In the beginning

Back in the “good old days” paper tickets ruled the railways, each one of them individually numbered, and sold for a specific combination of origin and destination.

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As you might expect, that added up to a lot of tickets.

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Which took up a lot of space in a ticket office.

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The poor ticketing clerk being surrounded by them!

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So the Victorian Railways separated out the ticket offices at major stations – for example Spencer Street had separate ‘suburban’ ticket offices.

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And Flinders Street Station directed country passengers to a single ticket offices at the ‘Centre’ entrance opposite Degraves Street.

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Times change

By the 1980s reforms to suburban tickets saw a new system introduced – first the ‘Neighbourhood’ paper tickets, followed by zone based “Scratch” tickets, massively reducing the number of tickets to be sold.

Scan via Reddit

And then cut back even further with the introduction of Metcard, and the on-demand encoding of pre-printed tickets by automated machines.

V/Line also went through a similar modernisation, switching to tickets printed on-demand by a computer terminal.

And then in 2013 something resembling a unification of the two systems, when Myki was rolled out to the V/Line network, as “one system to rule them all”.

But with one exception – the rollout of Myki to long distance V/Line services was dropped, leaving them using the legacy paper ticket system, which need to be issued via a computer system dedicated to the task.

And today

Southern Cross Station still has separate suburban and country ticket offices – Metro Trains Melbourne runs ticket offices on the Collins Street and Bourke Street concourses.

While V/Line runs their ticket offices at the Spencer Street entrance to the station, and beneath the Bourke Street Bridge.

Flinders Street Station also splits the ticket offices – there is a V/Line ‘Regional Tickets’ window beside the Metro Trains Melbourne ‘Customer Service’ counter.

Melbourne Central has a V/Line branded ‘Regional Trains’ window at the Swanston Street end of the station.

Oakleigh has a wooden door with a ‘Country / Interstate Booking Office’ sign on it.

And back to what triggered this post – Box Hill station has a little V/Line branded room beside the ticket office.

Footnote: printing paper tickets

As you might have guessed, selling each passenger a paper ticket every time they travelled used up a lot of paper – a million tickets a week.

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So the Victorian Railways ran their own printing works on Laurens Street, North Melbourne.

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And then sent them to a room at head office – 67 Spencer Street.

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Where staff would stamp the unique serial number onto each ticket blank.

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Footnote: a weird franchise fact

With suburban trains being operated by Metro Trains Melbourne and country trains by V/Line, the franchise agreements need to specify who is responsible for what. First, V/Line trains need access to Metro stations:

Schedule 7
Interoperator Agreements
Part 1 Mandatory Interoperator Agreements
1 Access Agreements
(a) The V/Line Passenger Access Agreement.
(b) The Station Access Agreement – NSW TrainLink for access by NSW Trains (ABN 50 325 560 455) to tracks leased by the Franchisee from PTV.

And V/Line has to have access to the ticket offices located in stations managed by Metro.

– The Sublease for the ticket office box at Flinders Street Station dated 20 November 2009 between the Franchisee and V/Line.
– The Station Agreement for access by V/Line to stations leased by the Franchisee from PTV.

Sounds like the only winners are the lawyers paid to write up these agreements.

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Hello, Southern Cross platform 8

Platform 8 is usually used by V/Line, and the last of the dead end platforms at Southern Cross before the electrified “through” platforms 9 to 14 used by Metro Trains Melbourne.

But platform 8 has a trick up it’s sleeve – overhead wiring for the use of electric trains.

The overhead wiring dates back to the 1920s, when the entire Spencer Street Station complex was electrified for the use of the new fangled electric trains, including the country platforms.

Weston Langford photo

It remained in place until the 1960s renovation of the station which saw the bulk of it removed, except for platform 8 – spared thanks to the L class electric locomotives used to haul country trains to Gippsland.

Weston Langford photo

But following their retirement in 1987, there was little need for the overhead wires at platform 8 and they fell into disuse – until they were rebuilt as part of the Southern Cross Station project. New overhead wires were installed in 2006, and then – nothing.

Metro Trains on platform 8

November 2014 saw the first electric train use Southern Cross platform 8 – a Comeng train minus passengers, sent there to test that it was compatible with the infrastructure.

A new ‘Metro Trains stop here’ sign had been installed at the south end of the platform 8, along with a fixed trainstop to automatically apply the emergency brakes if an electric train passed the mark.

