Article text (via 12ft.io):

A landowner is fighting to have a proposed train line that cuts through his property removed so that he can subdivide and sell the land, in a dispute that Victorian transport authorities fear could kill plans to connect fast-growing suburbs in Melbourne’s north to the city’s rail network.

The corridor runs from Lalor to the booming fringe suburbs of Epping North and Wollert, and was conceived more than 20 years ago when the area was first opened up for housing, though it has never progressed beyond the concept phase.

Property developers George and Frosa Adams own industrial land in Epping North and are fighting in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to have reference to the public transport corridor removed from development plans so that the land can be subdivided into eight lots and sold.

The part of the corridor that runs through their property has never been placed under a public acquisition overlay and the pair argued at the tribunal that the state has failed to progress the rail proposal for 24 years and should no longer stand in the way of their plans to sell the land.

The state was warned in two separate expert planning panel reports, in 2001 and 2013, that any failure to apply a public acquisition overlay to the corridor could expose the project to problems, including a lack of “statutory teeth” to secure the alignment.

“It is unreasonable to expect affected landowners to have a rail line shown on the plan, but to wait indefinitely for the land to be purchased,” one panel warned.

Adams’ legal counsel, Emily Porter, SC, said her client had been forced to put plans for the disputed land on hold for several years and “wants to move on in life”.

The Wollert rail link was first conceived in plans in 2001, but has been passed over in favour of other extensions such as Mernda rail.

Two years ago, the Albanese government committed $250,000 to a feasibility study for the corridor, on the condition that the state Labor government match the funding.

“Twenty-four years down the track, we still don’t know if this is even a feasible idea: train, tram or bus … whatever this project is ultimately going to be, it has less certainty than even the Airport Rail Link, which has recently been delayed by another four years,” Porter argued.

She said subdividing the land for industrial development today would not stop construction of a rail line in the future “if the corridor ever comes to fruition”.

The Adams’ bid is being opposed by the City of Whittlesea, which has lobbied for years for the rail line’s construction, and the government department, Transport for Victoria.

The suburbs of Epping North and Wollert are projected to grow in population to about 95,000 people by 2041 – roughly double their current number – but public transport in the urban growth corridor is limited to local buses

Maddocks partner Terry Montebello, acting for the City of Whittlesea, told the tribunal that “every plan that has been approved, bar none, has shown the transport corridor”.

“All of the planning that has been occurring in Melbourne, at least in this northern corridor, all the way up to Wallan, has been consistent,” Montebello said.

He said it would be unacceptable to sell off any part of the corridor today, no matter how small because doing so would compromise the entire project.

“It’s a reminder to stick to the course. Avoid compromising long-term strategic approaches to the allocation of land through incremental decision-making,” he said.

Barnaby Chessell, SC, representing Transport for Victoria, likened the would-be removal to cutting a link from a chain.

Although the state government had not committed to building a rail extension to Wollert, the corridor had been set aside in strategic plans and should be protected from incompatible development, Chessell said.

“It’s the potential of the land that warrants it being set aside in the way that it presently is set aside within this development plan,” he said.

Attempts to contact the Adams were unsuccessful. George Adams is best known for paying $8.5 million for a Hamilton Island holiday house built by the late Beatles guitarist, George Harrison, and successfully fighting in the Queensland Supreme Court for the right to renovate it.

Retiree Tony Francis moved into the Aurora estate in Epping North in its first phase of development in the 2000s, and has campaigned for years for the Wollert rail link.

He believes the state government has never shown any sincere interest in the project, even though the line was a feature of the earliest published plans for Aurora.

“The need for a rail line extension to Wollert is much greater than ever before even though the likelihood of it happening is now more distant than ever,” Francis said.

From Jacinta Allan (Via r/MelbourneTrains on Reddit):

Parkville Station is now complete 🚉

I wanted to jump on here to share the latest Metro Tunnel update: Parkville Station is now complete – so here's a sneak peek of how it looks inside.

Some of my favourite features include this incredible artwork by Patricia Piccinini, the skylights above store fronts, and full-height platform screen gates.

This is the first time we'll have train connections to our education and health precinct in Parkville. You'll be able to hop off the train and walk to Melbourne Uni, or the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre via a pedestrian underpass.

We know Metro Tunnel is a big change. So from the moment it opens, we'll have specialised 'hypercare' response teams on the ground to make sure it all runs smoothly for commuters.

That's two down and three to go on the Metro Tunnel.

All ready for action in 2025.

Article text (from 12ft.io):

For almost a century, two segments of Melbourne’s sprawling tram network have passed tantalisingly close together outside Queen Victoria Market, but never joined.

That will change next month when the transport department builds a small section of track across the intersection of Elizabeth and Victoria streets – paving the way for a potential rejig of some of the city’s busiest tram routes.

The connection – about 50 metres long – is one of several “missing links” around the network long called for but never built.

It will make it possible for trams from North Melbourne to continue moving east – past the market along a dormant stretch of track on Victoria Street – and then turn right into Swanston Street.

Those trams currently travel down Elizabeth Street and stop at the Flinders Street terminus. The link could enable new cross-city routes between West Maribyrnong and destinations south of the Yarra via St Kilda Road.

The state government is tight-lipped about any future route changes, but a works notifications published in February said the project would “create potential for Swanston Street to be connected to North Melbourne” and the Arden urban renewal precinct “in the future”.

Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch said the Queen Victoria Market connection was the first of several missing links that should be built to open better cross-city travel on the tram network.

“There’s so many opportunities at a relatively modest cost to significantly improve the network,” said Hearsch, whose independent organisation researches and advocates for better public transport.

“You can then start re-routing some very long-established tram routes, some of which haven’t changed in 50 years, notwithstanding how the city and suburbs have changed in that time.”

