In 1996 the Financial Review told the story of how this came to be.

If Need Be, Adtranz Trains Grow Wings
By Tony Thomas
21 October 1996

It was a big air-freight parcel, but flying two locomotives to Switzerland ensured that Adtranz kept a deadline and its reputation for innovation.

When the Adtranz factory at Dandenong, near Melbourne, built the first two of 33 locomotive bodies for Indian Railways, it had a freight problem. The prototypes had to go to the prime contractor, Adtranz Switzerland, for electrical installation and testing, but the timing was tight.

The solution was for the general manager (manufacturing) at Dandenong, Don Osborne, to contact the freight company operating the Russian Antonov super-freighter that circles the globe in search of business. The Antonov, detoured from China, took on the 96-tonne load at Avalon Airport and was in Zurich in a few days, saving about seven weeks of sea-freight time. The bill was not exactly low, but it was only one-third more than sea freight.

This is the innovative style of Adtranz, which was formed in January by merging the transport arms of Asea Brown Boveri (Sweden) and Daimler-Benz (Germany). Twenty-eight of the 33 locomotives have been delivered, and Indian rail workers will soon get the technology transfer to make their own.

Dandenong wins Adtranz locomotive and train subcontracts through internal bidding because its design and labor costs are well below the European operation’s levels. Direct labor costs are about half the European rates, and productivity, although hard to compare, is satisfactory.

Most of the output is for export. Osborne says: “It is lumpy, with a long time between lumps for local work, but for the past three to four years the factory has had a fair degree of work stability.” Dandenong, bought from Comeng in 1990, is one of three Adtranz global factories building train carriages in stainless steel; its rivals are Adtranz Sweden and Adtranz Portugal. The criteria for winning work are price, delivery and workload. Osborne foresees Dandenong getting orders for carriages worldwide, in sets of hundreds valued up to $200 million.

The Dandenong factory has 190 shop-floor workers, including 16 apprentices. Because stainless-steel welding is not a common skill, tradesmen have to re-qualify to Adtranz standards. Computer-aided design is linked to laser cutters to cut the parts. “New processes usually need a bundle of new technologies and skills,” Osborne says. In the past few years demarcation has been reduced to produce the required flexibility.

Globally, the locomotive business has split into the European group of Siemens, Adtranz and GEC Alsthom, which have the edge in lightweight electric trains, and General Electric and General Motors in the US, the kings of the heavyweight diesel-electric category. Now there are cross-Atlantic alliances covering both diesel and electric models, including a technical agreement between Adtranz and GE for lightweight diesel-electric units.

Any client inquiry leads to Adtranz mobilising globally to work out the best way of winning the bid. The internal bidding process could cause one Adtranz unit to hoard expertise. “Initially, we found it hard to share our knowledge,” Osborne says. Adtranz dealt with the issue by setting up, and helping to fund, global centres of excellence in sub-systems such as propulsion, carriage bodies and bogies. “At Dandenong we focus on car-bodies for global markets and complete vehicles for the local market.”

After the first two locomotive bodies were air freighted to Switzerland onboard a Antonov An-124, the following units were able to leave Australia by the slower route by sea. After their final fitout in Switzerland, the finished locomotives were then moved by road to the Rhine, transported by barge for transit to Rotterdam, and then by cargo ship to Calcutta.

The WAP-5 electric passenger locomotives that went by air are still in service in India today.

Photo by Abhishek Jog, via Wikimedia Commons

Along with the WAG-9 electric freight locomotives that also had their body shells built at Dandenong.

Photo by Belur Ashok from Secunderabad, India, via Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile in Philadelphia

Believe it or not, this is another train built in the 1990s by Adtranz at Dandenong – the M-4 subway cars used on the Market–Frankford Line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Photo by AEMoreira042281, via Wikimedia Commons

Again, the Financial Review has the back story behind the Australian connection.

Dandenong is supplying 222 carriage shells and bogie sets to the SEPTA for a subway and elevated rail system. The contract is valued at almost $100 million. The units are being shipped on top of sea containers for fitting out at Elmira, near New York, by Adtranz US. Eight prototypes are in final assembly there, and Dandenong has moved on to production versions for the next two years.

