Trains

We start the month with an ongoing project – Regional Rail Link. Work was underway to make room for a third pair of tracks through Footscray.

And the rebuilt station was starting to take shape.

Meanwhile at Southern Cross Station was another project – constructing the 699 Bourke Street office tower on top, a design feature proposed a decade earlier.

A hole was cut in the deck above platforms 13 and 14.

And a steel tub installed in it – possibly the base for lift shafts and escalators.

Was this the work that damaged the lights above platforms 13 and 14, leaving them in darkness? It’s quite possible.

New trams

Monday 4 November 2013 saw the first of the E class trams enter service – the first Melbourne-built trams for 20 years.

Trams E.6001 and E.6002 entered service on route 96 through the city.

Supplementing the bright yellow ‘Bumblebee’ trams.

Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is held on the first Tuesday of November, and the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant used to run a special breakfast tram out to Flemington Racecourse to start the day.

But in the afternoon the most convenient tram stop to leave the racecourse was closed to create an extra lane for cars.

Trams instead shunting through the third track on Union Road back at the Showgrounds.

Or crowding onboard high-floor Z3 class trams on route 57.

Slow progress

Work on the new platform stop at Collins and Elizabeth Streets was still progressing in November, months after the tracks were first relaid.

The yet to be commissioned stops confusing passengers.

A disappearing act

The Franklin Street tram stop on Elizabeth Street – now you see it.

And now you don’t.

In theory the stop was removed to speed the passage of trams through the CBD, but the reality is different – trams have to stop at both the new tram stops, and the traffic lights beside the removed tram stops.

Traffic light priority for Melbourne trams is still a dream!

And another something different

November 2013 also saw me fly off to China, visiting the cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Xi’an and riding high speed trains between them.

Followed by two weeks in Hong Kong.

Along with a short transit through Changi Airport in Singapore.

And a Myki related footnote

I tried my Myki card on the Yikatong card reader in Beijing, and the ‘invalid card’ message appeared quicker than anything the 1st generation Myki readers would give you.

Footnote

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

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The track is titled 一於少理 (“Yi Yu Shao Li”) and is the work of Hong Kong singer Alan Tam – a superstar in the world of Cantonese-language pop songs. It appeared on his 1983 album 遲來的春天 (“The Delayed Spring”) – hot on the tails of the Men at Work’s original Down Under climbing the charts across the world.

Footnote

Unlike most national days, for most Aussies celebrations on Australia Day don’t amount to more than sinking the piss at a summer BBQ – so just change the date already.

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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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The Indonesia Institute is Perth-based non-governmental organisation which from their on their web site and list of board members don’t appear to be overtly political.

However in their 2014 submission to the Productivity Commission public inquiry into Childcare and Early Childhood Learning, they veer into very “out there” territory:

The Institute submits that immigration and labour regulations should be liberalised to allow carers from Indonesia (and other Asian countries) to work as nannies in Australia at a cost acceptable to both nannies and the majority of Australian families.

It will be helpful for purpose of this submission to briefly describe how the Institute’s proposal might work. The Institute considers that the following description is realistic, based on the experience in other countries.

• a. An Asian nanny would be paid approximately AUD 200 per week. This is twice the amount a nanny would earn in Indonesia.
• b. A percentage of the AUD 200 would be paid to an Australian agency to oversee the scheme (as is done in Singapore). The Institute considers it crucial that an Australian agency would have oversight of the scheme to ensure the welfare of Asian nannies while they are in Australia.
• c. The host family would lodge a bond with the Australian agency. The bond would be held against the possibility that the nanny was not paid or was mistreated.
• d. The host family would provide and pay for:
  • i. private medical insurance,
  • ii. accommodation and food,
  • iii. a work clothing allowance.
• e. The nanny would be entitled to every Sunday off and a return airfare home for 2 weeks every year (as is done in Hong Kong).

Note the comparison to Hong Kong, as the proposal from the Indonesia Institute is a carbon copy of the ‘Foreign Domestic Helper’ system in Hong Kong – one which has been compared to slavery; and lead to accusations of human trafficking, forced labour, torture, and physical abuse against those who come to the city to work.

