Article text:

Melbourne Airport has backed down from its demand for an underground station for the airport rail link, ending a stalemate with the Victorian government and clearing the path for the overdue project to proceed.

The state government has insisted building a station above ground in Tullamarine would be cheaper and faster, and accused the airport of deliberately trying to sink the project, while the airport had argued that an underground station would future-proof the connection.

But Melbourne Airport has decided to compromise to get the rail link done.

The Allan government, blaming the stand-off with the airport, delayed the project in May by at least four years to 2033.

Melbourne Airport is now hopeful the project could be ready by 2030.

The declaration appears to end the impasse that has put the rail link in doubt for more than a year and leaves the government with no further reason to delay. However, compensation to the airport for the acquisition of the land could become a sticking point.

The airport expects to receive redress for the use of part of its land, leased from the federal government and which would be acquired by the state. Chief executive Lorie Argus told The Age she hoped this could be easily resolved.

“We are genuinely empathetic to the challenges that the state is facing. So we want to do that as cost effectively as possible. We’re definitely not going to be difficult in this process,” Argus told The Age on Sunday.

“We’re going to be really pragmatic and realistic about expectations on the station on our side, and we understand the position they’re in from a cost perspective. Obviously, getting us back on track also means the funding needs to recommence.”

Melbourne Airport had accused the government of abandoning negotiations in April last year.

The state government referred the project to a Commonwealth review of infrastructure projects around the country, delaying work and angering MPs in the north-west. Federal Transport Minister Catherine King ultimately ruled it should go ahead.

The federal and state governments have each committed $5 billion to the project. A business case for the $10 billion to $13 billion project in 2022 considered both above- and below-ground stations.

Melbourne Airport just last month pledged to continue its fight for an underground station after mediator Neil Scales, who was appointed by the federal government, recommended the station should not be built below ground unless the operators could show it made commercial sense.

Victorian Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson has said a below-ground station would cost billions more, cause more disruptions, and take an extra two years to deliver.

He has blamed the delays on the airport for pursuing the underground station, which he said did not stack up.

“We’ve spent three years trying to reach an agreement with the airport, and we’ve been blocked and frustrated at every step of the way by the airport because of its fixation on a below-ground solution,” Pearson told reporters on Friday.

The airport still prefers an underground station but said it had compromised to support growth when a third runway, awaiting a final sign-off from the Commonwealth, opens in 2030. About 45 million passengers a year are expected to fly through the airport by then.

Argus said the Scales report had found traffic congestion was worse than the business case predicted in 2022, making the case for the project even stronger.

“So our view now is we need a public transport link. Victoria needs a public transport link. I think everyone agrees we need a train, and we don’t really want to find ourselves a couple of years down the road still debating our end. We’d rather accept the compromise, move on and make sure it can be delivered.”

About 18,000 workers also commute to the airport.

Delays to the rail link have become a sore point for Labor in the western suburbs because of a perception the government has prioritised major infrastructure projects in the east.

The government, which rebranded the airport rail link “SRL Airport” at the 2022 election, has locked in major works contracts for the $35 billion first leg of the Suburban Rail Loop in the east.

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll in May declared it was time to get the rail link done and that he would not leave parliament until the promised Keilor East station in his electorate of Niddrie was delivered. Last week, standing alongside Pearson, he announced the government had secured the land for that station “to fix a 100-year access gap” for residents in the north-west without trains.

The state government is yet to respond to the airport’s compromise. The Age was restricted from contacting third parties, including the government, as part of the announcement.

Not really anything special, but I thought I'd post it anyways.

The first thing I noticed was route 112, followed by the lack of a route 58, and then the info website being metlinkmelbourne

Congrats to DavidDoesLemmy for guessing the year, and shoutout to Duenan for getting close

Correct answer: 2011. Congrats to DavidDoesLemmy for getting it! If anybody's curious about the unredacted map, I've posted it here.

I blurred out the issuance date for obvious reasons, but can anybody determine the approximate date from the map design and routes?

Found it in the info book for the hotel I'm currently staying at and thought it might make a good game!

Cruel, but accurate and hilarious.

Article text:

Melbourne’s tram network will be handed over to a new operator at the end of this year, with promises of improved reliability and customer service on the world’s largest light-rail system.

Victorian Public Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams announced on Friday morning that Keolis Downer’s contract will not be renewed after running the network for the past 14 years.

French outfit Transdev and Chinese-government-owned construction giant John Holland will take over from December 1 and run it for nine years under a contract worth $6.8 billion.

Williams said the new contract includes strict benchmarks for service performance, and new technology would be rolled out to give passengers better real-time information about tram arrivals.

“Melbourne is home to the largest tram network in the world and this new contract will make sure our trams continue to move Victorians around safely, quickly and easily,” Williams said

Transdev and John Holland outbid Keolis Downer and another shortlisted consortium led by Melbourne-based SkyBus owner Kinetic.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said he hoped the new operator would deliver better real-time arrival information and improve cleanliness and punctuality.

However, he said it was up to the state government to deliver the network’s most pressing upgrades: accessible low-floor trams and stops, on-road priority so trams aren’t delayed by traffic, and more frequent services – particularly in the evenings.

“You’re waiting on most routes 30 minutes between services on Sunday evening – that’s up to the government to commit to fixing,” Bowen said.

John Holland, which is building Victoria’s Metro Tunnel and the West Gate Tunnel Project, is currently a partner in Metro Trains.

Metro’s contract was due to expire at the end of 2024. But the state government extended it by 18 months in 2023 to mid-2026, to avoid changing operators during testing for the new Metro Tunnel, which is due to open in 2025.

Last month, the Allan government granted Metro another 18-month extension, meaning it will run the train network until at least November 2027.

Rail Tram and Bus Union Victoria secretary Vik Sharma said he welcomed the government’s commitment to service improvements through the new contract, which “members have long been waiting for”.

“This is positive news for members’ job security and opportunities into the future, supported by additional training for staff to support our diverse travelling community,” Sharma said.

Transdev operates transit systems in 19 countries and was part of a consortium that ran Yarra Trams from 1999 to 2009. It also ran about one-third of Melbourne’s bus network from 2013 to 2022.

Alternate title (also via the ABC):

"V/Line passenger numbers are up but failure to deliver extra services brings a host of problems for commuters"

We got off the train through a set of emergency stairs. It was cool

Unfortunately, this does not mark the return of a public train service to Mildura. It does, however, mark the beginning of private train services the general public is permitted to travel on.

This is the last photo I will be posting of today's 707 Vinelander tour to Mildura until it starts the journey back to Melbourne on Monday morning.

We were told today that a heritage train actually ran in 2016. It was just a single car DERM run by DERMPAV. This Vinelander would be closer to what was regularly seen on the line before its closure (an N class + 5 N sets + guards and power van

NB I edited out 2 people who were standing near the loco to clean up the shot a bit

I'll be on it, so if anybody wants to see it somewhere or a more precise timetable, lmk and if I have data and see the notification I'll let you know where we are

Thursday 6 June:

Friday 7 June:

Monday 10 June:

Tuesday 11 June:

The "[rebuilt]" part is mine as I felt the original title may be misleading. The stations aren't really new in the sense that they've never existed before, more that they are being moved above ground to remove level crossings