The standards are rigorous, including a 100-tonne compression test for buckling or distortion. Clients are also demanding extremely lightweight structures, compared with older designs. The penalties in the contract for excess weight are severe; equivalent to the lifetime extra energy cost per kilogram.

A SEPTA inspector from Pennsylvania is stationed at Dandenong to check product quality, which has improved practically with each new shell as output rises to 14 a month, using three shifts.

The roof and side-wall welding in the trains is being automated with a purpose-built machine made by Harris Engineering, Sydney. This will cut the welding time from almost five days to six hours. “It is not world-beating technology but it is a good solution,” Osborne says.

SEPTA has specified a 40-year guarantee of serviceability, which requires the factory workers to take a new perspective on quality and customer expectations. Bogie design must pass tests over an enormous six million cycles. In earlier years there was a cost-plus outlook and allowances for contingencies. The workers have met the challenge with new skills and more flexible work methods.

In practice, a train becomes obsolete because of patterns of use, not because of hardware. Operators chase improvements in comfort to woo people back to public transport. Osborne says: “For example, trains are replaced in favor of air-conditioned models long before the old ones wear out.”

Commissioning is a complex affair, including the measurement of various movements as the trains speed along the Pennsylvania tracks, to ensure clearances throughout the lines. Among the difficulties is that the US still uses imperial measurement, rather than metric, so components ordered from US makers need careful re-specification.

Footnote: some prophetic words

The 1996 Financial Review article also had some prophetic words given the decline in rollingstock manufacturing across Australia.

He is disappointed there is no industry-wide approach to rail vehicle supply in Australia. “Instead of the railways and suppliers sitting down and working on the best solutions for themselves and Australia, we fight over the same patch each time. The public tendering system is a major barrier to forming an efficient industry with export potential.” (The other large groups are Clyde Industries, taken over by Evans Deakin last July, and the Howard Smith subsidiary Goninan, which has been named preferred tenderer for a National Rail order for up to 120 locomotives.)

Osborne says: “In Europe, Adtranz is working jointly with its big rival Siemens on the 330-kilometre-per-hour ICE [intercity express] trains because the project can’t afford fragmented manufacture. Likewise, the Swedes and the Germans co-operate on tilt-train design. Adtranz, Siemens and Thyssen are working jointly on the Transrapid magnetic levitation train between Hamburg and Berlin, which has been operating for three years on test tracks and has a top speed of 500kmh. The industry in Australia ought to get together on a project like the next-generation Olympia class double-decker trains for the Sydney lines, create a brilliant train, then break into export markets with it.”

The world trend is for rail standardisation across borders. Australia has been one of the worst offenders on non-conformity, because each state’s rail engineers have tended to specify exclusive features. Osborne sees the first use by TNT of its own trains on government track from Sydney to Perth as the start of a new era in making rail freight more competitive.

Further reading

Indian railfan Sundar Mukherjee has covered the history of the WAP-5 and WAG-9 locomotives in his article “Indian Railways GP 140. Introduction of 3 Phase Locomotives in India. (The beginning of a new era)“.

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Overview of the carriage yards from the north-east side of La Trobe Street

Regional Rail Link

Work on the Regional Rail Link project will still ticking away, with Sunbury line passengers often having to change to buses at Footscray station.

New tracks had been completed along the edge of Docklands.

But work continued on the route past South Kensington.

Where the old tracks were getting rebuilt.

And at Middle Footscray, where space needed to be created for a third pair of tracks.

The north end of the footbridge at Footscray had been demolished for the same reason.

But work on the 1 McNab Avenue office tower was also underway.

Visible from all over Footscray.

The first stage of Regional Rail Link between the city and Footscray opened in July 2014, with the project completed in June 2015.

Myki

The changeover to Myki was still underway, with ‘Myki Mates’ talking to Traralgon passengers at Southern Cross Station ahead of the rollout of Myki to their line.

Public Transport Victoria also opened a new ‘PTV Hub’ beneath their head office at 750 Collins Street, Docklands.

And a ‘Pop up PTV Hub’ at Southern Cross Station for myki queries during the V/Line rollout.

But the reliability of the Myki system left much to be desired – defective readers onboard trams were still common.

Trams

A decade ago the corner of Elizabeth and Collins Streets still had a tram stop, located a short walk from the Elizabeth Street terminus.