Later in their submission, the Indonesia Institute comments how sustainable similar programs elsewhere:

As is demonstrated elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region (for example, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan) the use of caregivers from developing Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines is market based and therefore highly sustainable. There is no requirement for governments to subsidise the provision of care in those countries.

They also detail how they believe such a program will help developing nations in Asia:

The Institute considers that the Institute’s proposal would open a new, highly sustainable, avenue of funds to developing nations in the Asia Pacific region. This is highly sustainable because it is not aid but the result of value-adding economic activity. Indonesian expatriate carers typically return to Indonesia with sufficient funds to purchase property or set themselves up in business. This enduring positive effect in developing countries has support in recent economic literature on development.

However the big point that the Indonesia Institute doesn’t address is the potential for the exploitation of migrant workers – bringing people with little money and no support network into a situation of what is essentially servitude to their employers.

Footnote

Turns out this idea is nothing new – back in 2014 The Age published an article titled Call for Asian nannies to reduce childcare costs that covered the same ground, again quoting the Indonesia Institute.

Further reading

• The original submission from the Indonesia Institute.
• More about ‘Foreign Domestic Helpers’ in Hong Kong.

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The Melbourne Metro webpage for the third platform project has the full details:

A new platform for West Footscray Station

To get the most out of the new underground rail line and the relief it will provide to crowding, we will be building a new platform and track at West Footscray. This will allow some Sunbury line services to turn around at this station.

This additional platform will enable trains to terminate and commence services at West Footscray station. It is not anticipated that Metro trains will be stabled at the station.

How Melbourne Metro will benefit West Footscray Station

The additional platform and track to the north of the station (Cross Street side) will service city bound trains coming from Sunbury in the morning and afternoon peak periods. The existing city bound platform will be used for Sunbury line trains to terminate and commence services at West Footscray station. This will help trains run on time and reduce delays.

Providing an additional platform and length of track for Sunbury line trains will also facilitate an increase in the number of services at West Footscray station during the morning and afternoon peak.

Works at West Footscray station involve realigning regional, suburban and freight tracks, construction of new tracks and turnouts (to enable trains to change direction), a new passenger platform and alterations to the existing station concourse. No works are required on private land.

Track and station work would likely be conducted in stages to limit disruption to commuters and the local community.

So time for a critical look at what is being proposed – I’m going to ignore the fact that West Footscray station just got rebuilt as part of the Regional Rail Link project – and instead explore why the proposal is a triumph of operator convenience over passenger amenity.

An additional platform at West Footscray doesn’t make things any easier for passengers – it makes things harder. With the new platform isolated on the north side of the tracks, citybound passengers will be presented with a new choice:

• walk down to the new platform 1 to board the next train ex-Sunshine and hope you can fit onboard,
• or walk down to the existing citybound platform where an empty train is currently awaiting departure back to town, and hope that it leaves soon.

And good luck to any passenger who makes the wrong choice – by the time you can see the next citybound train, it will already be too late to change platforms via the overhead concourse!

The only redeeming feature I can see with the proposed works that any outbound passengers on a train terminating at West Footscray only need to walk across the island platform in order to catch the next train towards Sunbury.

One has to take the small wins.

Elsewhere in Melbourne

Melbourne’s rail network has a number of triple track sections, and all suffer from the same problem – in the middle of the day the centre track changes direction, which requires passengers to check their watch before choosing a platform.

And at Watergardens station, citybound passengers face the same problems that West Footscray passengers will face in future – services coming from Sunbury use platform 1 while terminating trains head back to the city across the tracks on platform 2.

We also have Laverton station – $93 million was spent in 2009-10 to rebuild the station, with a third platform being added to the north side, freeing up space for trains from Altona to terminate free of the mainline. Again the same problem – citybound trains leave from different sides of the station.

And finally Westall station – a total of $153 million was spent in 2009-10 on a third track and turnback platform that spent the first year out of service, and suffers from the same flaw – citybound trains don’t depart from the same island platform.

Notice a recurring theme?

A solution

Centre turnback platforms aren’t something new that Melbourne has invented – they exist on rail networks all over the world, and can be incredibly convenient for passengers.

This is achieved with a ‘Spanish solution’ platform layout – four platforms are provided to serve three tracks, with the centre track having platforms on both sides, allowing passengers from either side to board the train.

