Christmas Day and New Years Eve

Travel on trains, trams and buses has been free in Victoria on Christmas Day and New Years Eve for many years.

The first reference I can find is in 1999, followed by Christmas Day 2004, an ING Direct sponsorship for New Years Eve 2004, and an expansion to V/Line in 2006. 2007 marked straight straight years of free travel, and in 2009 the practice was written into the new train contract.

2008: Connex screw up

On 6 November 2008 an electrical fault brought the Melbourne train network to a halt in the middle of peak hour, resulting in Oaks Day race patrons spilling out onto the tracks.

The Age photo

With embattled Melbourne rail operator Connex then in the process of trying to keep it’s $600 million-a-year contract to run the network, they issued a desperate mea culpa, and offered free travel to anyone with a ticket to the Stakes Day race meeting held on 8 November 2008.

2009: Summer heat cripples the rail network

In January 2009 a heatwave hit Melbourne, crippling a railway network held together with duct tape and bubble gum, and leading to a week of service cancellations – culminating in 200 trains cancelled on Wednesday 28th, over 300 services on Thursday 29th, and 284 on Friday 30th. The state government’s solution – declaring 30 January 2009 a day of free travel.

2010: New rail operator, same problems

Metro Trains Melbourne might taken over from Connex as the operator of trains in Melbourne, but the network was still falling apart – an example being 27 July 2010 when a faulty overhead wire cut power between Southern Cross and Flinders Street stations, severely limiting the amount of trains that could move through that section, and causing crowds across the network.

As a result the state government decided that Friday 30 July 2010 would be a day of free travel across Melbourne.

2016: now V/Line screws up

In January 2016 V/Line discovered major issues with their fleet of VLocity trains, resulting in dozens of cancelled services each day, and the crush loading of the trains that are running. Here is a selection of photos from the period.

To compensate for the disruptions to services, in V/Line declared free travel on all services from January 23 to 31, but with no resolution in sight, it was extended another week until February 7.

2018: buying votes in south-east Melbourne

In the lead up to the 2018 state election, Premier Daniel Andrews announced free travel on replacement buses for passengers on the Cranbourne, Pakenham and Gippsland lines during first three weeks of December, while works were completed on the ‘Skyrail’ level crossing removal project.

Passengers given given ‘free travel tokens’ to identify themselves to station staff.

2019: pissed off Gippsland passengers

Level crossing removals followed by Metro Tunnel works and signalling upgrades in suburban Melbourne saw V/Line passengers from Gippsland put onto buses for months on end, so to ease the pain the government gave them free travel on the replacement buses in January 2019, April 2019, July 2019 and January 2020.

2023: we forgot to install the ticketing equipment

In April 2023 a brand new station opened at Deer Park following the removal of the level crossing, but one thing was missing – the Myki equipment!

And their solution – hand out ‘Free travel from Deer Park station until 7 May 2023’ flyers to every passenger using the station, with a second bath of flyers printed up before the Myki equipment was finally switched on from Tuesday 23 May.

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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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The fall

For years the state government had been underinvesting in rail infrastructure, leading to debacles such as the 2008 Oaks Day failure:

Connex did not have enough staff to respond to a rail meltdown on Oaks Day last year that left tens of thousands of furious racegoers stranded, the state’s rail safety chief has found.

Trains between Flemington and the city failed on the afternoon of November 6 last year, just as 90,000 people were spilling from the racetrack.

Overhead wires melted above one train stopped between North Melbourne and Newmarket. This knocked out power and halted all services in the area.

Hundreds of passengers were left stranded aboard one hot, airless and broken down train. The risked their lives by abandoning the train and walking on train lines to escape.

Tens of thousands more in the CBD had peak-hour trips home thrown into chaos by the fault.

Victoria’s director of public transport safety Alan Osborne has today released his findings into the incident.

He found Connex’s contingency plans for the emergency were “somewhat inadequate”.

However, despite finding Connex did not have sufficient staff to manage the incident, it had complied with all safety procedures, Mr Osborne said.

Experienced rail maintenance staff at the time of meltdown told The Age it had occurred due to long-term neglect of Melbourne’s rail system.