It was eventually replaced with a platform stop located a block to the north in October 2013.

I also paid a visit to the much older trams found at the Ballarat Tramway Museum.

Luckily the sun came out on what was a cold winter’s day.

And back at the depot I found a 1970s advertisement from the State Electricity Commission of Victoria promoting all-electric kitchens.

A case of everything old is new again!

Southern Cross Station

At the far end of Southern Cross Station I paid a visit to the ‘Cavalcade of Transport’ mural – it was still in place, but the rest of the shopping centre had been stripped out for redevelopment.

While at the other end I found a curious sign – a train icon directing me to the ‘Airport Express’.

But it was a lie – the only service them, as is now, was a bus.

In the years since SkyBus has swapped their articulated buses for even larger double deck buses, but they still get stuck in traffic on the run between the CBD and Melbourne Airport.

And the other bits

Down at Avalon Airport I found ex-Qantas 747-300 VH-EBU ‘Nalanji Dreaming‘ still in storage outside Hangar 6.

It was repainted into a white livery in 2016, but was scrapped in June 2023.

Out at Campbellfield I went past the site of Pipeworks Fun Market on Mahoney’s Road.

The market closed in 2013, but opened on a new site in 2022.

On the Monash Freeway I found a set of new fixed speed cameras being installed.

They catch around 7,500 speeding motorists in each direction each year, despite standing out like dog’s balls.

And on the Metropolitan Ring Road works were underway on the upgrade between Edgars Road to Plenty Road.

That section was finished in April 2014, but it only marked the start of a decade of works elsewhere on the Ring Road.

And finally, a giant pile of mX newspapers unopened after the end of evening peak.

The evening commuter newspaper continued to be published until June 2015.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Up in the air

Who remembers the day of big events and flying? March 2011 saw the Australian International Airshow held at Avalon, with Tiger Airways still flying into the airport.

V/Line ran extra trains to Lara station.

Connecting with shuttle buses.

That delivered patrons to Avalon Airport.

New roads

Around Geelong big money was being spent on new roads, with Stage 4A of the Geelong Ring Road taking shape at Waurn Ponds, extending the freeway south towards Colac.

$63 million was also being spent on a new bridge over the Barwon River at Breakwater, replacing the previous flood prone crossing.

The project also included a massive new intersection with Fellmongers Road.

Resulting in the demolition of nine houses.

Rail projects

West of Geelong, duplication was underway on the main line west to Adelaide. The second track was completed in 2012, and allows grain trains to access the Port of Geelong without conflicting with through services.

The rail over road bridge at Moorabool Street was upgraded, with the 100 year steel span being replaced by a new one looking much the same.

Out at Marshall station was a much less interesting upgrade – the 1 in 2 replacement of timber sleepers with concrete.

March 2011 also saw the disused Geelong Racecourse station disconnected from the main line, removing the ability for trains to access the platform.

Footscray gained a new traction substation at the corner of Ballarat Road and Droop Street, providing extra power for route 82 trams.

The $48.5 million Kororoit Creek Road duplication project reached a milestone – the bridge carrying the westbound carriageway over the Werribee line was complete, allowing the level crossing to be closed, and work to start on the parallel bridge.

Was Regional Rail Link really a decade ago? 2011 saw the new platforms 15 and 16 at Southern Cross Station almost finished – track being the most noticeable omission!

Alstom Ballarat was churning out new X’Trapolis trains for the Melbourne suburban network.

And the massive new train maintenance facility at Craigieburn was taking shape to house a growing fleet of trains.

And scenes that are gone

Who remembers the Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle? Introduced in 2006 by the City of Melbourne as a free service, fares were introduced in 2011 but with competition from the Free Tram Zone, it was discontinued in 2017.

Something else gone is the stink of horse piss at the arse end of Swanston Street. They were kicked out in 2017, and the strip of seedy fast food restaurants was demolished soon after to make way for the new Town Hall station.

A forgettable building was 199 William Street. After sitting empty for decades the year 2011 saw work start on the redevelopment of the tower into ‘The William’ hotel and apartment complex.

I wrote about ‘Mount Mistake’ in Footscray recently – a decade ago the old West Footscray station still existed. The current station opened in 2013.