In Hong Kong I found one at Choi Hung station on the MTR Kwun Tong Line.

But a rail network doesn’t need to have platform screen doors in order to place platforms on both sides of a track – Fo Tan station on the MTR East Rail line is out in the open.

And closer to home, even Adelaide can do it – Glanville and Brighton stations feature centre turnback tracks with a platform on each side.

Brighton station photo by Normangerman via Wikimedia Commons

Why should we in Melbourne settle for anything less?

Diving deeper

After I shared my initial thoughts about centre turnback platforms, I got the following response:

why not send those “short run” Sunbury trains to say Melton.

Why didn’t I think of that!

With the growth of Melbourne’s western suburbs, Footscray station will soon be the equivalent of South Yarra, and Sunshine station will be the equivalent of Caulfield. If someone proposed turning back trains at Toorak station they’d be laughed out of the room – so why is it any different for the other side of Melbourne?

While West Footscray station located on a double track railway, it is only two stations beyond the massive apartment developments of Footscray, and two stations from the major rail junction that is Sunshine.

Provided the new high capacity signalling system is rolled out as far as Sunshine, there isn’t any technical reason why trains for the Melbourne Metro can’t be split between the existing Sunbury line and the future electrified Melton line – just make sure to build a grade separated flyover to split trains on the two routes.

Footnote

Building a new station only to tear it down a few years later – the same thing happened at Footscray where a new footbridge opened in 2010, only to be partially demolished in 2013 for Regional Rail Link works.

When will they learn – you can’t plan ahead if you don’t know where you are headed.

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However on my recent trip to Hong Kong I still couldn’t escape them, as I browsed the internet from my hotel room.

Off to a different website – and another advertisement for the same Central Equity property expo.

You can’t escape it, can you?

Footnote

Targeting online advertising to visitors from a specific physical location is known as geotargeting. As for Australian property developer advertising their apartment developments to overseas investors, it isn’t anything new.

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At Central station on Hong Kong’s world famous MTR network, the platform supervisor sits in a glass booth facing a bank of CCTV monitors that shows everything going on around them at the station, in addition to a computer screen that displays the current location of each train on the line. With all that data, working out how long until the next train arrives is a simple task.

Over at Central station in Sydney, CityRail’s platform staff also have computer screens showing them where their trains currently are, but only for those running through the inner city area. If the issue is out in suburban whoop-whoop the platform staff won’t see it, and need to get on the phone to the control room to find out, but at least it gives them something to work with.

Meanwhile back in Melbourne, getting any form of real time data is wishful thinking – the platform staff at Melbourne Central Station gets an A4 ring binder containing a printed version of the timetable, a telephone link back to Metro’s main train control centre, and a window to look at the same screens that every passenger is squinting to see.

Thankfully Metro Trains have realised that that lack of up-to-date data provided to their frontline customer service staff is an issue of critical importance, as seen in this tweet from late August:

He normally calls the footy but today he’s calling the trains. See Dennis Cometti, guest platform announcer, Richmond Station, after 4pm.

— Metro Trains (@metrotrains) August 31, 2012

So just remember next time the rail service in Melbourne heads up shit creek and the staff on the platform can’t tell you anything – antiquated technology means they probably know just as much as you do.

Footnote

It seems that the train tracking system up in Sydney is more advanced than I through it was: a report from 2005 describes the “Train Location System” as such:

RailCorp is gradually rolling-out the Train Location System (TLS) which enables station staff to see where trains are on the network and reduces their reliance on telephone calls from the signal box. It is now available at 201 (out of 306) stations and covers about two-thirds of the network. The TLS allows station staff to see where a train is and provides advanced notice of late running services or cancellations.

Their main control room is also a world ahead of that in Melbourne: this 2011 article from the Daily Telegraph takes you on a tour.

I have also been told that the “Train Location System” has since been rolled out to virtually the entire CityRail network – putting Melbourne to shame yet again.

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I’ve decided to split off the Hong Kong related content into a new blog, titled:

Checkerboard Hill (An Aussie’s view of Hong Kong)

You can find the new blog at http://www.checkerboardhill.com/, and I’m intending to post at least one new entry per week to each blog.

(If you are wondering about the blog name, then have a look here)

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