Memo to the driver of the 901 to Frankston departing Melbourne Airport at 2:17pm this afternoon…if you’re shit scared of running out of fuel or power, then constantly stopping and starting the bus at every intersection isn’t going to help, and that’s only concerning the ride the passengers are getting.
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Just put Beavis & Butthead on the cards, with the caption “Breakin’ the Law, Breakin’ the Law - Get Bail!”
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I’ve noticed that some of the bus drivers do this here in Geelong ? Wtf 
A community event is being held today, ahead of passenger services commencing tomorrow (a working day in Perth).
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As first reported in Sunday Herald Sun yesterday, buses travelling along Melbourne’s new busway will have their speeds limited to 60 km/h due to horizontal and vertical constraints. The busway will be constructed basically parallel to the Eastern Freeway (which has top speed of 100 km/h) as part of the North East Link project.
Another nothing story that is blown out of proportion, in no part due to there being no good communications people left within the government.
Testing of Metro Trains’ new X’Trapolis 2.0 trains is currently underway on the Werribee Line, with the first sets expected to enter service in early 2026.
These new trains are set to replace the aging Comeng fleet on the Craigieburn, Upfield, and Frankston lines.
I’m hearing positive things so far about the X’Trap 2.0. A big step up from the agricultural and rough-riding X’Trap 1.0 trains apparently (air suspension is a big plus).
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Considering the original X’Traps were being ordered and built almost continuously from 2009 to 2020 (the first batch was built 2002 to 2004), it’s mind boggling that the suspension was not improved in any considerable way during that time.
The original X’Trap’s were about as basic as you can get in a ‘modern’ electric train. In many ways the Siemens are a more sophisticated train, but the braking dramas destroyed their reputation.
HCMT’s are a mixed bag. So much expensive corrective work was required on the original design to salvage it into a quite accomplished unit today.
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The x’traps weren’t made for Melbourne (they were a standard ‘x’trap 100’ model) so it makes sense that they never changed the suspension on it. Also, the x’traps 2.0s probably aren’t actual xtrapolis trains and are instead a customized model of the ‘Adessia’ trains.
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my favourite of the Melbourne trains
“The report’s key finding is that due to significant population growth in the north and west of Melbourne – more than twice the population of Canberra is forecast to move into this region in the next 15 years – there is an urgent need to begin detailed development of rail capacity-boosting projects in the north and west,” then Department of Transport secretary Paul Younis wrote in a letter to his Commonwealth counterpart a year ago.
While the Albanese and Allan governments refused to release the plan to this masthead under freedom of information laws, a dozen industry and government sources, including some of the document’s contributing authors, confirmed its existence.
The document, titled the North West Strategic Assessment, was developed by a team of about 30 public transport and systems experts led by Victoria’s Department of Transport.
Other proposals canvassed in the report include electrifying all services to Bacchus Marsh, and running a more frequent “shuttle service” between Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh, where commuters could transfer trains to access the metropolitan network including city-bound and airport services.
In the city’s rapidly expanding north, the North West Strategic Assessment supports preserving the option of duplicating and extending the Upfield line and dovetailing it with an extended Craigieburn line, with a new terminus station in Wallan, about 60 kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD.
The Upfield and Craigieburn lines would be joined by using a dormant freight link between Somerton and Roxburgh Park.
I hear all these talks of high speed rail. All I can say is I’ll believe it when I see it.
I’d just be happy of more of the trains between Sydney and Newcastle were limited stops.
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its like the train to Melbourne airport. in my lifetime i’ve seen so many studies, committees and announcements i’ll only believe it now when i’m sitting on the damn thing
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Yeah i think the Skybus will continue to operate for quite a while to come
I enjoyed the ride on the Sky bus to and from Tullamarine airport in January this year but I didn’t sit on the upper level as the stairs were too steep for me to negotiate
Haha when I moved to Melbourne in earlier this year I noticed every tourist rushing for the upper level. I never bother I usually sit in Lowe deck . Easier for me to grab my
Luggage and go and then get caught behind everyone else .
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