I feel like the Victorian Government is stuck between a rock and a hard place. For some reason the cost has ballooned exponentially but if they stop now then cancellation would be as bad if not worse, not to mention electoral suicide in the east (and west for that matter).
They need to find new contractors and get this moving. Go high risk high reward otherwise they’re gonna get pummelled sideways from all sides.
Let’s not forget the slimy bikies and gangsters chewing free money out of these projects - they need a total clean out.
An underrated point here - it feels like the same two or three contractors are getting every project at the moment (West Gate Tunnel, Metro Tunnel, North East Link, SRL East, etc.) and I’m not convinced that’s a good thing
The newest station in Melbourne’s west, on the Geelong line, will be known as West Tarneit. It will be located near the corner of Davis and Leakes roads.
Media reports say that Parramatta Light Rail is back under scrutiny with fresh questions about whether it’s on the right track. Preliminary numbers show that an average of 8750 trips was taken on the line each day, up from an average of 7015 trips per day in January. Transport for NSW is targetting a daily patronage of 28,000 passengers by 2026.
They’ve only this month cut some buses back which should help improve the numbers around Westmead and Parramatta. Old habits are clearly hard to adjust unless pushed along.
No surprises there.
NE-Link road cost blow-out: $15 billion - Crickets.
West Gate Tunnel: No cost to Taxpayers, now $5 billion+ on taxpayer bill - Crickets.
SRL makes far more sense IMHO. But CFMEU should’ve been shut-out.
The LNP had spoken many many times about cost blowouts on North East Link and West Gate Tunnel, so there are not crickets. There was also a protest by Yarraville residents two weeks ago demanding the Victorian Government install air filters in the chimney stack at the western portal of the West Gate Tunnel.
So much effort being put into naming a station, yet very little on why the heck the Suburban Rail Loop seems to be taking eternity to come to fruition, and let’s not talk about the airport rail.
Priorities PLEASE!
LNP might’ve had a whinge, but you don’t hear much from the Herald Sun, The Age, your ABC, or 3AW…
It seems they have a vendatta against rail, but not against boondoggle roads and traffic sewers.
Herald Sun has been reporting on cost blowouts on major infrastructure projects around Melbourne in recent years, including the two projects you mentioned above.
Building a completely new rail corridor is no easy or quick feat, and Suburban Rail Loop is 100% in tunnels which adds so many more layers of red tape, ground investigation works, and approvals before digging even begins. The TBMs to dig SRL East are only arriving next year.
But I agree they should be bringing forward SRL North to be built sooner so that we’re not waiting until 2043-53 for North to be finished. The SRL only makes sense if most of it gets built at once.
I think Infrastructure Australia need a good talking to:
It’s great that Morningside train station finally has fully operational lifts ,and fully raised platforms,so boarding and disembarking a train is so much easier .
Especially for folks in wheelchairs or have other mobility issues (like myself with my bad knees)
From V/Line’s Facebook page:
After decades servicing south-west communities, the Warrnambool Line has bid farewell to its locomotive-hauled trains.
Sunday morning’s 7.45am service from Warrnambool to Southern Cross Station marked the final classic fleet passenger train on the line.
From 14 April, all Warrnambool Line services will run with more modern, reliable and accessible VLocity trains following works to upgrade stabling at Warrnambool Station, which will allow VLocity trains to be stabled overnight.
Coaches are replacing Warrnambool Line trains from Monday 31 March until Sunday 13 April while these important works take place.
When VLocity trains return on 14 April, Warrnambool Line passengers will also benefit from four new weekend services added to the timetable, taking the total number of daily services to five on a weekend.
He loves that ‘Cruel Hoax’ analogy doesn’t he?
$2 billion sounds like a lot from the Coalition until you realise that’s the amount federal Labor is putting into Sunshine station alone and there’s another $5 billion they’re putting to the airport rail overall from them.
Yeah nice try spud.
That’s a big mistake by Dutton, TBH. Without the Sunshine Station upgrades they will struggle to get the frequency of trains required.
On the other hand, Dutton’s proposal to get the Upfield line reconnected to Somerton and run Wallan sparks on it should’ve been done several years ago.