South Morang rail extension.

ZH836301 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:00 pm

Another one for the filing cabinet.

Eratik · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:06 pm

Im curious. Where precisely is Morang, the place presumably to the north of South Morang for it to have been given its name?

r707 · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 1:35 pm

Mernda used to be known as Morang IIRC, it was eons ago that the name was changed, and for some reason South Morang always kept its name. Of interest the local primary school calls themselves "Morang South PS"

Confucius Say man who fart in church sits in his own pew

Edith · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:02 pm

$10M for "design works" ! What will the duplication cost if the design is so expensive ? While this work is important to the ultimate extension, I do not see it adding any more bums to seats from Epping to the City.

If capacity from Clifton Hill and within the Loop is the problem, then we should be focussing more effort there. For instance, if 8 platforms at Flinders Street go into 4 Loops, then maybe we need more non-Loop trains direct into Flinders Street. There seems to be capacity at Richmond and North Melbourne to facilitate this.

Dreams are not something to wait for
They are something to work for

kuldalai · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:25 pm

Unless the State Government amends its ill thought through no new lx policy the extension to South Morang or anywhere wil be unlikely to proceed . The cost of the extension with protected lx is quite affordable but with grade separations the cost becomes outrageous .

The lx policy should be to grade separate a priority list based on volume of both rail and road traffic . As such many lx on the Ringwood line and and to Dandenong would have priority . There is nothing inherently unsafe about a protected lx if the right signalling, safeworking, barriers are put in place.

Finally an extension to South Morang is ten (10) years too late now, Government should be looking to go at least as far as the former site of MERNDA, and medium term planning should be to go all the way to Whittlesea.

Whittlesea is recently announced land release area, but gain the rail infrastructure will be decades behind the forthcoming housing explosion .

But no we will spend zillions on a terminal station at South Morang, only to extend the service at greater cost within a few years to where it should be today at MERNDA.

DalyWaters · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:46 pm

fogcv · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 7:07 pm

jjd76au · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:09 pm

ZH836301 · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:45 pm

Grade separations on new routes in low density areas (example) cost significantly less than those on highly trafficked, active routes.

Don't believe the hype.

Each grade separation could not possibly add more than $10 million to the project cost.

Revenue · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 2:14 pm

While $10M might seem like a lot for design works, we are talking about:
- an entirely new station at South Morang
- a complete redesign of Thomastown Station to allow for a new platform, new entry locations, track crossing for pedestrians, etc.
- the redesign of four existing level crossings
- a number of pedestrian crossings
- consideration and design of bus facilities at existing stations
- new access to Epping station
- new signals
- new cross overs
- etc.....

This isn't my area of expertise, but you have to work out where the tracks go, if you have to move the existing tracks, look at the location of signalling cables, work out where the crossovers go, how many signals you need, etc... If you are going to design the project to the point where you can actually tender for the works to be undertaken, there is a lot of work that needs to be done.

The other factor is that until you determine the scope (eg. what I've described above) it is hard to work out what the cost of building it will actually be. You then need to look at where costs could be reduced, and how the project can be constructed. Do you close the line for a month (like Middleborough Road) to do elements of contruction more quickly and cheaply? Or do you keep it open and do it more slowly? Do you need to close Thomastown station temporarily while you do construction work? Do you terminate trains at Lalor while you do the Lalor-Epping section? If you do, where do you store the trains that are stabled there? These are all vital questions that need to be considered during the design phase.

Once again, I'm not an expert and I have no idea about what the final design will look like, or how you would construct it. But that's what the $10M is for - to answer those kinds of questions. Think about Middleborough Road and think about the planning that went into the project to make sure it all went smoothly - then multiply that by three. Wink

ZH836301 · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 2:28 pm

Riccardo's comments come to mind - this stuff should already be done, sitting in the draw, ready to go, just like all the other VicRoads projects.

Stop making excuses.

"- consideration and design of bus facilities at existing stations "

So basically, a bunch of fools sit around for a week deciding where to erect a metal pole?

Revenue · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 3:02 pm

ZH836301 · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 4:28 pm

Considerably more complex? It's metal on slices of concrete FFS.

You are obviously unaware, or are simply ignoring, the amount of work that also goes into road construction.

DalyWaters · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 5:26 pm

Goes to show that no infrastructure should be downgraded or removed. If the Whittlesea line had remained all these years, it could have run on a minimal cost basis with gradual upgrades just like Eltham to Hurstbridge has.

Meanwhile, at Colac they want to disconnect access to the crossing loop. It will probably fobbed off as an re-instatement in ten years time as too costly.

We live in mad times!

Riccardo · Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 6:26 pm