDIT:BROOK MITCHELL
The government had received legal advice suggesting that the action was illegal, which was disputed by the unions.
Transport Minister David Elliott said the union’s unsuccessful tactic to disrupt the Opal ticketing system was merely a case of it “throwing a tantrum” because commuters were still paying their way.
“How is it a ‘dirty legal trick’ to simply ask a court of law to determine if vandalism and interfering with public property is legal?” he asked. “I think the union bosses underestimated how well informed the public is on this matter.”
Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Sunday the government’s focus had always been on minimising disruption to the rail network. “Sabotaging the Opal system was clearly not in the interests of the people of NSW,” he said.
He again thanked commuters for tapping on and off at train stations despite Opal gates remaining open in recent weeks due to the union’s actions. “That shows the people of our city just want to get on with it,” he said.
The government had risked losing more than $1 million a day in fare revenue if rail workers had pressed ahead with their plans to completely shut down Opal readers.
The average revenue on Sydney Trains, as well as a privately operated metro rail line from Rouse Hill to Chatswood, is about $1.5 million to $2 million a day, according to figures from Transport for NSW.
As part of the RTBU’s about-turn at the weekend, Opal ticketing gates at train stations will be closed, which means commuters will have to tap on and off at the electronic ticket readers using their cards or mobile phones to pass through.
A private conciliation hearing between rail unions and the government will also resume on Monday afternoon. It is running in parallel with a Fair Work case launched by the unions to force the government back to the negotiating table, the next hearing of which is scheduled for October 6.
Labor transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said the rail dispute was costing taxpayers every day it dragged on.
“It’s time for the government to look for solutions instead of conflict and resolve this dispute at the bargaining table because their current approach means our transport system is haemorrhaging taxpayer funds,” she said.
RELATED ARTICLE Union members are planning to turn off Opal card readers this week. Union cancels Opal switch-off after state tries to ban tweeting on dispute
<www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/rail-union-threatens-alternative-strategy-after-ditching-opal-action-20220918-p5bj0i.html>
* The sooner we can move the entire metropolitan network to Metro style trains the better.
* Can the people who are footing the bill decide who gets the pay rises? My vote goes for Teachers and Nurses, hospital workers. Rail workers and politicians are well down the line...so to speak. According to Seek, the average nurse gets around 80k salary, the average train driver around 130-150k , I don't want to overly simplify the roles, but one can save your life, the other can push stop/go...who would your money go to?
* I was entirely sympathetic to rail workers when it was about safety. But it appears that it is now about pay. Before rail workers get a pay rise I’d like to see aged care workers and child care workers get a decent pay hike.
* Maybe all three could get a payrise?
* A lot of the comments posted about the irrelevance of unions really shows a lack of understanding of industrial relations history. How do you think any of the conditions that ALL workers enjoy were won.It certainly wasn't through benevelent employers. The only way to improve your pay or conditions is through collective action. For those who disagree, that's your choice but please don't tell others how they should give up and roll over or ridiculously just get another job. Really, you have to be kidding.
* Unions have a definite purpose. The problem is when they are not reasonable and just want to assert their power, they become just as bad (only on the other side) as John Howard's Work Choices.
* their next strategy to take the NSW Government and taxpayers hostage. Wonderful.
* Unions are a United Kingdom throwback from the 1960s. They need to be outlawed.
* Rather extreme, don’t you think?
* around the 1820s I think
* Probably it's time time government start looking at the option of automating the system and reducing the frequent disruption to general public.
* The trains were a dud purchase, but both parties need to make concessions and work through a process and meet in the middle and fix the issue. Both parties need to look to the future after the next elections.
* The government have agreed to retrofit the trains at great expense. It’s not about passenger safety now, if it ever was.
* Most probably is about passenger safety or the government would not have agreed to it. It appears a lot of people have not been through the EBA process and on occassions the only action left is industrial action taken by union members. Union members usually suffer loss of pay through these actions whilst the non union members sit back and criticise yet are happy to take a pay rise or improved conditions usually negotiated by the unions delegates.
* It is about time Mr Minns starting making a few phone calls rather that playing to the media ...it is SO OBVIOUS what is going on here .....
* Minns is opposition leader, not government leader. Its really about time Dom and co started to learn how to resolve conflict - send them to a government course maybe ? From here it's all about a decent pay packet for workers; no matter a lib or lab gov't - they have to pay up or pay the price.
* Please explain, what is so obvious?
