We have guaranteed a trip of less than 20 minutes to the city, based on passenger research and because that’s how long a great run on a SkyBus takes you today.

It is the benchmark, just as it is on price. We have guaranteed the trains will leave every 10 minutes. That’s six in an hour, or twice as many as you’d get from Glen Waverley station on a Sunday afternoon.

• The State Government coughs up whatever it will be for the branch off the Sunbury line to the Airport (new track pair beside the freight line, line beside Airport Drive, tunnel under the airport. Let's just for the sake of the argument assume this will be $2 billion. This could easily be completed by the opening of the Metro Tunnel.
• The Fed's $5 billion goes towards the construction of the tunnel as part of the Western Rail Plan. The state government will chip in the rest of the money. The tunnel itself probably will only begin construction once the Metro Tunnel opens.
• Melton line will be electrified to coincide with the opening of the Metro Tunnel.
• Wyndham Vale line may have to wait for the Western Rail Plan tunnel to open before being electrified with the additional track pair for the Geelong line.
• As a result of the Airport line initially being essentially an extension of the existing Metro Trains network, it will be considered in Zone 2 and will not have any "access fees". The compromise is that High Capacity Trains will run to the airport rather than a specialised fleet.
• Assuming 24tph when the Metro Tunnel opens, 6tph from the Airport, 6tph from Melton and the remainder from Sunbury should be sufficient. A short extension of RRL to Albion might be needed to maximise the benefits of the tunnel to take Bendigo line trains somewhat out of the equation.
• When the second tunnel eventually opens, it will be used by the Airport line and the Geelong line (and the Ballarat line if needed). This leaves plenty of capacity for more trains along basically all lines through Sunshine.

A standout requirement for the line is frequency and reliability.

We have guaranteed a trip of less than 20 minutes to the city, based on passenger research and because that’s how long a great run on a SkyBus takes you today.

It is the benchmark, just as it is on price. We have guaranteed the trains will leave every 10 minutes. That’s six in an hour, or twice as many as you’d get from Glen Waverley station on a Sunday afternoon.

The price is proposed for $20 per trip.  Is this a sweet spot price or too expensive?  Why does it need to change from a Myki service tier price?

To set a price above the current myki prices is setting a premium.  why?

10 minute service is another requirement which is a must have.

Above all reliability is the staple requirement and cannot be compromised.

The plans to reduce 700 car parks for more roads is a symptom of no train entrenching a culture of ars once again.  Those 700 car parks will be added in the long term section meaning no net loss.

The airport station needs to be high accessible at the terminal but I think there is more than 1 terminal now and Melbourne and will there be more as the years pass?

Why does the airail consortium look better than a government line with Myki?

Changing trains at Sunshine. Costing 15 Billion.
Even the 15 Billion in general is extreme. Just build a direct bus lane/Busway all the way into the city out to the airport. Might as well get on building Metro 2 and the Suburban Rail Loop, two Projects actually worth their money

Changing trains at Sunshine. Costing 15 Billion.
Even the 15 Billion in general is extreme. Just build a direct bus lane/Busway all the way into the city out to the airport. Might as well get on building Metro 2 and the Suburban Rail Loop, two Projects actually worth their money

Well MM2 is worth the money. SRL is a fantasy that is on par with yours truly getting a date with Hallie Berry!

Michael

Changing trains at Sunshine. Costing 15 Billion.
Even the 15 Billion in general is extreme. Just build a direct bus lane/Busway all the way into the city out to the airport. Might as well get on building Metro 2 and the Suburban Rail Loop, two Projects actually worth their money

Well MM2 is worth the money. SRL is a fantasy that is on par with yours truly getting a date with Hallie Berry!

Michael

SRL is Dan's fantasy, and thus given the plan for the SE section is to start digging before the next election, that part will happen.

If you look at SRLs newsletter (was back in September) they conveniently label MARL from Sunshine to Airport as simply the 'North Western' section of the loop. Maybe they have finally learned something from the freeway lobby - build it in parts so the demand is there to 'fill in' the rest.

Imagine once the NW section and SE sections are done: you could build a case for Box Hill to Reservoir ("Heavy rail to Doncaster!!" "Connections to La Trobe Uni!!") and then you're only a few kms of tunnel from the whole thing being done. Heck, even a State Liberal government might see the wins in completing the loop and giving their Eastern suburbs a one seat ride to the airport.

