https://transport.vic.gov.au/about/transport-news/news-archive/new-trams-to-hit-the-west
Ballarat Road tram then please Ben.
Metro Trains announced yesterday that from today, train frequencies on Pakenham and Cranbourne lines will be reduced to every 6-7 minutes on weekday AM and PM peaks due to Metro Tunnel works. It added that additional buses might be used to carry passengers. It did not say when the normal timetable would be restored.
Trains returned to the two lines on the weekend after the completion of separation of tracks at Caulfield junction. This is what the track arrangement looks before and after the works (the after screencap was taken from 7News Melbourne last night):
UPDATE 5/2: the Victorian Government told the Sunday Herald Sun that the reduced peak services is due to is linked to the installation of high-capacity signalling along the railway line that will allow for “turn up and go” services through the Metro Tunnel. The government has conceded it does not yet know when the issue will be resolved, asking for patience as specialists work to fix bugs in the system.
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It was a diesel maintenance locomotive which caught fire. Transperth is working through the night to have services returning by Tuesday morning.
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Obviously governments of all stripes misapply FOI rules and keep too much secret - but just about every “obvious” level crossing removal that’s not on the list is due to how complex the challenge is for how much benefit it would have, they’ve been so widespread I don’t think it’s reasonable to suggest there’s a skew by voting type, other than probably under investing in lots of solidly Labor areas.
Hilarious we now have “local businesses” being angry about the lack of removals, given the amount of those they found to be anti “skyrail”.
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I don’t think I have ever seen a positive news story in Victoria media about infrastructure investments, even though there is so much good going on.
The media needs to pick a lane. Are level crossing removals an eyesore that devalue properties or are they a positive asset for local members looking to pork barrel?
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The current Victorian government is not perfect but one area they do a pretty good job is in infrastructure investment, especially public transport.
If some of these critics had their way we’d still be using steam trains and dirt roads with how much they are willing to invest in infrastructure.
Surrey Hills and Mont Albert stations in Melbourne’s east closed at 9pm tonight, after more than 130 years of operations. Surrey Hills opened on August 13, 1883, followed by Mont Albert on August 11, 1890.
Both railway stations will be removed over the next 2.5 months with a new station called Union constructed in between the two, as part of level crossings removal works. While the buildings at Surrey Hills will be demolished, the Mont Albert station building will be dismantled piece by piece, carefully restored, and rebuilt in a new open space over the rail line at Hamilton Street.
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Which will no doubt end up fenced off and forgotten about. Disappointing that the older station will be demolished.
And on queue, always framed in the negative - surely the last election’s outcome would have seen Seven pull back a bit from this blatant cheerleading, knowing how few people share that perspective.
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This doesn’t have to be viewed as a left or right issue. I’m sure there are many Labor voters who live in that area who are disappointed with what’s happening and the effect it will have on the local community for the next few months.
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It’s just tiresome how negatively these removal projects are always framed - when the results are pretty much always great, yet the disruption is always framed as “killing small business” or the local residents are ‘up in arms’.
If the government splashed out huge compensation, people would complain about it blowing out the budget of these removals.
We get great outcomes for the inconvenience the removal processes cause. They manage to get them done very fast most of the time, and the end results of more reliable rail service and fewer chokebacks on the roads are worth it.
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I’d suggest that Seven Melbourne attribute the lurch to the right / critical reporting of the state government as part of the reason they’re now #1, so hasn’t surprised me that they keep pushing it.
Trains from Frankston station, the 19th busiest, run roughly twice as often outside peak hour as from Essendon station, despite Essendon being the 14th busiest station and sitting on the growing Craigieburn line, an analysis of timetables shows.
Meanwhile, the Sunbury and Werribee lines, which run through Sunshine (the sixth-busiest station), Watergardens (25th) and Williams Landing (22nd), also have 20 and 30-minute gaps between off-peak trains.
A booming population in the outer western suburbs has also catapulted three stations – Tarneit (21st), Wyndham Vale (47th) and Melton (51st) – into the list of Melbourne’s busiest, despite them still being served only by V/Line trains running every 40 minutes on weekends.
The best-serviced stations are those with several lines running through them, such as Caulfield, which has trains from Cranbourne, Pakenham and Frankston stopping there every five minutes.