* The railway union need not worry about disruption, SydneyTrains is doing a better job all on their own. No trains operating between Sydenham and Redfern - something to do with construction of the new, private metro I believe. Just one of their frequent cancellation of services.
* A situation they promised to remedy: "I don't like the fact that every single weekend, part of the network is shut down for trackwork," the former transport minister said in 2012. Some time in the next few years, she said, trackwork could take place "in the middle of the night when there are no trains running" rather than on the weekend, forcing thousands of us onto crowded and slow replacement buses.
* Funny thing is they cant do the night trackwork because the staff refuse. Another thing blocked by union
* I've had a number of jobs in which the pay and sometimes the conditions did not meet expectations. I left...found another job. My role was filled and life moved on.... In this current market....surely its time for the unions to move on. Too simple?.
* And if all the rail workers left - what next? No trains and then a recruitment campaign with higher wages.
* The bigger question is how many train drivers are union members. union membership has fallen to below 12% so what makes you think that non-union members approve of what the unions are doing.
* It would be a matter for NSW state govt to resolve....and I would sincerely hope those unhappy in their roles today would have found workplaces where the conditions are more aligned to their expectations. As a regular user of trains...Id.be happy to take the potential impact.
* Far too simple. This role isn't filled with life moving on, on a walk-out, walk-in basis. It takes a year to 18 months to train a suburban train driver.
* Automate the fleet now.
* Memo to Government - How about you start work on the Intercity Trains, so that they are available for use whenever this dispute is over. How about the government explain how long the modifications to the Intercity Fleet will take to be done
* Public transport should be free.
* really? How is that fair to regional NSW taxpayers where there's no public transport whatsoever?
* Memo to the RTBU: The patience of the Sydney public is quickly evaporating, sort this out quickly. Memo to the NSW Gov: The patience of the Sydney public is quickly evaporating, sort this out quickly.
* Yes it needs to be sorted out quickly. But (and I work for Sydney Trains) the unions are living in an era that existed 100 years ago. Our liberal democracy allows unions to get away with this nonsense.
* And RTBU. This is not 1970
* I note that Jo Haylen, speaking for the ALP, is not criticising the union in any way. I wonder why? Meantime, it looks like someone in the government has finally started to think strategically about this. I’m glad. We need this resolved, and I certainly think the union should bear some of the blame.
* She's secretly worried that this issue isn't resolved soon in the event they get elected and have to deal with it
* Because the ALP knows the basics of workplace law and knows that that LNP is not in the right.
* From where I sit it looks pretty obvious that the Transport ministers (all 3, 5, 7, 9?) are nowhere near as smart as the union bosses.
* Looks like the unions are finally backing down. “The state’s main rail union is threatening alternative forms of industrial action after a legal move by the NSW government forced workers to abandon plans to switch off Opal ticket readers at train stations.”
* Unions need to go.
* So do all our workplace conditions and benefits.
* This is a complete failure on behalf of the government. A complete failure to govern responsibly. And complete bloody minded stand by the unions. A complete abuse of power by union leaders. And we the mug taxpayers are being taken as fools.
* LNP government do not serve the people or workers - just business, developers, donors and themselves.
* Every time this gets into the news, it just reminds us of the government's total incompetence when they bought those intercity trains. Keep digging, Mr Perrottet. There's only a few months remaining before the election now.
* This prolonged action by the unions - nothing at all to do with the upcoming union elections, by any chance?
* Actually no, the LNP would appear to be the ones dragging this out for political gain.
* Exactly what gain is that?
* This is another disgrace thanks to the kid Premier and his team of clowns.
* Bring on the driverless trains and while we're at it look at the station staffing levels, any given day I'm seeing half a dozen people doing not a whole lot.
* You ever see those flag guys on the platform telling the guards that its safe to shut the doors? I’m hoping they have pretty solid systems in place to do the job of the flag guys. I just get the feeling that passengers do some random stuff, not all the platform scenarios have been thought of by the software writers, I would feel alot safer with a few spare humans on the job keeping things ticking over safely.
* Just saving a life at my local station the other day…
* When the government goes back to Fair Work or the negotiation table it's a"backdown". When the union does it its "smart and strategic" Yep, semantics are everything aren't they Mr Classens?
* Learnt from the LNP playbook.
* The Labor transport spokeswoman would do well to remember there are two sides in this dispute, both acting to the detriment of the commuter.
* It's easy to throw stones from the cheap seats if you are Labor's spokeswoman.
* Sadly, that’s about all that she is good for.