Labor to dump East-West Link if elected, even if contracts are signed

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Labor to dump East-West Link if elected, even if contracts are signed

The East West Link will be dumped if Labor wins the state election, even if business contracts to build the multibillion-dollar road have already been signed.

In a high-stakes gamble that will set a clear battle line for the November 29 poll, Labor has confirmed if it forms government it will use a looming court battle to render the contract for the eastern section of the project invalid.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/labor-to-dump-eastwest-link-if-elected-even-if-contracts-are-signed-20140910-10f46z.html

[ozbob]

YES!

[ozbob]

The Guardian --> Labor to scrap Melbourne's East West Link if elected in November

[STB]

Now THAT is a potential government with balls!  Qld ALP take heed with your Victorian counterparts with BaT / CRR.

[ozbob]

Excellent political development ... EWLink is a dud par excellence ...

[ozbob]

http://www.ptua.org.au/2014/09/11/detroit-or-vancouver/

PTUA

This is Melbourne's Detroit or Vancouver moment

by admin · September 11, 2014

Victorian Voters, Political Parties Face Generational Choice on Transport, says PTUA

November's Victorian election is shaping up to be a defining moment in the State's history when it comes to transport policy, the Public Transport Users Association said today.

"With every week the stakes become clearer for the future of Melbourne," said PTUA President Dr Tony Morton. "Do we embrace a Detroit future by going ahead with the $18 billion East West Link? Or do we follow the example of the world's most liveable cities, like Vancouver when 40 years ago it said no to more motorways, and invest in world-beating public transport and an efficient arterial road network?"

Dr Morton congratulated the ALP and Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews on their announcement that a future Labor Government would use the legal means at its disposal to void any East West Link contracts. "This gives real teeth to Labor's policy opposing the East West Link and shows it's not just a tilt to win votes," Dr Morton said.

"The ball is now in the Napthine Government's court," said Dr Morton. "They know they can't win an election on the back of the East West Link. At the very least, they should leave off signing contracts until after the Victorian people have spoken at the ballot box. But if they had some backbone, they would read the writing on the wall, and ditch this stinker of a road entirely. Then they could bring forward all the public transport projects they seem so much more keen to advertise, despite committing hardly any funds."

Dr Morton called on all political parties to be clear on their plans for a post-East West Link transport reality. "Let's be clear – if this doesn't go ahead, there is already $3 billion of Victorian taxpayers' money on the table, before looking at what happens to any Federal funds. This opens the way to some real 'game changing' alternatives. The Melbourne Metro tunnel for example is equivalent to three whole West Gate Bridges in carrying capacity from the western suburbs."

"But we also need shorter-term commitments to improve transport options for people trying to get around our suburbs now," said Dr Morton. "Level crossing grade separation will do more to relieve suburban gridlock than any new motorway will, but it's not enough by itself to give people an alternative to sitting in traffic."

Specific commitments sought by the PTUA for the next term of government include:

    Closer management of the Dandenong Corridor project to prioritise the public interest, including to ensure capacity upgrades are in place (including high-capacity signalling, and duplication from Dandenong to Cranbourne) allowing an extension from Cranbourne to Clyde and a future branch to Monash University, Mulgrave and Rowville.
    High-capacity signalling on the Clifton Hill group of rail lines to boost peak capacity, enabling extensions to Mernda and Doncaster.
    Detailed planning (sufficient to allow commencement of construction in first term) for the first stage of the Doncaster rail extension as far as Bulleen, interchanging with upgraded DART bus services.
    Detailed planning for the duplication of remaining single-track rail lines in the metropolitan area, such as the Altona loop.
    Duplication and electrification of the line to Melton, following on from completion of the Regional Rail Link, including a station and feeder buses to serve Caroline Springs and Rockbank.
    Detailed planning to accelerate the timeframe for a rail link to Melbourne Airport.
    Continued upgrade of train services to every ten minutes, 7 days-a-week, to cut waiting times and give Melbourne a proper, high-frequency metro rail system.
    Continued rollout of Smartbus services and improvements to frequency, directness and coordination of suburban buses, the process being led by PTV with full public participation.
    Planning for short extensions of the tram network to fill obvious gaps where routes stop short of railway stations or key trip generators.
    Targeted improvement of suburban arterial roads as multimodal corridors for cars, buses, trams, trucks, bicycles and pedestrians, and incorporating signal priority for buses and trams, in line with the Smartroads strategy.
    Improvements to regional train and coach services, including planning for revival of services to Mildura, from Geelong to Ballarat and from Maryborough to Castlemaine.
    A public inquiry into transport infrastructure capital costs to identify savings and efficiencies and ensure Victorians receive value for money in transport construction projects.

