A lot of hard yakka been done on this already. See documents at the bottom of the page.
I am now wondering what this proposal means in terms of the proposed Caulfield to Monash link?As someone said in the other thread, it means the tram makes perfect sense all of a sudden. Just about everyone I know at Monash will be better served by the SRL than they would have been by a branch from the Dandenong line. The Monash catchment is the eastern suburbs - not the CBD.
Ok, I've taken one for the team and actually scanned through the documents provided. There is a lot of detail here. This is no back-of-the envelope job - they have done the sums and it stacks up. There will be four main stages: Cheltenham to Box Hill - fully underground, the busiest section of the line. Will be the urgent priority for completion and construction to start in 2022. Box Hill to Airport - also fully underground. Work to start later, probably following completion of the south-east section and NE Link. Airport to Sunshine - the same work currently underway. Work still on track to start in 2022. "Sections of underground and surface rail", so nothing new here. Sunshine to Werribee - also sections of surface and underground. The last section to get underway. Appears they are still trying to solve the Geelong line conundrum here without shooting the grand plan in the foot. Three ring routes were examined - inner, middle and outer. The middle was chosen on the basis of superior connectivity and passenger flows. It supports the new suburban employment clusters identified in Plan Melbourne and will drive decentralisation. It is expected that the south-east section in particular will massively reduce pressure on the Dandenong corridor as their analysis shows a significant amount of this demand will shift over the coming decades. This is not a pie-in-sky plan - it's been put together by experts (Development Victoria and Rail Projects Victoria in the public service, Aurecon and PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting on technical and economics respectively). One of the most impressive policy proposals I have seen in some time. In case you can't tell I am very excited. edit: and the No Skyrailers can go jump. If that bunkum brings this down I will have lost all remaining faith in humanity.
A re-elected Andrews Labor Government will embark upon the biggest transformation of public transport in Australia’s history, with a new underground rail network set to circle Melbourne connecting every major regional train line from the Geelong line to the Gippsland line through Melbourne Airport.I dont know if im reading into it more than I should but this is sort of suggesting that some Geelong-Gippsland services could be through services via the airport????
....
No longer will people living in Gippsland have to travel through the centre of Melbourne to access world-class education and health services, including Deakin and La Trobe Universities and major hospitals including Box Hill and the Austin hospitals’, alongside a direct connection to Melbourne Airport.
Remember, people have an aversion to changing trains, they want a one seat ride from origin to destination. That issue needs to be firmly demolished, else most of those crossings will have to be the Grand Union type.You can forget about trains running on other lines changing onto this new line. If it is done properly, these will not likely be junctions, merely interchanges. This line will run independently of existing suburban rail lines. You will get off one train at the existing platform, go down an escalator to an underground platform and get on another train.
This will likely put Metro 2 on the backburner nowNot necessarily.
If they are making a station at Broadmeadows that means i would have to then catch another train over to Craigieburn. If this ever gets built i would think the maintenance cost for the underground will be through the roof. Think about the vandals at Broadmeadows.If this ever gets built the way to deal wit vandals is simple.
Would have preferred a commitment for Metro 2, but this is probably the most long term minded project I've seen in a while! The purpose is clearly not what is advertised. I think that they are trying to decentralise the city, and will facilitate this with this rail link. This will enable the multiple-CBD model that people talk about and should hopefully ensure Melbourne can remain a highly liveable city. Very interesting indeed!We're still months out from the election. I agree though that Metro 2 should be being planned in the next government term so that the TBMs finishing their work in 2022 can go straight onto that.
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