When I originally settled to the locality of Waverly in Melbourne, (courtesy of my employer) I often wondered why I couldn't just jump on a train and get to work for any/all of my shifts, just down the road, next door to Monash uni.
I thought about all the uni students and smart busses, and just put it down to lack of government funds. At the end of the day, a hire car was a lot easier and faster, especially on those dreaded night and weekend shifts.
Anyhow, I relocated to Clayton and shaved off 20 minutes travelling time, and my employer gasped with relief with the reduction in my travel and accomodation assistance each pay period. I often wondered why the link from Huntingdale to xxx was never realised.
I liked Waverly, but moving closer to Monash was going to be a lot cheaper and quicker than waiting for all the imaginary rail lines, which appeared to have been tallked about for eons.
The most questioning thing, once I blended into suburbia, was how many road/railway crossings there still are in Melbourne. Since relocating to Sydney, I can see how this should be a much bigger priority than building imaginary tunnels and installing state of the art signalling techology. (of which I would love to be involved with

-)