"We have the chance now to solve Melbourne's traffic woes," Dr Morton said. "No city in the world has managed to 'solve' traffic congestion by building new roads. The only way you do it is the way Vancouver did, by investing in the alternatives, and prioritising strategic uses such as freight on the existing road network."

"It actually takes less time to travel to work in Vancouver than it did 20 years ago," concluded Dr Morton. "We don't know of any other city that can make that claim."

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> East West Link: Labor's sensible U-turn on nation's most expensive toll road

[ozbob]

Twitter

Äkta Bus Watch ‏@VenturiBusWatch 2h

Does anyone know how to fix this congestion. #EWlink #springst

[ozbob]

Twitter

Nick Staikos MP ‏@NStaikos 4 hours ago

With @DanielAndrewsMP this am. Labor will end East West waste and get to work removing 50 level crossings #springst

[ozbob]

Twitter

Alison Savage ‏@alisavage 6 hours ago

#springst @DanielAndrewsMP has ordered the immediate suspension of works on the East West Link. Minor works were scheduled for next week

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Anti-East West Link campaigners celebrate victory at Fitzroy street party.

[ozbob]

EWLink business case > http://t.co/d84N6Ms8kS  (PDF)

This is a scanned copy ^, hopefully later today will be an official release by Govt.

Herald Sun > Exclusive: $6 billion East West secrets exposed, read the full documents

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> East West Link business case revealed: 56 years to pay off

[ozbob]

Premier of Victoria

> > http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/east-west-link-announcement

[ozbob]

Shocking behaviour by the former Victorian Government ...  are we seeing something as grotesque with the BaT?  Probably not but CRR was extensively evaluated by IA, BaT hasn't ...

=========================

Melbourne Age --> Analysis: Why the East West Link proved such a hard sell

[ozbob]

Herald Sun Leader --> East West Link business case revelations confirm Moonee Valley Council doubts, says Mayor Narelle Sharpe

[pandmaster]

Shocking behaviour by the former Victorian Government ...  are we seeing something as grotesque with the BaT?  Probably not but CRR was extensively evaluated by IA, BaT hasn't ...

It is incredible how much public money Napthine was going to waste on a project with such poor returns, especially with Melbourne Metro screaming out for public funds. I hope this ends up at IBAC! This is evidence of why BaT needs the proper scrutiny by IA.

[ozbob]

^ I agree ... 

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> East-west tram and bus projects in limbo under new government

... Building the inner-city road tunnel alone would have generated an economic return of just 45 cents for every dollar spent, the business case showed. By comparison, planned upgrades to tram routes in the inner north had a benefit-cost ratio of $2.40 while new bus-only lanes would return up to $11 per dollar spent ...

[#Metro]

Bus Reform. Huge Benefits.

Benefit cost ratios above 3 are extremely unusual IMHO. These BCRs are around 8!!!

I'm going to offend a lot of people, but I think rail to Doncaster is not required, or very premature. Using red/green/white paint and taking a lane as a transit lane or even as a T2 on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne would do wonders. Rapid Tram/LRT could also be put down the middle of the freeway, and there would be NONE of this need to super fancy engineering/concrete porn that comes with heavy rail requirements.

The benefits of giving the Doncaster area rapid transit (DART) buses a better run were even more dramatic - the study calculated a benefit-cost ratio of between 8.8 and 11.1 for each dollar spent by putting bus-only lanes on Victoria Parade, at a cost of $3 million.

"An opportunity exists for DART to be improved to a 'train-like' service of five to seven minute frequency during peak periods, 10 minute frequency during the day and 20 minutes at night and on weekends," the business case stated.

Would a rail line to Doncaster really "get cars off the freeway"?
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2014/12/11/would-a-rail-line-to-doncaster-really-get-cars-off-the-freeway/

With forecast daily patronage of 56,000 in 2031, that 2% translates to 1,120 passengers per day, or about 1,000 car trips per day. That's a very small pay-off in the context of the estimated cost of the line.