But Mr Osborne did not find this to be the case. Instead, he said that all maintenance procedures had been followed.

However, Mr Osborne noted that the city’s entire rail network was now being checked to make sure identical faults did not occur.

And mass cancellations during the 2009 summer heatwave:

Melbourne’s frazzled train commuters should brace for another nightmare day, after one of the worst in Connex’s history yesterday.

The city’s crumbling rail system failed as tracks buckled and trains broke down amid baking temperatures for the second consecutive day.

And with the mercury already in the mid-30s this morning on the way to an expected top of 43, Connex had already cancelled 34 trains by 8am, following the failure of about 234 services yesterday.

Scores of trains were cancelled due to faulty air-conditioning and other heat-related faults. Passengers on the Hurstbridge and Epping lines faced extra delays after tracks between Jolimont and Flinders Street buckled.

Connex repair teams, armed with hoses, sledgehammers and crowbars, worked for more than an hour to bash the rails back into shape.

Rails on the Glen Waverley line, at Holmesglen, also buckled in the heat.

Clawing back

Connex eventually responded by ramping up maintenance, such as replacing rotting timber railway sleepers with concrete ‘partial replacement sleepers’.

Wanting to hang onto the contract to run the train system:

Connex admits it could have done more to cope with Melbourne’s record surge in rail patronage and the resulting passenger frustration, but it wants another chance to run the network for at least the next eight years.

As Connex fights to renew its contract before the Government’s mid-year decision on who will run Melbourne’s rail system, chairman Jonathan Metcalfe conceded that the organisation had made mistakes.

But the biggest problem, he said, was record patronage growth on a network neglected for decades by state governments..

“We’ve had more than our fair share of issues and difficulties,” Mr Metcalfe said. “(But) have we made mistakes? Yes, we have. Of course we could have done more and we should have done more, but the sheer scale of (patronage growth) has been greater than anywhere in Australia or probably anywhere else in the world.”

But lost the contract during the 2009 renewal process.

The decision to oust Connex is likely to be warmly greeted by train passengers who have become increasingly infuriated with late, overcrowded and cancelled services across the network.

May was the fifth month in a row that Melbourne trains did not meet punctuality targets with almost one in 10 failing to arrive at their destination on time.

Connex this year had $11 million wiped from its revenue by the Government after 2.8 per cent of all train services were cancelled in the first months of the year.

Asked if the tender decision was a condemnation of Connex, Mr Brumby said it “wasn’t helpful to look back”, but he admitted Connex’s record showed that in some areas “obviously their performance could have improved”.

Ms Kosky, a regular target of commuter fury, said MTM would deliver improved reliability and fewer cancellations for Melbourne’s train passengers.

The people of Melboune were hopeful that something might change – some wags even put on a ‘Goodbye to Connex’ party.

Enter Metro Trains Melbourne

November 30 saw the first Metro Trains Melbourne branded train break cover at Newport Workshops.

And head for Flinders Street Station.

Where Premier John Brumby and Transport Minister Lynne Kosky were in attendance, along with Metro Trains Melbourne CEO Andrew Lezala, and members of the press.

But in the end, nothing really changed.

Thirteen months after Labor scrubbed the tarnished Connex brand from Melbourne’s history, Metro’s performance record is even worse. This, despite the newcomer costing Victorians many millions more in its first year than Connex in its last. The Brumby government is no more and ALP state secretary Nick Reece has pointed to disruption in train services before the November poll as a key factor in his party’s demise.

While it is early days for Metro in its eight-year contract, there is a widely held view among rail industry insiders and commentators that the company has hit a wall in Melbourne; that an entrenched inertia and old boys’ network in the state bureaucracy and unions has made reform in Melbourne public transport impossible.

Metro neglected rail infrastructure.

The tracks on Melbourne’s rail network are riddled with serious faults – some left unfixed for years – a leaked internal Metro Trains report shows.

And an email sent by one of the rail operator’s senior staff last month appears to show the company responding to the massive repair backlog by simply deleting reports of faults if they had not yet failed.

But in 2016 was given the exclusive right to negotiate a contract extension, which was awarded in 2017.