The same can also be said about this level crossing in Sunshine, where Anderson Road passes over the Sunbury line tracks. It was replaced by a road under rail bridge in 2014.

And finally, we end on the northern edge of Melbourne at the township of Donnybrook. Back then the only people who went there were gunzels photographing trains passing the semaphore signals and having a feed at the local pub, but today it is new housing estates as far as the eye can see.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Like most months we start down at Geelong, where I paid a visit to Marshall station. There I found a locomotive hauled train running around the carriage set, ready to form a new service back to Melbourne.

And a few kilometres away I captured a V/Line service from Warrnambool headed through the paddocks outside Waurn Ponds.

The scene at both stations is now completely different – the empty paddocks are now covered with houses, Waurn Ponds station having opened on the site in 2014, and VLocity railcars now run the bulk of services on the Geelong line.

On the other side of Geelong, track duplication work was underway on the main line west to Adelaide.

The second track was completed in 2012, and allows grain trains to access the Port of Geelong without conflicting with through services.

On the drive up to Melbourne, I spotted a Qantas jet taking off from Avalon Airport, the pilot in training performing touch-and-go landings.

Today it’s more likely to be bound for long term storage.

I also found some American visitors on the apron at Melbourne Airport – Boeing E-4B 747-200B #31677 and Boeing C-32 757-200 #90004, bringing United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Australia on an official visit.

I can’t see any state visits by foreign officials happening any time soon.

Ding ding! Outside Flemington Racecourse on Melbourne Cup day I found six trams sitting in the siding on Union Road, waiting to take patrons home after the big race.

This year – empty stands.

Back in 2010 Metcard was still the ticket to use to travel by train.

They were eventually replaced by Myki in 2012.

A more random visit was the Bradmill factory beside the West Gate Freeway in Yarraville.

Back then it was just another factory, but in the decade since it has became an urbex hotspot.

With another changed industrial scene being the Melbourne Steel Terminal, located in the shadows of Melbourne Docklands.

Once used to ship steel products down to Hastings, the terminal closed in 2015 to make room for the ‘E’ Gate development, but was instead taken over by the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ project for a tangle of freeway ramps.

Finally, I made my way out to Melbourne Airport by bus, where the route 901 ‘Smartbus’ stopped out in the middle of nowhere.

It’s a little easier to find these days – the Terminal 4 transport interchange.

But my destination was elsewhere.

Hong Kong.

During my two and a bit week long trip I had a monkey around with my Myki on the Octopus card readers.

And I took thousands of photos, of which 2,391 of them eventually made it online.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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We start overlooking Southern Cross Station, where the Docklands skyline was a lot emptier.

As was that of Spencer Street.

And the western edge of the CBD.

Back in 2009 the explosion of (flammable!) apartment blocks was yet to take off, with 3-car trains still used after 6 PM on some suburban railway lines, and low floor E class trams not appearing on route 86 until 2016.

Metro Trains Melbourne had just taken over from Connex, so a rebranding effort was underway, like this train at West Footscray.

These ones parked for the night at North Melbourne.

And this one at Footscray.

Passing beneath the new footbridge.

A decade on Regional Rail Link has changed this entire rail corridor beyond recognition, with new tracks at North Melbourne, the near new Footscray footbridge demolished then rebuilt, a rebuilt station at West Footscray, and an extra pair of tracks between the city and Sunshine.

Next up – a ride to the country, where there was a long line at Southern Cross Station to buy a V/Line ticket.

In the days before myki paper tickets were the only option for V/Line travel, and had to be purchased for a specific date, leading to massive queues in the leadup to holiday periods.

But I followed it up with a far more laid back train journey, heading to Tocumwal with the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

With Santa even coming along the the ride.

I also headed home to Geelong for Christmas, and passed a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 firefighting air tanker stationed at Avalon Airport.

Registration N17085, it was based at Avalon from January to March 2010 for the summer fire season, but I don’t think it was ever called into service.

On the other side of Geelong, I photographed a V/Line train headed further afield to Warrnambool.

Back then the area south of Grovedale was empty paddocks.

And empty country roads.

But change was coming – stage 4A of the Geelong Ring Road was underway, turning the area into a commuter destination.

