Almost a decade ago, a government document outlined possible public transport service levels in 2021. So how much of it happened?
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PT services in 2021: planned vs actual
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Metro Tunnel travel times
I meant to write this back in November: amongst the information published with the Airport rail link announcement was this diagram summarising the indicative journey times: I think there’s a couple of interesting things worth noting here: Airport to City The anticipated travel time from the Airport to City is 27 minutes, which is longer ... [More]
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A different sort of train delay
A major shutdown of the southern part of the Frankston line for level crossing works started on 31st January, and was meant to finish about a week later at the end of Sunday 7th February. It was not to be. On Sunday afternoon, a delay was announced. They said works (and buses) would continue until ... [More]
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Catching the 8:16
Since Sunday, the Frankston line has officially been connected to the Werribee/Williamstown line – the green line on the rail map. So, let’s go catch a train. Outside some stations, the Smartbus signs can tell you the time and destination of the next trains in each direction. In this case, the next citybound train is ... [More]
Another of my monthly posts of ten year old photos. Melbourne Central Station – at the time, hybrid Myki/Metcard gates were still mostly in use. …but new Myki gates were starting to be tested. These would never quite live up to the promise of reliability and consistently fast response times, and only a few years ... [More]
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40 years of the City Loop
Melbourne’s City Loop is four rail tunnels under the CBD, with three stations (Flagstaff, Melbourne Central and Parliament), adding to the two major ground level stations (Flinders Street and Southern Cross). The Loop was designed to distribute train passengers around the city centre more efficiently. The Loop first opened forty years ago. It’s debatable whether ... [More]
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Train timetables and mathematics
Using Standard Deviation to measure the gaps between trains
As part of its COVID-19 response, the State Government announced in December that they will trial off-peak fares: To make it easier for metropolitan passengers to travel during quieter times and physically distance as Victoria recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, off-peak fares will be discounted for three months. From 31 January 2021, anyone using myki ... [More]
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Station names vs suburb names
Ideally, station names should match suburb names. (And an opportunity to fix Glen Huntly vs Glenhuntly)
Seems like we’re now stuck with the rather dull term HCMT (High Capacity Metro Train) for the new train fleet to run initially on the Cranbourne/Pakenham line. The first train was out and and about taking passengers just after Christmas (for one return trip), but more are expected to be running when the new timetable ... [More]
Time to wrap up the year with a post of ten year old photos: December 2010. I couldn’t find very many of interest this time, so it’ll be quick. First, here is one of those posters to try and convince people to pay attention and not get caught out by the shortcomings of the public ... [More]
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New stations: Coburg and Moreland
I dropped past the new Coburg and Moreland stations last week. They only just opened, and there’s still a lot of construction work going on, but here are a few pictures. The project removes four level crossings, and it’s skyrail with two rebuilt stations. Unlike previous skyrail stations, both have side platforms rather than island ... [More]
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Victoria’s Parkway stations
Along some of the main freeways coming into Melbourne, you’ll spot signage for Parkway stations. Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Wallan, Lara all have the signs. Possibly others, I’m not sure. This now outmoded branding originated with the Regional Fast Rail project. Regional Fast Rail project Back in the mid-2000s, the Victorian government was revamping V/Line, via ... [More]
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One station added, one station removed
A little bit more on level crossings. Since I posted the update, I’ve received some useful corrections, which I’ve applied to the list. But last week there was an interesting update on some of them. Pakenham line to be extended The Pakenham crossings will be skyrail – we already knew that. But there’s an interesting ... [More]
Remember a few months ago when I wrote about the next big train timetable change? That was originally expected in December, but got postponed due to delays completing works on the Ballarat line. Today the State Government has announced the change will happen on 31st January, and naturally being an official release (instead of info ... [More]
Here we go again – another post of photos from ten years ago. Siemens train carriages have never had enough handholds. …The photo below shows the layout from 2015 onwards: the removal of some seats near the doors and addition of more bars helped a bit, but along most of the carriage there’s still not ... [More]