And a trainspotting footnote

X’Trapolis train 863M-1632T-864M – 897M-1649T-898M was the first in the fleet to receive the Metro Trains Melbourne livery.

Further reading

I’ve also got a ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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New infrastructure

Work on the new platform at Laverton was well underway, with tracks laid but not connected.

At Footscray station the new footbridge was starting to look real.

But the rickety old timber bridge was still in place.

While at North Melbourne the new concourse had finally opened, with both Metcard and myki ticket readers provided.

Allowing the old northern exit to be closed off.

With Connex staff on hand to direct any confused passengers.

The extension of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre had also wrapped up.

The new Seafarers Bridge was open to pedestrians.

And the wharf sheds at the Duke’s and Orr’s dry dock were being restored for use as a bar.

Changes around Geelong

I visited the Barrabool Hills, where the Geelong Ring Road climbs away from the Barwon River.

Back then it was empty paddocks.

But now it’s full of houses, occupied by people who commute to Melbourne.

I also went past the Ford casting plant at North Shore, where engine blocks for Ford cars were produced.

The plant closed in 2016 following Ford’s withdrawal from Australian manufacturing, and is currently being demolished.

And scenes that are gone

Remember when trams stopped at each intersection along Swanston Street, and you needed to climb up from road level?

Design work for platform stops at City Square, Bourke Street and the State Library commenced in 2010, with the new stops completed in 2012.

Southern Cross Station used to be a lot emptier.

As was the Docklands skyline to the west.

The station is now filled with shops, while I’ve lost track of all the buildings built in Docklands.

Over at ‘E’ Gate I found a much more industrial scene, where loaded steel wagons were being shunted.

Followed by a steel train bound for Hastings.

But now the entire area is an empty paddock: the yard closed in 2015 to make room for the ‘E’ Gate development, but will instead be covered with flyovers for the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ project.

I also headed out to West Footscray station.

This entire scene is now gone following the Regional Rail Link project, with the current West Footscray station opened in 2013.

The view in the other direction is also gone.

Every single house on the north side of Buckley Street was compulsorily acquired to make room for the additional tracks, and the footbridge I was standing on demolished and not replaced.

And around the corner was the Rising Sun Hotel.

Back then it was abandoned, but it has since been reborn – the pub was converted to apartments in 2012, with the mural peeking out from behind.

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Lots of construction

On the Craigieburn line, a new $38 million railway station was taking shape at Coolaroo.

While at Craigieburn the second platform was being prepared for the use of suburban trains.

Both projects were originally intended to be part of the Craigieburn Rail Project completed in 2007, but descoped to a lack of funds.

Down on the Werribee line the $92.6 project to add a third platform to Laverton station was well underway.

The old ramp was ready to be demolished.

To be replaced by a steep set of stairs, and unreliable lifts that are too small to take an ambulance stretcher.

Work was also well underway on the new footbridge at Footscray station, with the site cleared.

And the first bridge span waiting to be lifted into place.

And a short distance away at Sunshine a different rail bridge was under construction.

Costing $15 million, the 8 span 220 metres long ‘Brooklyn Sunshine Triangle Bridge‘ enabled freight services from the north and west of Victoria to pass through Melbourne, removing the need for trains to stop at Tottenham Yard and reverse direction.

Regional Rail Link kicks off

August 27 saw the media circus roll into Southern Cross Station, as state and federal politicians turned the first sod for the Regional Rail Link project.

The crowd of minders having arrived an hour earlier, including a construction worker charged with making sure the pile driver was spotless.

The politicians and media scrum had to make their way through the old Spencer Street subway.

Where they emerged at the future platform 15/16.

Victorian Premier John Brumby, Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky were there.

Where they slowly raised and lowered a pile driver head.

I also headed out to Wyndham Vale, where a long empty strip of land marked the site of the future station.

Dennis Family Homes, developer of the Manor Lakes estate, couldn’t believe their luck – their advertised ‘transport link’ was actually happening.

The new line opened to passengers in June 2015.

Around Melbourne and Geelong

At first glance Southern Cross Station didn’t look that different, with promotional stands blocking the main entrance.

But from up top the view was different – one could enjoy a drink in the bar, as late evening commuters trickle in.

