Along some of the main freeways coming into Melbourne, you’ll spot signage for Parkway stations. Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Wallan, Lara all have the signs. Possibly others, I’m not sure. This now outmoded branding originated with the Regional Fast Rail project. Regional Fast Rail project Back in the mid-2000s, the Victorian government was revamping V/Line, via ... [More]
A little bit more on level crossings. Since I posted the update, I’ve received some useful corrections, which I’ve applied to the list. But last week there was an interesting update on some of them. Pakenham line to be extended The Pakenham crossings will be skyrail – we already knew that. But there’s an interesting ... [More]
Remember a few months ago when I wrote about the next big train timetable change? That was originally expected in December, but got postponed due to delays completing works on the Ballarat line. Today the State Government has announced the change will happen on 31st January, and naturally being an official release (instead of info ... [More]
Here we go again – another post of photos from ten years ago. Siemens train carriages have never had enough handholds. …The photo below shows the layout from 2015 onwards: the removal of some seats near the doors and addition of more bars helped a bit, but along most of the carriage there’s still not ... [More]
We’re midway through the state government’s 2018-2022 term, so I thought I’d do an update of the Level Crossing Removal Program status, following on from previous versions in 2014, 2017 and 2018. Like previous lists, this one is derived from a 2008 ALCAM (Australian Level Crossing Assessment Model) study of all level crossings in Victoria ... [More]
Just a quick post while I work on some more substantive content. State Budget Victoria’s State Budget, normally in May but much delayed due to COVID-19, was on Tuesday. Most of the big ticket public transport investment (Airport Rail, Geelong upgrade, and a huge early works package on the Suburban Rail Loop) had already been ... [More]
So finally there’s a a firm plan for airport rail, thanks to combined State and Federal funding just announced. Age: Melbourne Airport trains will run through the Metro tunnel every 10 minutes Herald Sun: A deal has finally been struck for Victoria’s airport rail link – here’s how it’ll work In summary: Airport trains to ... [More]
Yesterday the State government announced funding for early works for the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). Being a huge project, even early works are pricey – it comes out at $2.2 billion. At the same time, they’ve announced more detail on the station locations for Stage One. This map shows them. So the stations will be ... [More]
Continuing from part one… going clockwise the next lines are the yellow ones on the rail map: the Sunbury, Craigieburn and Upfield lines. Sunbury (St Albans) line Until 2002, suburban trains ran to St Albans, with regional trains serving the stations beyond. The line was electrified in 2002 to Watergardens (Sydenham) and then in 2012 ... [More]
It’s the end of the month, so here’s one of my regular posts of ten year old photos. First posted at the time, here’s what happens when a garbage truck breaks down. The big thing in transport in October 2010 was the launch of the new “DART” (Doncaster Area Rapid Transit, thankfully a name that ... [More]