Today the paddocks are the Armstrong Creek urban growth area – the Anglesea Road level crossing was grade separated in 2011, Waurn Ponds station opened in 2014, and the Baanip Boulevard connection to the Surf Coast Highway was completed in 2015.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Scene by scene

The duo arrive into the terminal.

Walk up to the check-in counter.

And present their passports.

Once onboard, they take their seats in business class.

And consult the aircraft safety card, like every conscientious passenger.

Back in the economy class cabin, a young child sleeps.

They take to their air.

Then end back at the terminal.

As a couple are reunited.

So where did they film it?

This one was easy – someone over at the Australian Frequent Flyer forums answered it:

moa999
Dec 2, 2017

Was reportedly filmed mostly at AVV.

Including using ex-Qantas VH-EBU which is stored at Avalon and currently painted in Avalon Airport livery.

Avalon Airport management advertises the use of the airport as a filming location:

Avalon Airport offers a range of distinctive locations including:

• The passenger terminal inside and out
• The airside run-way (specific locations only)
• A retired jumbo jet – available for filming inside and out all year round.
• Australian bush settings including shrubbery, farmland and cattle
• Large hangars

The aircraft interiors in the clip were filmed onboard Qantas 747-300 VH-EBU “Nalanji Dreaming” – stored beside Avalon Airport’s hangar 6.

She was put into long term storage at Avalon Airport in 2005 and was used as a parts bin, but has since been repainted.

Much of the interior remains, including the cockpit.

Film Victoria

Galley.

Film Victoria

Business class cabin.

Film Victoria

And economy class cabin.

Film Victoria

The terminal scenes were filmed at the Jetstar check-in counters.

But Avalon Airport doesn’t have any jetbridges – which got me stumped.

Thankfully the Film Victoria website had this photo of a circular tunnel.

Film Victoria

But it isn’t a jetbridge – but a hallway.

Film Victoria

Located nowhere near the terminals, but attached to an office building between hangers 1 and 3.

Google Maps satellite imagery

An aerial photo footnote

In the background of the video clip an overhead view of an airport at night is presented.

It was far too busy looking to be Avalon Airport, so I started doing the rounds of world airport via Google Maps to try an find a match.

JFK in New York? No!
Frankfurt, German? No!
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington? Still no.
Boston Logan? Nope!
Chicago O’Hare? No!

Turns out it was Newark Liberty International Airport, in New Jersey.

Google Maps satellite imagery

And what about the safety card?

Midway through a video clip, a closeup of a Ansett Australia branded A320 safety information card appears.

Ansett Australia did operate Airbus A320 jets, but the safety cards looked different.

Flarose Pty Ltd

So where did they get their safety card from – an alternate Ansett design, or was their logo just photoshopped in?

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The backstory

In 1952 the Commonwealth Government bought 1,754 hectares (4,333 acres) at Avalon to enable the expansion of the Government Aircraft Factories, which had outgrown their previous facilities at Fisherman’s Bend in inner Melbourne, due to the existing airstrip being too small to enable the operation of modern jet aircraft.

The English Electric Canberra light bomber was the first product to come off the production line.

Followed by the CA-27 Sabre, Mirage III and F/A-18 jet fighters.

These aircraft were assembled in a series of four hangars on the northern side of the airport.

National Archives of Australia item 30281903

Later rebranded as Aerospace Technologies of Australia (ASTA), in 1988 Avalon Airport branched out into the heavy maintenance of passenger jets, following the construction of a new hangar on the other side of the main taxiway.

Big enough to fit a Boeing 747 inside, the 8056m² hangar was completed in 22 weeks, and was big enough to fit an entire Boeing 747-400 aircraft inside, thanks to the 94 metre clear span, 85.7 metre length, 29 metre apex height and 6 metre eave height.

Photo via Bruno Gatzka

While in 1991 an increase in business saw hangar 5 extended to accommodate Boeing 747 aircraft.

Given a very tight 12 week construction period, Leighton Contractors met the challenge to upgrade the Hangar 5 maintenance facility at Avalon Airport in time to receive its first scheduled Boeing 747 aircraft. The work on Hangar 5 at Avalon included expanding the hangar space by about 2,000 m2 to a total of 9,000 m2.

