Article: Future use for Hobart rail yards investigated

[ozbob]

From ABC News click here!

Future use for Hobart rail yards investigated

Future use for Hobart rail yards investigated

Updated Sat Apr 28, 2012 11:35am AEST

The Federal Government is spending more than $200,000 to help revitalise Hobart's inner city and encourage more people to use public transport.

The money has been allocated under the Government's Liveable Cities program.

The State Government's been allocated $110,000 to assess potential uses for the Macquarie Point Railyards, which will relocate to a new transport hub at Brighton north of Hobart later this year.

The study will look at a number of options for the 8.4 hectare site, including affordable housing and cultural and tourism developments.

Tasmanian Labor Senator Carol Brown says another $125,000 will be spent on a plan to overhaul public transport.

"There are the challenges of climate change, a lack of affordable housing, traffic congestion."

Hobart has one of the lowest rates of public transport use in the nation.

[#Metro]

Hobart has one of the lowest rates of public transport use in the nation.

You don't say!!

[somebody]

I doubt there is enough traffic congestion in Hobart for public transport to get much of a look in.  Even Macquarie & Davey Sts flow reasonably well in peak hour.  i.e. traffic only slows you down by a few minutes.

Sorry!

[colinw]

The Mercury -> New ideas for railyard

April 30, 2012

THE future of Hobart's waterfront railyards site is back on the agenda.

The Federal Government has agreed to put up $110,000 for a study which will determine the best use of the Macquarie Point Railyards property.

The railyards' business operation will relocate to the Brighton transport hub later this year freeing the 8.4ha wharf site for business, entertainment and residential redevelopment.

Affordable housing is a possibility or the site could be used as an education hub.

"It will also look at ways the site can be utilised to expand Hobart's standing as the international gateway to Antarctica," Labor senator Carol Brown said.

"Hobart has beautiful natural assets and we need to look at ways we can best utilise these natural assets to increase tourism and drive economic growth," she said.

But Economic Development Minister David O'Byrne said it was early days yet and definitive decisions about the site's use were "still some way off".

"The Hobart waterfront is a special social and economic hub for Hobart, especially when it comes to tourism, hospitality and our vibrant and growing Antarctic sector," he said.

Mr O'Byrne said tourism and the Antarctic sector were both priorities for Tasmania's future growth.

"We need to make the very best use of this prime site in coming years," he said.

"The Tasmanian Government and Hobart City Council are already investigating mixed-use options for the future."

But the Opposition said the Government's indecision had already cost taxpayers more than $10 million after the plan to rebuild the Royal Hobart Hospital on the site fell through.

"This should have been done years ago," Liberal planning spokeswoman Elise Archer said.

The Opposition said this was the third plan in six years "and the Government was making it up as it goes along".

The Federal Government has also agreed to a $125,000 plan to overhaul the transport system.

[#Metro]

BUS DEPOT!!

[colinw]

Don't be daft. That would be like sticking a bus depot on the former Roma St yard instead of developing it into the residential & parkland precinct we have today.

[#Metro]

But the location for a bus depot is perfect- it is in the CBD!
You could have redevelopment there but if the site is large enough, I don't see why not.

[SurfRail]

Don't be daft. That would be like sticking a bus depot on the former Roma St yard instead of developing it into the residential & parkland precinct we have today.

Or like replacing the former Newcastle goods yard with the nice foreshore area east of the station (although the rest of it is an entirely different kettle of fish).

[somebody]

BUS DEPOT!!

Depots are most logical in outlying areas anyway, or at least as far out as the most inner service.

Mayne depot is a mediocre option for Brisbane!

[#Metro]

Depots are most logical in outlying areas anyway, or at least as far out as the most inner service.

Interesting, and I have to agree here. It makes sense that in the mornings services will leave the suburban depots and head towards the CBD and then dump passengers. In the afternoons, services will flow out to the suburbs where services will go to sleep

[Golliwog]

Assuming that people only live in the suburbs and only work in the CBD that would be fine, though in reality it's not that simple; though in the main I would say you would be correct. Either way, the important thing is to have the depot near the end of the line/lines so having a depot in the city would be fine, but the land is worth more if you develop it up. By all means include transport infrastructure though.

Simon: What's wrong with Mayne? It's central to all the lines. Sure you have dead-running in the AM out to the suburbs (and the reverse in the PM) but equally at the end of the AM peak services terminating at RS and BH run directly into the yards rather than travel out to suburban yards. For this reason (the same would happen between peaks with buses) from and operational perspective I can't see how it matters if the depot is in the suburbs or the city. But when land values are considered that's why new depots are built further out.

[somebody]

Assuming that people only live in the suburbs and only work in the CBD that would be fine, though in reality it's not that simple; though in the main I would say you would be correct. Either way, the important thing is to have the depot near the end of the line/lines so having a depot in the city would be fine, but the land is worth more if you develop it up. By all means include transport infrastructure though.

Simon: What's wrong with Mayne? It's central to all the lines. Sure you have dead-running in the AM out to the suburbs (and the reverse in the PM) but equally at the end of the AM peak services terminating at RS and BH run directly into the yards rather than travel out to suburban yards. For this reason (the same would happen between peaks with buses) from and operational perspective I can't see how it matters if the depot is in the suburbs or the city. But when land values are considered that's why new depots are built further out.

That's true for peak time extras, but what about full time routes?  Apparently Vancouver has significant reverse commuting, but it is fairly uncommon in most places (I've done it).

Unless the crews operate other services to get out to their home depot, there really is no advantage to leaving the train in the CBD except for electricity & wear and tear which aren't worth thinking about too much.

I guess on the Beenleigh & Caboolture line triples there is also track capacity to worry about.

[ozbob]

At the risk of digressing a little,  Melbourne originally had the stabling at the yards between Richmond and Flinders St.  These yards no longer exist, the stabling has been moved out along the lines.  This does make some sense as the first trains usually commence and finish at the end of the lines, and also supports peak tidal flows better.

I think the game changer in part for SEQ will be improved stabling at Clapham (if it happens) and possibly Yandina.  Wulkuraka will have some stabling too I reckon.

[somebody]

Interestingly, Cityrail added near-CBD stabling at Macdonaldtown a few years back, although I am not sure how they prevent a net imbalance of crews, as to my knowledge it isn't used overnight.

[Golliwog]

That said, I'm not against shifting some stabling out to the ends of lines, just that I don't see Mayne as a poor location at all. The only issue I have is dead running services to/from FG have to run through the CBD. But they are apparently looking at adding an extra set of points onto the Mayne-FG line connection.

As I understand it, there is also going to need to be something rail related at Mayne as that is where the network currently has all the communications cables going to. IIRC, they did actually look at shifting Mayne but found the cost of redoing the cabling was prohibitive.