The bar and food count on level 1 of the Collins Street concourse closed in 2011, replaced by a Woolworths supermarket.

Out in the boondocks of Campbellfield I crossed over the Western Ring Road onboard an Upfield line train.

The freeway has gone from six to eight lanes, upgraded by the ‘Tulla Sydney Alliance’ in May 2013 but the railway line is still single track, despite the removal of the nearby Camp Road level crossing in 2018.

While on the western edge of Geelong I drove out to the newly developed ‘Highview Estate’ in Highton, where houses were taking over the Barrabool Hills.

Today the fields are covered with houses, with many of the residents probably driving to Melbourne for work via the recently completed Geelong Ring Road.

And a few trains

August 2009 saw me take a ride around suburban Melbourne with Steamrail Victoria, with our seam train visiting Cranbourne, Upfield, Craigieburn and Williamstown.

I also followed a Connex Melbourne train through the open countryside of the Ballarat line.

The train was bound for the Alstom Ballarat workshops for upgrades to the passenger information and CCTV systems.

Also in Ballarat I found two accident damaged Comeng suburban trains.

Both have since been scrapped – carriage 1109T having been damaged in the 2002 Epping collision while carriage 553M was destroyed by fire in 2002.

And to finish – we see the Maryvale paper train waiting at North Dynon, before another trip east.

And another load of grain headed west from Geelong, with a rainbow overhead.

Footnote

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

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Rail patronage was still in the doldrums during the early-2000s, so transport planners floated the idea of off-peak express trains between the Melbourne CBD and the outer suburbs.

With the Bracks Government including them in their Linking Victoria program:

The Government’s Metropolitan Rail upgrade program, part of the Linking Victoria program, includes the introduction of express ‘Flyer Trains’. These trains will reduce travel times on suburban lines serving Melbourne’s outer suburbs and key growth corridors. The new train services will operate on the Frankston, Dandenong and Ringwood lines.

Dandenong line

A feasibility study is underway in conjunction with the Regional Fast Rail project to identify the most cost-effective way to deliver faster regional and metropolitan train services. The staged development of a third track between Caulfield and Dandenong is envisaged as a long term solution.

Frankston line

M>Train, the operator of trains on the Frankston line, is spending over $5m in speed improvement works on the line. Express and other services will benefit from these works. Flyer Trains will be implemented with stopping patterns that maximise the advantages of the upgraded infrastructure.

Ringwood line

A combination of infrastructure works and new train timetables are being investigated to deliver faster train services from Lilydale to Belgrave. Triplicating parts or all of the train line between Box Hill and Ringwood is being considered. Improvements in rail services will also be integrated with transport improvements introduced as part of the Scoresby Integrated Transport Corridor project.

So what happened?

The PTUA poo-pooed the idea.

Myth: ‘Super expresses’ will encourage more public transport use

Fact: Of those who currently do not use public transport but might if it were better, the vast majority are not central-city commuters. Greater use should be made of limited express runs – especially outside peak hour – but ‘super expresses’ (such as Dandenong to the city non-stop) are not only useless to the majority of travellers, but also undermine the efficient use of our rail infrastructure.

Prior to the recent boom in train patronage, the government regularly floated the idea of enticing travellers with ‘super expresses’ or ‘flyer trains’ from the outer suburbs all the way into the city. The idea is intuitively appealing, at least for those of us who live a long way out of town but work in the CBD.

The problem is that making such a ‘super express’ work is not as easy as just adding an extra train to the timetable. Rail lines work most efficiently, carrying the maximum number of people, when all trains have the same stopping pattern. But the more stops a train skips, the greater the ‘dead time’ that must be allowed between it and a previous stopping train, in order that it not catch up and be slowed down by it.

Super-expresses are an example of the ‘commuter‘ model of public transport, which is based on the outdated notion that public transport is specifically for nine-to-five commuters to the city centre. Experience in cities like Vancouver shows that the alternative ‘urban’ model, based on a full-time network of frequent services, is much more successful both at attracting passengers and recovering its costs.

But triplicating the line between Box Hill and Ringwood did get somewhere, with provision made during the 2007 Middleborough Road level crossing removal project.