Included in the contract were:

– 1,400 m 2 of concrete foundations, infill slabs and jacking pads to take the weight of a Boeing 747.
– 300 tonnes of structural steel for the roof and support structures.
– 60 tonnes of structural steel for the 800 m2 mezzanine floor.
– 4,900 m2 of roof and wall cladding.

The 21 metre extension at the front of the building was assembled on the ground in four sections, complete with electrical, mechanical, lighting and fire detection equipment. A 400 tonne hydraulic crane, one of only two in Australia at the time, took four days to lift the structure into place.

Which dramatically changed the look of the hangar.

In 1995 ASTA was privatised by the Commonwealth Government, with Avalon Airport following in 1997 when a 50-year lease was awarded to Linfox.

Enter Qantas

In 1998 Qantas opened a heavy maintenance facility at Avalon Airport, operating from the only two hangars big enough to fit a 747 – hangars 5 and 6.

Otherwise they needed to keep the hangar door open!

Photo by Pat Scala / The Age

But they were soon in need of more space, so in 2003 Qantas also extended hangar 4 to accommodate bigger aircraft, bringing the complex to what it looks like today.

In 2012 Qantas announced that it would be reducing its maintenance operations in Australia, and closed their operations at Avalon in March 2014.

So which hangar is which?

The Avalon Airport aerodrome chart doesn’t help – it lists four big hangars along the taxiway, an even bigger hangar on the eastern side, and a little dinky hangar at the bottom – six in total.

Hangar 6 is the big one.

And hangar 4 and 5 have the tall extensions to the front.

But what about hangars 1 through 3?

The Avalon Airport Master Plan dated 2015 gave me a clue:

Avalon contains six hangars, three of which are suitable for the Boeing 747 and other smaller aircraft (Hangars 4, 5 and 6).

Hangar 1 is suitable for aircraft such as the Boeing 737, Hangar 2 is approximately 2,000 square metres and is used as a component workshop or store, and Hangar 3 is currently used as a store

That places hangar 1 as the northern-most hangar.

But I finally found the answer in an Avalon Airport submission to Infrastructure Victoria.

So ‘hangar’ 2 is just a tin shed, with the hangars numbered 2, 1, 3, 4 then 5. Simple!

Footnote: the jumbo jet lurking in the background

She is ex-Qantas 747-300 VH-EBU ‘Nalanji Dreaming’.

Delivered to Qantas in 1985 and painted into the ‘Nalanji Dreaming’ livery in 1995, she was put into long term storage at Avalon Airport in 2005. Since stripped of parts, then repainted into a plain livery of blue body with red tail in 2008, it is now used as a movie set, with the exterior repainted into plain white with ‘Avalon Airport’ branding in 2016.

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The history of Melbourne’s SkyBus

SkyBus commenced operations in 1978, running a shuttle service between Tullamarine Airport and Franklin Street on the northern edge of the Melbourne CBD. In 1982 it took over the airport bus services run by the now-defunct airlines Ansett and TAA, with the service taking the current form in 2000 when the city terminus was moved to Spencer Street Station, with services operating express to the airport. 2002 then saw the state government contributing $3 million in funding to upgrade the service in place of the construction of an airport rail link.

Articulated buses were introduced to the service in 2002.

With the first Bustech “CDi” double deck buses entering service in 2015.

Travel times were once advertised as 20 minutes from airport to the city, but increasing congestion saw the claim gain a “times may vary due to traffic conditions” disclaimer, then dropped altogether in 2016.

The monopoly nature of the SkyBus service saw private equity firms take in interest in the company, with two foreign firms taking a majority stake in the company in 2014, in a deal valuing SkyBus’s parent company at $50 million to $100 million.

And diversification

It appears that the new management realised that their gravy train of monopoly profits on the Melbourne Airport – City route wouldn’t last forever, as they soon started acquiring other airport bus operators across Melbourne, Australia, and even New Zealand.

October 2015

SkyBus purchased the Airbus Express service in Auckland, New Zealand.

January 2016

SkyBus purchased the Frankston and Peninsula Airport Shuttle (FAPAS) business, rebranding it as SkyBus (sidenote: who the hell thought that FAPAS was a good name to call their business?)