So why the change of heart? Metro Trains wanted to run special trains to Flemington Racecourse and Melbourne Showgrounds as shuttles from Southern Cross platform 8, avoiding the need to continue over the viaduct to Flinders Street Station and take up a platform there.

The test was successful, with the first revenue usage being race specials to Flemington Racecourse on 13 December 2014.

In the years since, X’Trapolis trains headed for the Showgrounds have also used platform 8.

As have Siemens trains.

And the complicated bit

No, Metro Trains can’t just send an electric train into Southern Cross platform 8 any time they feel like it – there is a special operating procedure that must be followed each time the platform is handed over from V/Line to Metro.

Spencer Street – Routing Restriction Suburban Electric Trains
No. 8, No. 8A & No. 8 South Tracks

Commencing Monday 8th December 2014, suburban electric passenger trains are permitted to be routed into No. 8 track at Spencer Street via No. 8 North or No.8A tracks from Signal Post No. 520 only.

Suburban electric trains (passenger or empty) are not permitted to be routed into No. 8 South track (from either direction) or towards No. 8 or 8a tracks from Signal No.123 (City Circle Viaduct), Signal No.303 (Burnley Viaduct) or Signal No.567 (Northern Viaduct).

The routing of suburban electric passenger trains towards No. 8 track from Signal No. 520 will only occur when advertised by special circular with the following prerequisites in place;

– Points No. 435 & 448 must be secured in the normal position by lockable point clip.
– The special platform coping infill must be fixed in place.

The Signaller Metrol, Northern Panel must record in the signal control panel log book the details regarding the installation or removal of the point securing devices (points 435 & 448) and the platform coping infill.

The installation or removal of the platform coping infill and the application / removal of point securing devices will be undertaken under cover of an Absolute Occupation.

The “special infill panel” is attached to the edge of the platform.

You need to look very closely to see that is there.

But it fills a missing chunk of platform edge.

So why not fill the gap permanently? Trains diverging through a crossover sway outwards at the end of each carriage, putting them closer to the platform edge.

So when the necessary platform gap is filled, trains cannot be allowed to use the crossover.

Which explains the “lockable point clip” part of the procedure – it prevents the crossover from being changed to direct trains towards the filled in platform gap.

Simples?

And that’s not all

Metro Trains marks the end of the line with a red buffer light.

While V/Line does not.

So what to do with Southern Cross platform 8, where both operators run trains?

Install a buffer light to meet the standards of Metro Trains.

But cover it up when the platform is handed back to V/Line.

Using a sliding metal cover.

Why can’t they both just get along!

A technical footnote

I’ve been informed that Southern Cross Station platform 8 is actually part of the Metro Trains Melbourne infrastructure lease – the track and signalling is maintained by them, despite V/Line trains using the platform the majority of the time.

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V/Line to Deer Park

Welcome to Deer Park station, located 17 kilometres west from Southern Cross Station.

With nothing of note other than car parks and suburban houses.

In peak many trains run express through the station.

And the trains that do stop are already full of passengers from Geelong and Ballarat.

And Ardeer

Even more forgettable is Ardeer station.

Only 15 kilometres from Southern Cross.

Yet still had a gravel platform as late as 2014.

In 2015 Regional Rail Link transformed the level of service to both stations – going from a train every two hours to a train around every 20 minutes, split between the Ballarat and Geelong lines.

But from 31 January 2021 the service levels have doubled again – off peak, Deer Park now sees six trains per hour, with every second train stopping at Ardeer as well.

Meanwhile riding Metro Trains Melbourne to Sunshine

Sunshine station was rebuilt as part of the Regional Rail Link project in 2014, and is located 12 kilometres from Southern Cross.

With four platforms, served by V/Line and Metro trains.

It is also a major transport hub for connecting buses.

With the area around the station a service and shopping hub for the surrounding suburbs.

But how many trains stop there off peak? Half that of Deer Park – just three trains an hour!

So how to fix it?

Off peak trains run every 10 minutes between the City and Ringwood, Dandenong and Frankston despite little promotion, with plans for a wider rollout promised in 2014 but never went anywhere.

But what about the Metro Tunnel, which will allow ‘More Trains More Often’ between Sunbury and the city once it is completed in 2025?

Hahaha!

The original Metro Tunnel business plan from 2016 delivered nothing to the Sunbury line, with millions spent on an extra platform at West Footscray so that trains from the city would not have to continue west to Sunshine and Sunbury!