Triplication between Caulfield and Dandenong was floated in 2005, and included in the 2006 ‘Meeting Our Transport Challenges’ plan.

But petered out following the construction of a turnback platform at Westall.

But both projects were quietly forgotten following the explosion in rail patronage from 2006, which the government was unprepared for.

Today’s priorities – removing level crossings.

And rolling out all-day 10 minute train services to more lines.

With track amplification now preferring pairs of tracks – Southern Cross to Sunshine as part of Regional Rail Link completed in 2015, and Caulfield and Dandenong at some indeterminate point in the future.

Footnote

Turns out everything that’s new is old – from the 1959-60 Victorian Railways annual report:

On 30th November, 1959, off-peak express services for shoppers were introduced on the Ferntree Gully, Lilydale and Frankston lines.

I haven’t found a follow up reference to these services, but I suspect they were short lived.

PROV image VPRS 12800/P4, item RS/1199

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Some history

Originally built to serve the country towns of Ringwood, Ferntree Gully, Healesville and Warburton, the land boom days of the 1880s saw the line duplicated as far as Ringwood.

But it was the eastward spread of Melbourne’s suburbs after WW2 that led to construction of a third track far as Box Hill, to meet the demand for demand for peak hour express trains in the face of private car ownership. Vicsig.net has the opening dates:

• Hawthorn – Camberwell: 1963
• Camberwell – East Camberwell: 1964
• Richmond – Burnley: 1966
• East Camberwell – Box Hill: 1971
• Burnley – Hawthorn: 1972

And there work stopped, with the exception being the provision of a third platform at Blackburn in 1980, to permit trains to continue running while Box Hill station was rebuilt as part of the grade separation project.

A little future planning

In 2007 the railway line between Box Hill and Blackburn was lowered to remove a level crossing as part of the Middleborough Road Project. The railway cutting was built wide enough for a third track to run down the middle.

With Laburnum station also rebuilt for the future – two platforms flanking the widely spaced tracks.

And in 2010 another section of the line was rebuilt, as part of the Springvale Road Rail Project.

Nunawading station was rebuilt as an island platform, with a two track bridge beneath Springvale Road.

And a hard concrete wall along the northern side.

But the southern side was left open, ready to be dug out for a future third track.

Then down the trench

We’re now at 2014, and the Mitcham Level Crossing Removal Project has just been completed. The level crossings at Mitcham Road and Rooks Road were removed, but thanks to the tight rail corridor no provision was made for a third track.

The track weaves around at the bottom of a two track wide cutting.

With the rebuilt Mitcham station situated at the bottom of a similarly claustrophobic hole.

The Heatherdale level crossing removal project completed in 2017 continued this pattern – a long deep cutting.

And a pair of platforms flanking double track.

While the Blackburn Road level crossing removal project also completed in 2017 took things a step further – a double track bridge under Blackburn Road.

And a narrow two track cutting headed almost a kilometre towards Nunawading.

So what happened to the plans?

The local councils in the Eastern Transport Coalition want the track from Box Hill to Ringwood to be triplicated:

The Belgrave/Lilydale line, with approximately 93,000 daily boardings, is Melbourne’s most highly patronised rail line. Ringwood, 25.8 kilometres eastwards from Flinders Street, serves as a junction between the Belgrave and Lilydale lines.

Linking many of Melbourne’s main activity centres and growth areas, the Belgrave/Lilydale line is critical to ensuring liveable eastern suburbs and now is the time to expand the capacity and allow for future growth.

The line includes a third bi-directional track through to Box Hill. To facilitate more efficient travel, including the provision of express services at Ringwood, triplication over the 9.6km of track is required.

Public Transport Victoria also seem to be protecting the land required to build a third track, based on the Box Hill to Ringwood Bike Path Project design options report:

Impact on rail services: PTV’s requirement to not preclude the provision of a future third track cannot be compromised.

A key aspect of this route is that it cannot be built without stepping on the footprint of the future third track from Box Hill to Ringwood without acquisition of private land. If approval could be gained now to build the path, it would need to be removed in the future when the third track is built.