August 2016

SkyBus launched a new direct bus service from Melbourne Airport to St Kilda, speeding up the journey for longer distance travellers from Frankston. (announced in April 2016)

February 2017

SkyBus took over operation of the Avalon Airport – Southern Cross Station route from Sita Group. (announced in December 2016)

July 2017

SkyBus took over operation of the Avalon Airport – Geelong route from Murrell Group.

November 2017

Skybus launched a new direct airport express for Southbank and Docklands.

December 2017

SkyBus purchased the Gold Coast Tourist Shuttle (GCTS) service in Queensland, rebranding it as SkyBus.

July 2018

Skybus launched two new airport bus services: Melbourne Airport to Tarneit and Werribee; and Melbourne Airport to the Mornington Peninsula via Rosebud, Mordialloc and Mentone.

July 2018

SkyBus purchased the Hobart Airporter service in Tasmania, rebranding it as SkyBus.

Seeing the writing on the wall

In 2016 SkyBus director, Michael Sewards, gave a hopefully response to airport rail proposals:

The reality is, just because you build an airport rail, it doesn’t mean people want to use it.

Yes, let’s plan for the next 15 or 30 years, but let’s also be somewhat sensible in this conversation by recognising we’ve had a service for over 38 years, which over 50 million passengers have used. We think we can co-exist with rail and provide a very competitive offering.

If we ever have an airport rail, it has to deliver all those value points for customer experience. Melbourne Airport warrants and deserves many modes supplying the highest level of customer experience, and we think SkyBus will be one of those.

But by 2018 they were more worried, questioning the government for choosing to subsidise a competing rail link.

“SkyBus welcomes any compelling mass transit rail option that can compete with our services, but surely there are important questions about at what cost the Victorian taxpayer will be asked to contribute both the build of this and the ongoing operations, let alone the fare price a $10-15 billion investment requires for a return to its investors,” added Mr Sewards.

Getting an opinion piece published in the Herald Sun on 28 August 2018.

Many people have welcomed the news that the long-debated Melbourne Airport Rail Link has finally secured funding from the Victorian and Federal governments.

As the existing provider of Melbourne Airport’s mass-transit service, SkyBus has also welcomed this development.

However, while a rail link to Melbourne Airport is an important development for the many thousands of people who currently travel to and from Melbourne Airport every day, it is only one part of the total transport solution needed to respond to the needs of travellers now and into the future.

And launching a ‘There’s room for everyone‘ campaign, and taking out a full page ‘We welcome an airport rail link too’ advertisement in the Herald Sun.

But experience at overseas airports shows that SkyBus will survive – many passengers will still choose an airport bus over an airport train, with one example being Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong experience

Hong Kong Airport is served by an airport rail link that overseas visitors love to rave about.

But it is the network of direct bus services that have captured the market.

In general, public transport modes dominate HKIA ground access market. Franchised buses have a large proportion (47 percent) with the Airport Express rail line (AEL) having 23 percent. The primary reason attracting air passengers to use the franchised buses is the lower travel cost. ‘Shortest time required’ is the main reason for those who used AEL.

Research there showed that directness of service was the reason for mode choice:

In order to understand the motivation for mode choice – and to explore the attribute of directness of service — MTR managers undertook some market research. Of those riders on the direct bus routes, an expected 55 percent said that the lower fare was a reason for choosing the bus; importantly, 51 percent stated that directness of service (i.e., no need to transfer) was a reason for their choice of mode. Directness of service was considered a factor by only 18 percent of rail riders, presumably those with destinations convenient to the terminals.

And that even throwing money at a gold plated rail service will do little to attract additional passengers.

It is apparent that even with a good design and well-integrated railway service, the Airport Express does not have inherent advantages over more direct single mode bus travel. In other words, the speed advantage of rail versus single mode road competitors when travelling over distances of only up to 34 km [21 mi] do not result in significant enough time savings to compensate for the necessary transfer.

Which also provides lessons for the State Government on how to deliver a Melbourne Airport rail link.

So what will Melbourne Airport rail do to SkyBus?

2018 saw the the signing of a new 10 year contract between SkyBus and the State Government, so it doesn’t look like SkyBus is intending to go anywhere.

I suspect that the Hong Kong experience will also play out in Melbourne – patronage on SkyBus’ primary Melbourne Airport to CBD route will plummet, with passengers switching to rail based on cost if it is a extension of existing suburban services, or quality if it is built as an express airport link.

