Busway to Railway

[#Metro]

Finally! Buses feeding rail- Busway will feed and extend rail at South Morang. IMHO this is probably not going to be expensive or big like Queensland's busways, and hopefully it can be converted to heavy rail later.

http://www.transport.vic.gov.au/web23/Home.nsf/AllDocs/A74B3FE27F51AF32CA2577C7001050B4?OpenDocument

The Mernda Busway will provide convenient and fast bus services between Mernda and the new South Morang train station.

Bus services will be coordinated to meet every train at South Morang station, and will operate along a 7.5 kilometre busway that is separate from road traffic, ensuring buses have a clear run between South Morang and Mernda.

A fleet of low-floor buses will be used on the route, allowing the bus to meet bus platform stops, ensuring easy access for passengers.

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Anger as buses given nod ahead of rail

Anger as buses given nod ahead of rail
Clay Lucas
October 28, 2010

ALMOST $50 million will be spent installing a bus route on land in Melbourne's north, reserved for a railway line.

Planners, the opposition and resident groups yesterday savaged the decision to stop the Epping railway line at South Morang, and build a 7.5 kilometre road exclusively for buses to Mernda.

Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula announced that the new road would be built on a publicly owned rail reserve, where trains ran until the late 1950s.

The ''bus way'' would provide convenient and fast services on a dedicated road built for buses, Mr Pakula said. A low-floor bus would meet every train departing and arriving from South Morang, he said. The project, including the road and running buses for four years, will cost $48.5 million.

The government, in its December 2008 Victorian Transport Plan said planning was under way for a railway line to growth areas that included Mernda.

By next June, the government will have spent $6.6 million on ads promoting the Victorian Transport Plan. But the government will not commit to ever building rail to Mernda.

''This is not good planning,'' Planning Institute president David Vorchheimer said of the bus line. ''If you have an opportunity with a rail reserve, you should create the optimum service rather than put in a dinky service.''

Trains ran from Melbourne to Whittlesea, via Mernda. The railway line from Epping was ripped up in the 1970s but the rail right-of-way remains.

In 1999 Labor promised to extend the Epping line 3.5 kilometres to South Morang at a cost of $8 million. The extension is under way, at a cost of $650 million. Trains will begin arriving in 2012 and the ''bus way'' is to open in 2013.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said the bus line would lift inadequate services, but could rule out a railway line.

Darren Peters, spokesman for lobby group the South Morang and Mernda Rail Alliance, said Labor had not listened to residents. ''If Ted Baillieu steps up to the challenge and promises to build this train line, his party will have a real opportunity to win the seat of Yan Yean,'' he said.

But, only a month from the election, Mr Baillieu still will not say what his party will do. Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the bus route meant Labor's promise to build rail to Mernda was ''dead in the water''. He said extending the Epping line to Mernda did not have a timeline.

As a young lad I can recall travelling to Whittlesea on an old petrol rail motor that use to run back and forwards.

Similar to this one, this might have been it actually


http://www.victorianrailways.net/motive%20power/rmpics/rm09fawkner.jpg

Despite comparative closeness to Melbourne, the town of Whittlesea and the stations it served beyond the Melbourne suburban electrified area had comparatively small population. The freight service to Whittlesea was closed in the mid 1950s and the passenger service remained until the line beyond Thomastown was closed on 28 November 1959. The line was partially reopened for suburban electric trains as far Epping in the early 1960s, with the track beyond removed in 1970. The former right-of-way remains in Victorian Government ownership, with the section between Epping and Mernda proposed to be reopened over the next decade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittlesea_railway_station,_Melbourne

[#Metro]

I don't mind buses feeding rail- actually i think it is a good idea.
I just wonder what the cost of rail line extension would be for that area. Perth has something similar to connect to Rockingham.

[Jonno]

But is it the correct long term olution or is it just another example of our Governments thinking "there is not enough demand when we assume only 15% of people will catch public transport"?

[colinw]

Good heavens!  

Buses feeding rail is a good thing, but arbitrarily switching from rail to busway at the end of a line like South Morang is really dumb!

Particularly if it takes away the opportunity to extend the rail later.

By all means, put in a frequent feeder bus from Mernda to South Morang when it opens, but taking away the rail corridor that already exists is just plain stupid.

This would be like Perth deciding to stop the Joondalup line half way, and making everyone change to a busway at somewhere like Clarkson to go to Butler, or Brisbane deciding to stop the Springfield line at Richlands and build a busway to Springfield lakes.

[Jonno]

Brisbane deciding to stop the Springfield line at Richlands and build a busway to Springfield lakes.

Careful we might give Translink so crazy ideas!!!!

[rob2144]

But is it the correct long term olution or is it just another example of our Governments thinking "there is not enough demand when we assume only 15% of people will catch public transport"?

Nah its called NIMBYism, the original plan for this line was at grade but now it has to be sunk below the surface so the Epping bogans dont get annoyed by the train noise.

[colinw]

Thus a 3km extension plus some duplication ends up costing 50% of the total cost of the Mandurah line, or a similar amount to the entire Gold Coast line from Beenleigh to Robina.

With these kind of costs, rail extensions in Melbourne are going to be few & far between.

Only Sydney does it more expensive, but has some valid reasons (lots of tunneling!).  South Morang in comparison is re-construction down the corridor of a pre-existing closed line.  No different to the Lota to Cleveland re-construction in Brisbane back in the '80s.