NB: Some of Toronto's busiest buses and trams (nowhere near decent LRT capacity) carry volumes approaching 56,000 pax per day. Using larger 150+ pax Superbuses would be able to handle increasing loads.

https://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Operating_Statistics/2012.jsp

504 King (streetcar) ... 56,700
32 Eglinton West (bus) ... 48,700
35 Jane (bus) ... 45,700
36 Finch West (bus) ... 44,000
510 Spadina (streetcar) ... 43,800
501 Queen (streetcar) ... 43,500
25 Don Mills (bus) ... 41,800
39 Finch East (bus) ... 41,400
29 Dufferin (bus) ... 39,700
506 Carlton (streetcar) ... 39,600

[ozbob]

The bus figures are very interesting indeed.  A particular case, but never the less interesting.  I don't think Doncaster rail is going anywhere.

[SurfRail]

I'm going to offend a lot of people, but I think rail to Doncaster is not required, or very premature.

I agree with you entirely.  I also don't see the need organisations like the PTUA and local councils need to fetishise Doncaster or Rowville.

Both corridors have access to rail via a relatively legible network of roads.  Improve the bus feeders and capacity on the existing Dandenong and Ringwood rail corridors and upgrade DART and you largely fix the problem.

There are plenty of things that need to happen with Melbourne's rail network before these even become semi-credible projects.

[ozbob]

Abbott and Napthine ignored the facts on East-West fiasco – Opinion – The Australian

From http://anthonyalbanese.com.au/opinion-piece-abbott-napthine-ignored-facts-on-east-west-fiasco

Infrastructure Australia was created to ensure that investment in nation-building infrastructure was determined by productivity, not politics.

This week's release of documents related to the East West Link project in Melbourne reinforces the importance of this process. It is now clear that the Napthine and Abbott governments sought to subvert this proper process by funding the road.

Former Victorian premier Denis Napthine had a cost-benefit analysis showing that for every dollar invested in the East West Link, there would be a return to the public of 45c.

In the scheme of big infrastructure projects, a cost/benefit ratio of 0.45 is pathetic and makes it unworthy of funding.

The government documents released this week show that the Victorian government response to this evidence was to hide the analysis.

In fact, one document conceded that if the analysis was handed to Infrastructure Australia it "may be used as a justification for not supporting the project''.

This was a backhanded compliment to the integrity of Infrastructure Australia under its respected former chairman, Rod Eddington.

Dr Napthine knew the project would not meet Infrastructure Australia's standards in terms of delivering value for public money, so he hid the analysis before ­attempting to cook the books to make the project look more ­attractive. Tony Abbott was complicit in this process.

Just days before last year's federal election, Mr Abbott told the National Press Club he would not contribute funding to any major infrastructure project without a proper cost-benefit analysis reviewed by the independent experts at Infrastructure Australia.

But when push came to shove, the Prime Minister ignored his promise and handed Dr Napthine $3 billion in funding, including an advance payment of $1.5bn in this year's federal budget.

No business case. No evidence. No facts — just wilful avoidance of a process that would have established the truth. This lack of rigour is unacceptable.

What is even worse is that Dr Napthine and Mr Abbott shifted money to the East West Link project from other projects that had been properly reviewed by Infrastructure Australia and found to have genuine economic benefit.

That included $3bn cut from the Melbourne Metro project, which had already had $40 million invested in planning.

Hundreds of millions were also cut from the M80 road project and the Managed Motorways project on the Monash Freeway, which had been found to offer an economic return of $5.20 for every dollar invested.

Taxpayers deserve better. They deserve transparency over spending decisions on major projects. Indeed, this is why Labor ­created Infrastructure Australia in 2008.

We wanted to disconnect the infrastructure provision cycle, which is by its nature long term, from the short-term political cycle.

The plan was for Infrastructure Australia to prioritise projects according to their potential to boost national economic productivity.

Dr Napthine's efforts to avoid Infrastructure Australia scrutiny show that the Infrastructure Australia model works.

The problem here is not with the process, but with Mr Abbott and Dr Napthine. They knew the East West Link did not stack up, so they simply ignored proper ­process.

The former Labor federal government had backed the Metro, based on the evidence-based advice of Infrastructure Australia. It was a no-brainer.

Part of the problem here is Mr Abbott's irrational and counterproductive contempt for funding public transport, which saw him withdraw all commonwealth funding for urban rail after his election.

Efficient cities require properly integrated transport systems that include both road and rail.

In national terms, the East West Link debacle proves that, despite Mr Abbott feigning support for the Infrastructure Australia process, he actually holds expert advice in contempt.

Infrastructure investment is long term, which is why it must be separated from the political process. It requires public confidence, which can only be attained by transparency and proper process.

Now we know the East West Link had a return of less than half its investment and would take 56 years to pay off, we have a great example of what not to do.

We also know that Mr Abbott's credibility on infrastructure has been obliterated by his contempt for proper process.

Anthony Albanese is the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Cities.

