Old photos from April 2011

Another in my series of photos from ten years ago: April 2011.

Platforms 15 and 16 under construction at Southern Cross. The station is owned and run by Civic Nexus under a PPP. The platforms were to be used by V/Line. But the project to build them was done by Metro. Confusing? Perhaps, but at least it got done.

One of Melbourne’s crappiest tram stops: a non-accessible thin concrete waiting area wedged between the tracks and the traffic, with no shelter. Weirdly, since then they’ve now removed the turning traffic lane, but seem to have not even bothered to move the fence – let alone built an accessible platform stop.

This view at South Yarra has changed a lot – the park on the right is gone, and the rail lines have moved to make way for the eastern portal of the Metro tunnel, scheduled to open in 2025.

Scenes like this prompted the upgrade of South Yarra station, with a much wider entrance to cope with the crowds – though a second concourse would still be pretty handy.

Every daredevil train passenger’s favourite: the long steep escalators at the Bourke/Collins St end of Parliament Station.

This was a protest against poor service to the Altona Loop stations: the then-imminent timetable change introduced peak hour frequency downgraded to every 22 minutes, and shuttle trains between the peaks, meaning some passengers had to change trains twice on a journey to the underground Loop stations. The shuttles were eventually resolved in 2017, but trains still regularly make unscheduled bypasses of the Altona Loop.

Flooding at Ormond station on this day, so no trains were stopping. The old subway couldn’t cope with heavy rain, and was the only way in and out of platforms 1 and 2. Since the new station was built in 2016, it hasn’t been a problem.

Visiting Laburnum station (then fairly new) in the dark. Why? Because Channel 7 was doing a story on PSOs, and whether the quieter stations where nothing ever happened should have them. (There’s arguments both ways.)

I took my sons for a walk around Cardinia reservoir. As I recall it was a stinking hot day, the views weren’t outstanding, and it was not actually a lot of fun. Oh well.

Everybody’s favourite Melbourne landmark, with the old pre-renovation mustard-coloured paint job.