The only bright spot on the horizon – the upcoming Melbourne Airport Rail Link will run via Sunshine, which will hopefully double the number of trains serving this growing suburban hub.

Footnote: V/Line trains and suburban passengers

For many years V/Line trains stopping at suburban stations have been advertised as ‘Not taking suburban passengers’.

And for a while enforcing it was pretty simple – V/Line had their own system of paper tickets, so conductors could check to see where someone boarded.

But the 2014 introduction of Myki to V/Line removed this distinction, so a new rule was added to the Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual.

V/Line pick-up and set-down restrictions

For the purposes of the Conditions under this heading, in following three paragraphs, ‘metropolitan railway station’ means a railway station shown on the Melbourne Train Network Map in Figure A of Schedule 2 to these Conditions, other than Ardeer, Caroline Springs, Deer Park, Rockbank, Melton, Sunbury and Pakenham railway stations.

A customer may only board a V/Line train at a metropolitan railway station if the V/Line train service ends at a railway station that is not a metropolitan railway station.

A customer may only alight from a V/Line train at a metropolitan railway station if the V/Line train service ends at a railway station that is a metropolitan railway station or with the permission of an authorised person.

If a customer boards, or alights from, a V/Line train at a metropolitan railway station in contravention of either of the two immediately preceding paragraphs, any ticket held by the customer is not, or ceases to be, valid for the customer’s journey that consists of, or includes, the customer’s travel in that V/Line train or for any entry to a compulsory ticket area associated with that journey.

Basically the new rule renders your valid ticket invalid for travel if you use on a V/Line train at a station with set-down and pick-up restrictions – allowing them to fine you for fare evasion.

Footnote: level crossings at Deer Park

During the construction of Regional Rail Link, residents of Ardeer were worried that level crossings would spend more time closed than open.

And they were surprisingly accurate – the gates down for up to 40 minutes at a time!

At least that problem is about to be solved – the level crossings at Mt Derrimut Road and Robinsons Road in Deer Park, and Fitzgerald Road in Ardeer are about to be grade separated.

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On arriving in the waiting room I found a summary board listing the next three departures in each direction.

When walking along the footbridge towards the platforms, each platform had the next three departures listed, including stopping patterns.

While down on the platform, the stopping pattern of the next train was again displayed, as well as the following three trains.

Now compare Wyndham Vale with your average station on the “suburban” network – lucky stations get a single LED matrix display per platform that displays the time until the next train, with the stopping pattern scrolling along the bottom line.

While everybody else gets stuck with the hopeless “talking bricks”.

V/Line might be in denial about their status as a suburban rail operator, but whoever specified their new real time train information system knew what they were doing.

Footnote

On second thoughts, the main reason that V/Line’s new passenger information screens are “good” is because the systems in suburban Melbourne are so woefully inadequate. Over at V/Line the hardware itself looks fine, as is the information provided to passengers, but the layout and display of the data could be much improved – larger fonts and the use of colour would make a world of difference.

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Officially known as Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSIs), installing the little plastic things takes a whole crew of workers.

First the old yellow painted line is ground off the platform.

Then a steel straightedge is temporarily bolted into place.

This provides a guide for the hole drilling.

A special drilling rig is required to create the holes with the correct spacing.

Meanwhile another staff members is the lookout for approaching trains.

Once all of the holes are drilled an interesting looking grid appears.

And now the boring bit commences – hammering in each plastic dimple one by one.

Down the middle runs a yellow line, with orange either side.

The different workers attack their part of the work in different ways.

Leaving odd collections of dimples when they knock off for the day.

But eventually the job is finished.

Footnote: constantly inconsistent standards

There happens to be two different ‘standards’ for the installation of tactile markings at railway stations in Victoria.

Platforms on the ‘suburban’ network have three orange rows, three yellow rows, and six orange rows.

While ‘regional’ platforms used only by V/Line train have two rows of yellow dimples along the edge, followed by ten orange rows.

Beyond the two different ‘standards’, a number of railway stations have their own oddball installations of tactile markings – this thread on the Railpage Australia forums has more detail than you probably ever wanted to know.

And V/Line versus Metro

Diggers Rest is an even more peculiar example – in 2011 the station was upgraded as part of the Sunbury Electrification project, with V/Line-style tactile markings installed along the resurfaced platform.

But a few months later, the little plastic bumps had been changed to the suburban style.

Someone having worked their way along the entire platform, prising up the three rows of orange dimples along the train side, and installing three new rows along the platform side.

I wonder how many hours that took to achieve!

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