But the PTV Network Development Plan published in December 2012 fails to mention it – a fourth track between Burnley and Camberwell, and eventually Box Hill appearing instead:

16.5 Fourth track between Burnley and Camberwell

The connection of the Northern and Caulfield loops to each other will enable the creation of a new cross-town line linking the Burnley local lines (Glen Waverley and Alamein) to the Werribee line. This line will be segregated and will ultimately have a capacity of 24 trains per hour in each direction.

However the key constraint to achieving this frequency will be the three-track section between Burnley and Box Hill. During peak periods, in the peak direction, the outside line carries Burnley local services, while the centre track caters for Burnley express services.

In the counter-peak, a mixture of express and stopping services currently share the single track (although in order to maximise capacity on the counter-peak track, all trains need to stop at all stations).

This configuration means that the different train services are sectorised going in the peak direction; however, they must share one track in the counter-peak direction. As the capacity of the single counter-peak track is much less than the two peak direction tracks, the number of train movements in the peak direction is limited to avoid train congestion in the city during the morning peak. This means that some peak direction capacity cannot be used.

To overcome these issues, there is a need to quadruplicate the rail line between Burnley and Camberwell and ultimately onto Box Hill. This would involve the construction of a fourth track on the south side of the existing rail corridor, with new platforms at Camberwell. The third platform at all other intermediate stations would become redundant and could be demolished if required to make room for the fourth track.

But even that idea isn’t a new one – many underline bridge between Burnley and Camberwell have abutments ready built for a four track, constructed as part of the 1960s triplication work.

So what’s better?

Daniel Bowen asked the How many tracks? question back in 2016 – short answer is that for a modern metro service, four is better than three.

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Remember how open and spacious Southern Cross Station used to be? Nevermore!

But one thing that has changed for the better is the queue to buy V/Line tickets – on the Friday night before the Queens Birthday long weekend I found 50 or so people waiting to buy one.

Before the introduction of myki to V/Line commuter services in 2013, passengers could only buy tickets in person from major railway stations, or a limited number of ticket agents in country towns – which led to massive queues at Southern Cross Station.

June 2009 also saw the first Myki ticket machines deployed to suburban stations.

It took until December 2009 for them to be switched on for passengers, with the Metcard machines removed from November 2012.

Another improvement was down at Laverton, where work was well underway on a third track and turnback platform. There were ‘Road closed’ signs blocking the rails.

A platform minus track.

And new overhead wires being strung.

Over at North Melbourne station the new concourse was almost complete.

The structure emerging from above the steel and timber crash deck.

June 2009 also saw site clearance work start for the new Footscray station footbridge.

Ready to replace the rickety timber and tin footbridge that linked the platforms.

A short distance from Footscray is the rail freight yards of North Dynon freight yard.

In the decade since much has happened – QR National rebranded as Aurizon in 2012 only to quit the intermodal freight business completely in 2017, while the northern Melbourne CBD skyline is now crowded with new apartment towers.

But things were much quieter at the Newport Workshops, where the railway sidings lay empty.

Currently used y a number of railway heritage groups to restore steam locomotives, in 2019 VicTrack announced that the groups would not have their leases on the site renewed.

I also caught a a V/Line screwup at Southern Cross Station – the points changed beneath a carriage set in the yard, leading to multi-track drifting.

And finally something completely different – semi-submersible oil platform ‘Kan Tan IV‘ being towed into Corio Bay.

Bound for Lascelles Wharf, the rig was in Geelong for refurbishment.

Footnote

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

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Road trip!

An extended road trip through Western Victoria was on the agenda, starting down the Princes Highway to Warrnambool.

As I followed the daily freight train down to the container terminal at Warrnambool.

Then return to Melbourne.

I also stopped inspected a long list of abandoned stations along railway west to Adelaide.

Westmere.

Maroona.

Murtoa.

Stawell.

Pura Pura.

Dahlen.

I did see a few freight trains along the way – like this one at Lubeck.

And container wagons in the yard at Horsham.

A few stations had become home to freight wagons stored due to a lack of traffic – grain hoppers at Portland.

And louvred vans at Murtoa.

Out west are also a number of closed railway lines, like the route to Mount Gambier.

Closed in 1995, the level crossings were still in place but the tracks have been paved over.

While at Ararat I found the mothballed Avoca line that ran north to Dunolly.