As for the other SkyBus routes recently launched to other parts of Melbourne, patronage will stay much the same, with the one seat journey being preferred over a change trains in the city. However the real competition will be driving directly from home to the airport, over a freeway network that the State Government continues to expand.

Footnote

There is more than one way to get to Melbourne Airport, as Daniel Bowen describes in his post The cheap way to Melbourne Airport.

There are also a other privately operated bus services that run from Melbourne Airport towards Dandenong and Ringwood, as well further afield to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Gippsland and Shepparton.

More photos

Until the early-2000s SkyBus used full sized coaches for the trip out to the airport – ‘The Tulla Flyer’ has posted a selection of photos from this period on the Australian Transport Discussion Board.

Photos of the former SkyBus terminal at Spencer Street Station can be found at the ‘Showbus Australia’ website.

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‘Crate Men’ were appearing all over Melbourne – I found this example beside the railway line at Newport.

Also at Newport I came across a port shuttle train with a load of containers from the CRT Logistics terminal at Altona North.

These trains no longer run, with the government dragging their heels on their reinstatement, resulting in more trucks on the road in Melbourne’s west.

Back home in Geelong new rail infrastructure was being built, with an extension of the station building at Lara well underway.

As well as new standard gauge rail sidings at the Port of Geelong.

I also went chasing a number of trains, such as this Steamrail Victoria special at Geelong station.

This short trainload of logs bound for the Midway woodchip mill at North Shore.

And Pacific National clearing out their collection of life expired freight wagons at North Geelong Yard.

Up the road at Avalon Airport I photographed a Jetstar A320 arrive at the very spartan terminal.

As well as abandoned Qantas 747-300 VH-EBU ‘Nalanji Dreaming’.

She arrived at Avalon Airport in February 2005 for long term storage and was stripped of parts, eventually bein removed from the Australia aircraft register in May 2008.

I also paid a visit to Ballarat on a Seymour Railway Heritage Centre train, much to the delight of this newly married couple.

While I found V/Line’s ‘bus’ service to Ararat parked outside the station.

I found a much more conventional bus service outside North Melbourne station, where a pack of buses for the new route 401 shuttle to Melbourne University were parked.

At the station itself cranes were at work building the new concourse at the southern end.

With a temporary crash deck allowing work to continue while trains passed below.

I also found a diesel locomotive parked on the other side of the station, as construction work continued on the ‘Southern Star’ observation wheel behind.

The Southern Star wheel was shortlived – opened two years late in December 2008, it was shut down 40 days later due to design faults, and didn’t reopen until 2013 as the ‘Melbourne Star’ wheel.

As for the diesel locomotive, it has had a far more salubrious life – built by Clyde Engineering of Sydney in 1957 for the Kowloon-Canton Railway of Hong Kong, where it hauled passenger and then freight services for over 50 years, before being purchased by Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia (CFCLA) in 2005 and brought back home to Australia for a second life hauling freight trains.

And we end on this touch of the 1980s I spotted onboard a V/Line carriage.

As well as my 1:160 scale model of a V/Line N class diesel locomotive, posed in front of the real thing.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘

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Plenty of trains again this month – starting with a 8-car long V/Line special departing Geelong, loaded with cats fans headed for the MCG.

There were also a number of special tour trains running. I captured Steamrail Victoria running a diesel-hauled school holiday special train from Melbourne to Geelong.

The Seymour Railway Heritage Centre also visited town, with a train south to Warrnambool.

And even a train operated by the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum, who took their ‘Southern Auroa’ consist from NSW through to the western Victoria city of Ararat.

I also captured some more everyday workings, like this Warrnambool bound V/Line service in the southern Geelong suburb of Grovedale.

Along with a Waurn Ponds cement train.

And this Genesee & Wyoming Australia operated grain train.

Something unexpected was this power failure at Geelong station, which shut down V/Line rail services.

Trains could still keep keep on running, thanks to the redundant power supplies that feed the railway signals, but the lack of station lighting was considered a safety hazard for passengers.

Finally I paid a visit to the tin shed at Avalon that passes for an airport. The air traffic control is located opposite the terminal.

With passengers using portable stairs to access the aircraft.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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