Article: New stations short of train power

[ozbob]

Bungles, bungles, bungles ...

From the Melbourne Age click here!

New stations short of train power

New stations short of train power
Clay Lucas
April 23, 2011

TWO new suburban railway stations being built in Melbourne's south-east, planned since 2006, will sit dormant for six months after they are completed later this year.

The Department of Transport says there is not enough electricity to stop and start trains travelling through the stations.

Construction of Cardinia Road station on the Pakenham line and Lynbrook station on the Cranbourne line began last year, and building works will be completed by the end of 2011. However, residents who live nearby will wait until mid-2012 to use either station.

The transport department found last September there was not enough electricity available in the existing overhead wires to power trains leaving the stations at an acceptable speed. As a result, new electricity sub-stations will have to be built, a department spokeswoman said.

Transport Minister Terry Mulder has told Parliament this will mean trains will not stop at the stations for about six months.

Daniel Bowen, president of the Public Transport Users Association, said the planning behind the new stations - announced by then transport minister Peter Batchelor five years ago - had not been well managed.

''This is a Yes Minister scenario: people are crying out for rail stations in these fast-growing suburbs so to have them lying dormant for months is just awful,'' he said. ''This underscores why public transport management needs a shake-up.

''We can only hope that the government's planned Public Transport Development Authority will do a better job at ensuring growing suburbs get much-needed transport facilities in an efficient, timely manner.''

Mr Mulder said the former Labor government was responsible for the planning issues surrounding the stations.

''Each and every [railway] project that the former government had its fingerprints on, turns out to be exactly the same,'' he told Parliament this month.

The opposition, though, said the power upgrades for the new stations had been fully funded, and that the Baillieu government had shifted this funding to pay for its other election promises.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-stations-short-of-train-power-20110422-1drit.html#ixzz1KHH01sw3