You're on the money.  Fantasy or not, they're going to start work on the SRL pretty quick.  How long it takes to finish is anyone's guess, but parts will be built for sure, and once sections are in action there'll be pressure on whoever is in power to "finish the job".

I just find it truly amazing that if you include air train contribution, $15 Billion is going to be spent on a flipping train to the airport. To an airport that has less bus network coverage than Adelaide Airport which has than a quarter of the patronage of Melbourne. That is a chronic waste. Especially when our Bus Network is dying on its ar$e, the tram network is largely neglected and parts of our heavy rail network is creaking at the seams.

Just $5 Billion spent on the existing networks would do wonders.

I just find it truly amazing that if you include air train contribution, $15 Billion is going to be spent on a flipping train to the airport. To an airport that has less bus network coverage than Adelaide Airport which has than a quarter of the patronage of Melbourne. That is a chronic waste. Especially when our Bus Network is dying on its ar$e, the tram network is largely neglected and parts of our heavy rail network is creaking at the seams.

Just $5 Billion spent on the existing networks would do wonders.

Spot on.

Airport rail is a fantasy of sandbelters who will use it twice a year, along with the vain who think its absence makes Melbourne look like a hick outpost.  Why shouldn't users, the majority who won't live here and contribute via taxes, pay an access fee to help fund it?

It will be useless to the half of the city doesn't live on the leafy side of the Yarra, yet alone workers, who are far better served by buses since the majority live relatively close.  Buses which don't even exist at the moment for either market, apart from Broadmeadows and a token service between Sunbury and Airport West.  And if it wasn't a big enough waste, we have people calling for stations in industrial areas in Sunshine or in the backlots of Airport West, it's delusional.  

Sure, once Skybus can't cope, go ahead.  But until then, it is nowhere near the most pressing transport issue in the city, or even to the airport itself.  If people really cared about airport transport, and not just cooking up a great big pie in the sky to make us look more European, they'd be calling for direct, trunk buses running at decent frequencies, for example:

*Greensborough - Broadmeadows - Airport
*Box Hill - Heidelberg - Coburg - Airport - Sunbury
*Wyndham/Laverton - Sunshine - Airport
*Melton - Sydenham - Airport

Longer term you could dump Upfield and reroute the end of that line to the airport to function as a trunk for the north, infinitely more practical than just joining dots to Roxburgh Park.  The SRL (forgetting it's a pipedream in itself) makes far more sense running the shorter route from Heidelberg beneath Preston and Coburg to provide an alternative to clogged Bell St.  

It's naive to pretend the mere presence of an station at the airport makes any difference to workers or north/western residents, and really, without vast upgrades to the existing networks, it won't even hold much value to those in the south/east outside the CBD.  Why would you take a stopping all stations from the outer south/east when you can just drive, get a lift, or pay for a hire car?

Just wondering Mr ZH going right off track....of your whereabouts during your extended absences.

Just wondering Mr ZH going right off track....of your whereabouts during your extended absences.

How about deliver the Airport Rail via the Suburban Rail Loop. 15 Billion for Airport Rail, absolutely not. Deliver it via SRL and then build RRL 2.0.

Just wondering Mr ZH going right off track....of your whereabouts during your extended absences.

I need time to allow my faith in humanity to return.

How about deliver the Airport Rail via the Suburban Rail Loop. 15 Billion for Airport Rail, absolutely not. Deliver it via SRL and then build RRL 2.0.

So our current railways are bursting at the seams, our trams mobile roadblocks, and our buses non-existent, and the solution...

A magical gazillion dollar loop-da-loop planned via crayon on a Melways wallmap.

Yeah, that will solve everything.

Take for instance the high capacity signalling. The Government is under the impression they will have signalling installed coping with Victoria line frequencies. The Victoria line can achieve 36 trains an hour because it is a self contained line, with no branches and running one type of train. The Vast majority of the MM corridor will have a mixture of Metro, V/Line and Freight.

I am confused and I apologize.

What tunnels are we talking about and will the entire airport rail project use dedicated tracks now?

Why would Metro Trains need to access the tunnels for the airport link and what would Vline when they have their own racks we just spent billions $$ building?