Hearsch said the government should also extend tracks along Arden Street, North Melbourne, on Spencer Street to the new Arden urban renewal precinct, and build the 300-metre Park Street link in South Melbourne so some St Kilda Road trams could divert through Clarendon and Spencer streets in the CBD.

He also suggested extending the track about 700 metres further east along Victoria Street in the CBD to connect with tracks on Victoria Parade. That east-west link along Victoria Street was first proposed by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board in 1923.

As one example of the kind of network changes that would make possible, the Rail Futures Institute proposes a circular tram route connecting employment and residential hubs around the inner city.

Malcolm Rowe, a volunteer at the Melbourne Tram Museum in Hawthorn, said the dormant section of track along Victoria Street between Elizabeth and Swanston streets hadn’t been used regularly for more than 30 years, other than for direct services to the Shrine of Remembrance on Anzac Day.

The section was first built in 1926 to transfer Essendon trams from Haymarket to the Swanston Street corridors. It was then used as the main city terminus for Swanston Street trams until 1991, when the terminus moved to the University of Melbourne.

Rowe said the fact those routes never connected was a legacy of the network’s early history, when trams from the north-western suburbs went down Elizabeth Street and those from the south went up Swanston.

“So many of our routes have never changed from the 1880s, when they were built as cable trams,” he said.

Works on the Victoria Street tracks are set to start in June. Works notifications show that tracks at the corner of Swanston and Victoria streets – which cut across the corner opposite City Baths – will be sharpened into an L-shape turn.

That will create new open space the City of Melbourne wants used for outdoor dining.

A state government spokesman said the works at the intersection of Elizabeth and Victoria streets would “allow trams to be diverted around incidents and minimise disruptions to passengers”. But he would not comment on future route changes or further network improvements.

“We’re continually looking at opportunities to improve the world’s biggest tram network, including on how we can deliver better transport links,” the spokesman said.

The government published a “Melbourne Tram Plan” late last year, but it did not mention any specific network extensions, including the long-awaited routes to Fishermans Bend.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the Metro Tunnel rail line would take demand off Swanston Street trams when it opened next year, and present an opportunity to rethink the network.

“It does fundamentally change the flow of people in and around the CBD, so they should be looking at what options there are to change tram routes to better use that capacity,” Bowen said.

I have a thing for stations which are basically just cute little sheds

Context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flinders_railway_station

The current Pakenham station will see it's last train on the 17th of May as well

Paywall bypass (via 12ft.io): https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theage.com.au%2Fpolitics%2Fvictoria%2Fditch-the-timetable-metro-tunnel-trains-on-track-to-run-every-three-minutes-20240406-p5fhv4.html

Article text (copied from 12ft):

Trains through Melbourne’s new Metro Tunnel project will be able to run as frequently as once every three minutes.

In testing this month, 12 trains made 18 trips an hour between West Footscray and Hawksburn – the first use of high-frequency services on the $12 billion railway under the CBD.

Trains through the Metro tunnel have progressed to the point where they can now run at 80km/h. Trains through the Metro tunnel have progressed to the point where they can now run at 80km/h.

The state government initially promised a “turn up and go” service – without specifying precisely how often trains would run.

The significant testing milestone was made possible by modern signalling technology that allows trains to communicate wirelessly with each other and the network and to adjust their speed and run closer together.

The high-capacity signalling is now used on almost half of the services on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.

When completed, the Metro is expected to provide these passengers, and those on the Sunbury line, with trains so frequent they don’t have to look at a timetable.

Trains started running through the tunnel in July 2023 at low speeds but have progressed to the point where they can now run at 80km/h.

So far, there have been about 660 individual tests over 1960 hours, covering 16,500 kilometres of track. Testing will continue as experts seek to ensure the new technology works alongside the decades-old signalling system used across Victoria.

The Allan government maintains the Metro Tunnel project will be completed in 2025, but internal documents have previously shown it could open by the end of this year. Before it opens to passengers, there will also be “dress rehearsals” with station staff and drivers between Clayton and West Footscray.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the project would make public transport faster and more attractive option, including outside peak hours.

“The Metro Tunnel will change how people get around inner Melbourne, making busy precincts around Anzac and Parkville stations more quickly and easily reachable by train for the first time,” he said.

“When public transport works well, it helps everyone, making more jobs and more opportunities easily accessible to everyone, without putting more cars on the road, or imposing the financial costs of car ownership on people.”

The Metro Tunnel will add five new underground stations at Domain in South Yarra, Parkville, Arden in North Melbourne and two in Melbourne’s CBD.

Trains will run on one continuous line from Sunbury in the city’s north-west, under the heart of Melbourne, to Cranbourne and Pakenham in the south-east. Taking these lines out of the City Loop is also expected to free up the rest of the network to run more services.

The government estimates it will take about 16 minutes to travel from the western tunnel entrance in Kensington to the eastern portal at South Yarra. The same trip would currently take between 24 and 37 minutes in peak hour, requiring two train trips and a change at Flinders Street station.

“We’re a year ahead of schedule on the Metro Tunnel project and once it opens it will change the way Victorians move across Melbourne for the better,” Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson said.

Shrine of Remembrance chief executive Dean Lee said the new stop at Domain precinct – Anzac Station – will improve access to the historic site.

“As one of Melbourne’s most visited cultural attractions, we’re looking forward to making it easier for people to experience the solemn beauty and historical significance of this revered landmark,” he said.

Public transport advocates have previously questioned whether the Metro Tunnel can deliver the full scale of “turn up and go” services it first promised. They said they were yet to see evidence that it would deliver high-frequency trains in the outer suburbs during off-peak periods and weekends.

The Department of Transport and Planning is developing a new timetable for when the project is completed.

Apparently hundreds

Last chance to book

I like it

PBR today