Sunbury Electrification Project

mX says that the problem is with the trenches laid for cables. It doesn't go into specifics but it would make sense if some of the trenches needed to be redug. It sounds like this will happen at the contractor's expense, even if it slips the schedule.

Looked like there was some preliminary overhead wiring put up on the Down side of Melton Hwy, too, when I last went past in January.

Wolfpac

Latest rumour suggests that the delays to the project are not construction related but more so Metro being concerned they won't have enough drivers to run the service and thus delaying the completion of the project. make what you like of that.

As a start, can they not just train some V/Line drivers, the ones currently doing the Sunbury shorts, and just get sparks replacing the existing v/line services on a 1:1 ratio.  Then wait for more later in time?

Do they really need to start with a full and proper 20 minute service from day one?

You could train some V/Line drivers, but retraining for past drivers coming back to drive suburban trains takes 6 months (safeworking, route knowledge, train preps, fault finding and time driving the different types of trains under supervision etc).

You also need to find vline drivers wanting to do this and vline isn;t exactly flush with spare drivers either

The longer Sunbury is without the sparks the better the place will be.They should have asked the locals if they wanted in the first place and ASSUME it was wanted.Anyway not worried about it as i no longer live there.

I don't know about you, but I'm a local, and I greatly support the rail electrification project.

It's not about Sunbury, it's about better service for all. Bendigo passengers will have a better chance of getting seats, and Sydenham line passengers will benefit from better frequencies and opens up the possibility for express Metro services where pathways permit, and in some cases, mandate (which is why there's a few "Broadmeadows express" trains on the Craigieburn line due to Seymour V/Lines).

The vocal minority in Sunbury don't want it, most people do want it or could care less.
 

The people in Sunbury who do not want it are a) elderly and b) people who just travel in peak when they havea choice of train. The rest of us, who travel outside these times and would like to have an early and also late service do want it. This also includes the kids who want to get to the city etc

I just laugh at the people who are always bagging vline but then when you say soon there will be electric trains and you do not have to worry, they complain that they prefer vline.

VLine = Trains are what people like
Metro = They have the Frequency and hours of operation

If only we could have V/line type of seats but Metro Frequency and hours, then no one would complain at all.

There is no reason why seats in suburban trains can't be comfortable and still compact, I've seen many examples of this outside Victoria. The given reason however is that Melbourne sparks require vandal-proof seats, which are unfortunatly also comfort-proof.

They still have nice seats on the V set units in NSW, despite the large amount of vandalism they cop in the interurban areas, made even worse by not having onboard CCTV.

I do beleive that RailCorp has a large bill for green vinyl seats every year though..

Heading home tonight I spotted a pile of ripped up conduit in a paddock just south of the Diggers Rest exit on the freeway. I assume this to be the old conduit that needed to be replaced. It was not stacked, but piled up like pickup sticks. Not sure how long it has been there, but I didn't noticve it last week, but then again the last 4-5 days have been busy enough that I might just not of seen it before today.

been there a few weeks now i have noticed the overhead wires getting closer to sunbury  station
 

Ditto for the overhead at the Sydenham end, the eastern track is connected across Melton Hwy and the western track isn't too far away from being hooked up also.

Wolfpac

I was pondering this during my trip yesterday. I counted five (six?) new traction substations between Sunbury and Watergardens. I was especially surprised at the short distance between the substation near the Jackson's Creek bridge, and the substation just up of the level crossing at Sunbury.

Is this normal? I don't recall seeing so many on other lines, but they may be less obvious (or further away from the track) in more urban areas...

Probably on account of the trains hoofing along in the section to Sunbury at 115km/hr. The faster you go, the more power you need.....


And sunburn is being talked as a 'mid 2013 project' ........ 

To be quite honest, I'm curious as to if any of the trains (I'm naming X'traps and Siemens here, specifically) could actually break that 115km/hr barrier, though, I would imagine the low voltage of the lines wouldn't do the trains any justice. Wikipedia gives figures of 130km/hr, but I'm skeptical of that as a source for these figures.

Edit: Well, some Googling suggests 'No', what joy. 

All will exceed 115, it whether there is the track to get to that speed. I have even had a Hitachi barrelling along at 115km/hr, and had to go back to 'coast' to stop it going any faster. 


The problem is that we don't have the track geometry nor the space between stations to justify it.





... Funnily enough, the RRL would be perfect for the siemens.... 

I was assuming the distance between stations from Watergardens-on would have given enough distance to allow post-115km/hr operation. Though, I'm no genius. Thanks, anyway!

I've taken my GPS aboard trains at various points. Laverton - Newport on the straight can see a Comeng hit 115. Werribee - Hoppers and Coolaroo - Roxburgh Park - Craigieburn can see it in a Siemens.

Yep. Electrification should have been part of the project.  Given the price it could have been.  

I wonder what percentage of the RRL price is for Project Management for DOT and Metro/Vline? On the South Morang Extension I was told DOT placed a 30% project cost on Project Management.  All funny money!

The real cost of South Morang was about $310m

Regards
Brian 

What do you mean, you want wires following RRL all the way to Ballarat and Bendigo? With substations every 4km?

I'm fairly sure V/Locities get to 160 between Sunbury and Watergardens. Electric trains have better acceleration, how could they not reach their top speed between stations?