This article appeared in  The Australian. http://bit.ly/13zmxdy

[pandmaster]

I think that IA assessment should be made mandatory for all major infrastructure projects. It will need to legislated and probably the states will have to be on board (if they are not then no Commonwealth funding should be made available for projects without this analysis).

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> East West Link takes the wooden spoon for 2014

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Authority behind East West Link ditched

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Labor ramps up plans to dump East West Link project

[pandmaster]

Melbourne Age --> Labor ramps up plans to dump East West Link project

Of all the promises Abbott has broken that have not been in the public interest (e.g. no cuts to ABC/SBS/health/education) perhaps he could actually break one that is in the public interest (no funding to urban rail) and give the $3 billion to Melbourne Metro, tram extensions to more logical termini, rail to Rowville/Doncaster, etc...

A very clever plan from Andrews to attempt to divert the funds to level crossings.

[ozbob]

Twitter

The Andrew of Kelly ‏@KellyaAndrew 22 minutes ago

.@YarraCouncil's award to EVERYONE who helped turn Victoria away from the #EWLink



================

^

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 4 minutes ago

@KellyaAndrew @yarra_campaign @YarraCouncil Well done all! :-)

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Yarra Council gives Australia Day award to 'everyone' who campaigned against East West Link

[ozbob]

Business Spectator --> Queensland must learn from Victoria's infrastructure debacle

[ozbob]

[ozbob]

^



========================

[ozbob]

ABC News --> East West Link: Tony Abbott backs down on insistence Victorian Government build controversial toll road

[red dragin]

Toy's trying get a new dance craze going

"One step forward, two steps back" 

[#Metro]

"And our knitting, if you like, is major national roads and freight rail.

"But urban rail, commuter rail, that is the responsibility of the state governments which build it, which own it and which operate it."

Small ray of hope!

Level crossings are equally road or rail projects.

[ozbob]

It is over ...

Melbourne Age --> Victorian government settles East West Link claim for $339m

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> East West: In the end, a fair deal on both sides

[ozbob]

http://www.ptua.org.au/2015/04/15/end-of-ewlink-zombie/

PTUA--> End of East West Link 'Zombie project' a victory for Victoria

The Public Transport Users Association has welcomed the settlement between the Andrews Government and the East West Link consortium for the sum of $339 million.

"After many months of claim and counterclaim from all sides of this affair it is a great relief for the people of Victoria to have closure on this zombie project – a planning and economic management debacle from start to finish," said PTUA President Dr Tony Morton.

"This project should really have been ruled out by all sides of politics when it became clear from the Eddington Report in 2008 that it was a waste of money," Dr Morton said. "Eddington's figures and the Napthine Government's own subsequent business case showed the benefit-cost ratio for the road was only 45 cents in the dollar."

"We cannot forgive the Napthine government for keeping the bad news in the business case secret, spending taxpayers' money to tender for contracts and acquire peoples' homes for a project with no mandate and no economic return, and then rushing to sign contracts before the November election – especially as the consortium was happy to defer financial close until December," said Dr Morton.

"Given the likely economic loss to the state and the opportunity cost of all the worthwhile alternative projects that we couldn't afford if the road had proceeded, $339 million is small change. The business case indicates it's less than the annual availability payments that would have been paid every single year, long after the road had ceased to provide any congestion benefit."

It is intended as part of the settlement that a $3 billion debt facility, once intended to finance the East West Link, will be transferred to the state, with the interest rate and other financial particulars to be negotiated. "As the business press has been pointing out for months, governments should be able to negotiate interest rates far less than what is available to the private sector," Dr Morton said. "There is no better time for the state to borrow and build, if it's infrastructure for long term benefit. And it's to everyone's benefit if we can get projects like Melbourne Metro and high-capacity signalling under way on what ought to be the most favourable financial terms in a generation."

Dr Morton urged both State and Federal politicians to push ahead with a positive agenda for transport infrastructure. "There's much to be done to fix up our public transport network in particular – most of it decades overdue," he said.

"The Abbott Government needs to quit its backward ideological posturing on 1960s road projects dressed up as congestion busters, and look to the real infrastructure of the 21st century, which is train lines, multimodal streets and turn-up-and-go mass transit. Even the Americans no longer look to road-building as a way out of traffic congestion."

"The people of Victoria have spoken on numerous occasions and what they want is more rail services, faster and more frequent trams and buses, and repairs to our crumbling country roads and bridges," said Dr Morton.

[pandmaster]

Fantastic news and a 10/10 statement from the PTUA.