After a decade lying idle, it was upgraded as part of the Murray Basin Rail Project and reopened to trains in 2018.

Chasing trains

The log train that once ran between Bairnsdale and Geelong is a common theme in my “photos from ten years ago” series, and this month is no different – this time we see the empty train passing through Corio at sunset.

The final log train ran in June 2009.

Back in 2009 V/Line trains were still painted red and blue, such as this Warrnambool bound service passing the abandoned station of Pirron Yallock, just west of Colac.

This was replaced by a grey and white livery in 2007, and the current PTV livery in 2017.

The other notable train I photographed was a refurbished Hitachi train way off the beaten track.

One would never expect to see a suburban train sitting under the roof at Ballarat station.

or headed along the tracks without any overhead wires.

Originally intended to have been retired following the 2006 Commonwealth Games, six Hitachi trains stayed in service with Connex Melbourne thanks to an explosion in patronage on the Melbourne suburban network.

In 2008 rust was found in the floors of the aging trains, which led to the trains being transferred to the Alstom Ballarat workshops for rectification works, which saw them back into service until retired for good in December 2013.

Construction

Work was continuing of the $36 million upgrade of North Melbourne station. The superstructure had been completed.

And the first section of concourse roof had assembled, ready to be slid into place along temporary tracks to it’s final home.

The new concourse was opened to passengers in November 2009.

Construction was also underway on a brand new station on the Craigieburn line at Coolaroo.

Tracks needed to be relocated to make room for the platforms, with the station eventually opening in June 2010.

Over at Southern Cross Station the ‘Yardmasters’ building was starting to take shape north of platform 5 and 6.

While the Myki rollout was slowly proceeding, with the discovery centre at Southern Cross closed for renovations.

So that working ticketing equipment could be installed.

It took until December 2009 for Myki to be accepted for travel on Melbourne trains, in a last ditch attempt to meet a “working by the end of 2009” pledge.

Finally, January 2009 saw an extended heatwave hit Melbourne crippling Melbourne’s rail network, leading to a parliamentary inquiry and a day of free travel for train passengers.

Ticket barriers were thrown open.

With signage at stations telling passengers there was no need to buy a ticket.

Footnote

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

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Checking the progress of the Geelong Ring Road seems to be an ongoing theme, and it comes up again this month.

I also paid a visit to what is now the site of Waurn Ponds station, where I photographed a freight train headed back from the Blue Circle cement works.

This traffic was lost to rail in December 2015, and the area in the background has dramatically changed, with overpasses for Anglesea Road and Baanip Boulevard having been built over the tracks.

Another project underway in 2008 was the new concourse at the city end of North Melbourne station, which was starting to look like a ‘real’ station.

The escalators were in place.

But the roof was still to come.

One could argue that given how useless the shelters are, they needn’t have bothered.

A different project that was finished was Southern Cross Station, where I photographed the future platforms 15 and 16.

Stranded minus track, the platform also lacked any access points from the overhead concourse.

Originally intended for use by an airport rail link, a year later the platform became the site of the sod turning for the Regional Rail Link project, which commissioned the platforms, which opened to trains in December 2013.

September 2008 saw the decision made to run 7-car long trains to Geelong, which required platform extensions to be built at stations along the way, including North Melbourne.

But the work wasn’t able to be completed in time for the first 7-car train, so an extra conductor had to ride each service to ensure that passengers didn’t step out into the ether.

These longer trains continued to run until June 2015, when Geelong trains commenced using the new Regional Rail Link tracks and the last remaining 2-car VLocity trains were converted into 3-car units.

Up in Melbourne the new ‘Bumblebee’ trams from France had entered service.

They are still ‘buzzing’ around Melbourne today, but in the standard white and green PTV livery.

While up at Albury the final broad gauge train ran, clearing the way for the conversion of the line to standard gauge.

I rode in style onboard the train made up of carriages built in 1937 for the Spirit of Progress.

And we had plenty of train spotters along the way taking photos.

V/Line services to Albury eventually returned in June 2011 but never in a dependable way, with a combination of poor track and failing rolling stock turning it a political football.

Footnote

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

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The post Photos from ten years ago: November 2008 appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.