Last week on Facebook the Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan published this great photo (along with a couple of others) from Southland Station under construction: Over the weekend of 5-6 November when the Frankston line was closed, they put the pedestrian subway into place. On Facebook the doubters continue to… well, doubt the usefulness of ... [More]
My comment piece in The Age this morning: Metro Trains, it’s time you got your act together This is a result of last Thursday night’s complete train network shutdown — thankfully not during peak hour — when a control room alarm caused an evacuation. Oh crap. @metrotrains control room evacuation. (Showgrounds "good service" has no ... [More]
Some 2-3 months after they all re-opened, Ormond, McKinnon and Bentleigh stations are still being worked on. There’s been a flurry of activity this week ahead of the “Family Fun Day” tomorrow – featuring music, food stalls and a double-ended steam train with old “red rattler” Tait carriages to run between Caulfield and Moorabbin (stopping ... [More]
Well, this is fascinating to watch. I knew it could happen, but didn’t honestly think it would. Breaking news! We have nothing to say! pic.twitter.com/DrQARJN7eI — Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) November 9, 2016 Nothing will change overnight. The inauguration isn’t until January, but even then… we’ll see how fast he moves after that. I hope his ... [More]
Disclaimer: this post isn’t perhaps as polished as I’d like, but it’s time to get it posted. I love nostalgia. How many blog posts have I written that fondly look back? 78, apparently. But I’m acutely aware that rose-coloured glasses distort our view of the past. And while we might like to visit the past, ... [More]
This coming Saturday the new Bentleigh, McKinnon and Ormond stations are hosting a “family fun day” featuring a steam train. Should be… well, fun. Edit: Here’s the steam train timetable: (Hopefully they’ve checked if steam trains are okay climbing the higher-than-usual 2.5% (ish) gradient heading north out of Ormond station! I’d assume so, given the ... [More]
The level crossing removals at Ginifer (Furlong Road) and St Albans (Main Road) are nearing completion, and yesterday the new stations opened. Originally the plan had been to remove the St Albans (Main Road) crossing — this was funded by the Coalition government in 2014, for a massive $200 million, recouped from savings during the ... [More]
This is old news, but it keeps coming up, and I never got around to blogging about it in detail, so… The popular narrative of East West Link (from those who wanted it built) is that the Andrews Government paid $1 billion for nothing. As you might expect, there’s a little more to it than ... [More]
I used to bank with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, who had a habit of sending me lots of letters on the same day, though gradually everything moved online. When I bought my house in 2005, I switched to St George (which morphed into Bank Of Melbourne), and it was mostly online. Now I’ve refinanced my ... [More]
Some local residents on the Dandenong line noted this summary of proposed shutdowns in the Environmental Management Strategy (page 11): Shutdowns â longer occupations, typically from 1 to 3 weeks in duration. Six shutdowns are scheduled between January 2017 and July 2018 and are likely to occur in: January 2017; July 2017; October 2017; January ... [More]
Real-time information became available on Metro trains on Thursday. Can we say hallelujah! Of course it’s been on stations for years, via Passenger Information Displays (known in the biz as PIDs) and the green buttons providing audio. But now departure data can be seen in the PTV app (and others) and PTV Next 5 web ... [More]
Vicroads are doing some good stuff. While some cynics might think of them as all about cars, over the years they’ve increased their emphasis on smarter use of limited road space resources, and have steadily improved facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. And I know from talking to contacts there that they’re thinking very ... [More]