I’ve only heard good things about this project. Why controversial?
1 Like
Because it is an “eyesore” to some people, particulary residents of the areas.
Oh then they should get over it or walk everywhere. It’s a beautiful piece of infrastructure. I’d kill for that sort of investment in our train network here in Queensland, and the benefit of having level crossing removals works for both train and car commuters.
Not to mention that their properties will be highly sought after by developers looking to build higher density apartments along well-funded public transit corridors, where people who have jobs in the city want to live. They can sell up, move to somewhere without a train and then be stuck in the car on the freeway, just as God intended.
We are truly the whingeing country.
7 Likes
From what I’ve heard from industry professionals, it does not ‘overlook’ yards as the libs say. Also, I refuse to call it “Skyrail” that name has just been made up by the Liberal Party.
Either way, there are sections of elevated rail throughout Melbourne with clear views into yards for over one hundred years. The fear drummed up by opponents of this project and their wishes of expensive tunnelling has been ridiculous.
That said, there was a touch of hypocrisy from Labor by not giving details of the railway viaducts to eliminate level crossings, compared to their carry on with East West link prior to the election.
That said, good on them for getting on with the work.
2 Likes
One example is the elevated line between Kensington and Newmarket. Beautiful place to have a good walk but I don’t see any residents complaining about the railway line looking over their roofs!
whilst on the subject of melbourne public transport,. i’m coming down for a weekend in august for a holiday. I find it ridiculous that i have to buy a myki - there are no paper tickets.
i will be making 4 journeys - one to and from the wedding in ferntree gully and one on sunday morning to a stop 2 stops outside the free tram zone. everything else will be in that zone.
here in brisbane we still have paper tickets for tourists (or at least let me use my credit card for touching on and off like in london)
same as the opal and many other cities.
Just add it to your collection. I now have three public transport cards Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. It would be great if they were worked everywhere as the tollway tags do.
2 Likes
Though they build in an added cost on paper tickets which means if you did do equivalents to those four journeys, you’d have been far better off buying a gocard.
Besides - Melbourne’s fares, even with the added cost of a myki, are far better value than travelling around Sydney and Brisbane.
There is a “Day Pass” that is a paper ticket, but there isn’t many of those around and can only be given to concession holders but on some occasions.
You have to pay a $6 non-refundable card fee with Myki. Opal includes the card for free with the first top up. Brisbane’s go card fee is refundable.
The opposition to the Skyrail was bloody ridiculous. Crazy bastards fearmongering that paedophiles would be having a wank watching kids playing in backyards from the train.
I’m pretty sure that this whole Skyrail name was basically lifted from Sydney’s North West Rail Link. The large viaduct as part of the project was called by the NSW Liberal govt as “SkyTrain” as part of the promotional spiel and it’s just been picked up and bastardised by the folks south of the border. I actually wasn’t aware that the word “Skyrail” had negative connotations to it until what I’ve read just now.
3 Likes
Myki is $6 with first trip technically free, the system will accept the card with a $0 balance but you will have to repay it on the next topup as the balance will go into the negative range.
The official term for it wasn’t “Skyrail”, I don’t think it had a name. the right wing media might have picked up on a name called Skyrail and used that name as a weapon, thus everyone unknowing calls it “Skyrail”
I used to travel on the Hurstbridge line and there are whole stretches where you’d look straight into people’s backyards from the train. To be honest it was never a great view so you never paid much attention. People’s backyards are not very interesting. But don’t the new sections of “skyrail” have barriers that prevent train passengers seeing into people yards down below anyway?
I’ve collected quite a few ticketing smart cards from places I’ve been over the years. There’s probably still some money left on my access card for the Stockholm trains which I’m never likely to recover. To be honest I just keep them as a souvenir of my trip. Same with the Opal card I bought in Sydney last year. I think there’s still some money left on it and I’m not likely to be back in Sydney for a long time (it was more than 10 years since my last trip)
I had money left on my oyster card from London but I ended up donating it to someone who was later travelling to London.
But if there is money left on your myki card at the end of your trip you can either keep your myki for a return trip or have any remaining balance refunded. (but the $6 card fee is not refundable)
2 Likes
The funny thing is that the Liberal Party in NSW are using it as a promotional thing to make the North West Rail Link look more futuristic and grand, while the Liberal Party in Victoria are clearly trying to tar the name with all sorts of bullshit.
4 Likes
Has anyone (Including those outside Perth) ever seen something like this before? A railway crossing at Gosnells Station had remained closed for like 10 minutes which causes congestion on Main Street with people backing out or pass it at red with the gates down.
Yeah, when I rode on the Puffing Billy Railway in Melbourne a few weeks ago, at Emerald station the steam engine had to shunt an extra carriage into our train, which took about ten minutes. Meanwhile the nearby level crossing boom gates were down the entire time.
1 Like
Even if it’s obvious there’s no train there, those motorists are insanely stupid to pass. I’d imagine the fine for running a red at a level crossing would be ridiculously high, and there’s always the risk that everyone might follow like lemmings and disregard the signal entirely while failing to check for an oncoming train.
I really hope Transperth throws the book at them. Just be 10 minutes late to work.
3 Likes
Level crossings in metropolitan Melbourne can close for a long period for various reasons (e.g. a faulty barrier), so if they occur at peak periods it will cause congestion in the area.
1 Like
Couple of level crossings around Melbourne come to mind thankfully mostly gone.
Carnegie - now eliminated but not unusual to see several trains go through in either direction.
Kensington - whenever the grain train would arrive would involved arriving in the down road platform, crossover the up line into the siding with the level crossing in the middle of it all. Also could see a combo of Metro and Vline going through in either direction at peak. When I moved there initially the signaller would often briefly raise the gates to let a few cars through until the time between the train passing and raising the gates was increased for safety.
Glenhubtly - triple track including goods trains all crawling across a tram square at 10 km/h.
1 Like