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advocacy public policy sustainability governance best practice car park public transport

Sunshine Super-Hub Still Fails

The following article by John Hearsch, President of Rail Futures Inc provides a clearer understanding of the importance of reinstating the standard gauge platform at Sunshine which has been omitted in the latest plan for the redevelopment of the rail station and was reported in an earlier blog. It highlights the importance of careful planning for all infrastructure projects.

The Rail Futures Institute reports that the failure to re-instate the former standard gauge platform as part of the forthcoming Sunshine station re-development will seriously impact North Eastern/Riverina travellers some years in advance of the Airport railway opening, in fact from as early as 2025 with the Metro 1 tunnel opening.  

Rail Futures President John Hearsch said “there will be a number of serious impacts on North Eastern/Riverina travellers from 2025 when the Metro 1 tunnel opens, unless the former standard gauge platform at Sunshine is re-instated by then.” From 2025 with the Metro 1 tunnel opening connectivity with Metro train services will alter for some suburban lines and the opportunity will present itself at Sunshine to vastly improve connectivity between other V/Line train services and also offer North Eastern/Riverina travellers direct connectivity to new high demand inner CBD locations adjacent to the five new Metro 1 stations.  

From Metro 1 opening in 2025 suburban trains proceeding from Sunbury through the CBD to Dandenong, Pakenham and Cranbourne will be routed via the NEW Metro 1 tunnel and five (5) new stations at ARDEN, PARKVILLE, STATE LIBRARY, TOWN HALL and ANZAC (at the Domain) to then continue via Caulfield to Dandenong, Pakenham and Cranbourne. As such Albury / Riverina passengers on standard gauge trains passing through Sunshine will NO LONGER be able to change at Southern Cross for stations on the Dandenong, Pakenham and Caulfield lines, e.g. travelling to Clayton for Monash University or Monash Medical Centre. Instead such passengers would have to change trains TWICE; first at Southern Cross and then again at Caulfield to reach Clayton. 

However, Mr Hearsch pointed out “Re-instatement of the standard gauge platform at Sunshine will allow Albury & Riverina passengers to simply transfer to Metro 1 trains at Sunshine maintaining direct connectivity from the North East and Riverina to the Dandenong, Pakenham and Cranbourne Lines with the one simple change of trains at Sunshine, maintaining direct access to Clayton.” Further the Rail Futures Institute says that failure to re-instate the standard gauge platform at Sunshine will amongst V/Line regional trains deny NORTH EAST / RIVERINA passengers of the benefit to access via Metro 1 the five new CBD stations at Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac.  

This is particularly important in respect of direct access at Parkville station to the adjacent Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter Mc Callum Cancer Centre, Dental Hospital, Royal Children’s Hospital and Melbourne University Precinct. Mr Hearsch added “without this direct connectivity to Parkville, passengers will be forced to use taxis, or multiple tram routes from Southern Cross to reach these destinations and in doing so will incur up to 30 minutes of additional travel time.” “Such indirect travel with multiple changes being most inconvenient to those with young children and the elderly especially those with a disability.”  

Mr Hearsch also pointed out “That with a standard gauge platform at Sunshine, Albury / Riverina passengers would have the bonus convenience of direct interchange with frequent V/Line train services to/from Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo; allowing these travellers to save on average 30 – 40 minutes on their through journey ; by NOT having to go all the way into Southern Cross only to come out again through Sunshine on their Geelong, Ballarat or Bendigo train – as currently happens.”

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advocacy public policy sustainability governance government policy

Why the city needs safe and more reliable alternatives to car usage

Blaming bike lanes for traffic jams is flawed logic and ignores the lessons of ‘induced demand’.

We can’t build our way out of congestion. Numerous traffic studies show that more road space for cars leads to more people driving, further clogging our roads – the induced demand effect.

Understandably, people hate congestion – it’s dead time. As Melbourne’s traffic worsens, more people will look to avoid the city if they feel there is no safe and reliable alternative to sitting in traffic jams.

But if we provide alternatives that get more cars off the road, everyone benefits. For drivers, it means less time in traffic and travelling to the city becomes a better experience. For everyone else, the environmental and productivity benefits are huge.

The return to city offices is just beginning to ramp up, but the good news is induced demand also impacts bike lanes. Some of Melbourne’s cycling networks have seen increased use of up to 300% over the past two years.

Data collected by the Herald Sun last week shows that cyclists already account for one in four vehicles on Melbourne’s streets. (see below media article). This compares to one in five cyclists prior to COVID-19 and one in 20 back in 2007.

Source – Herald Sun – Friday, 18 March.

Cities like London, New York and Paris are aiming to become cycling and walking friendly, seeking to cut congestion, improve air quality and create vibrant and inclusive neighbourhoods.

Research shows safety is the number one barrier for people who are interested in cycling, but don’t. Significantly, council data shows an 80% jump in people travelling on protected bike lanes during February, compared with the previous month.

Early in the pandemic we identified the risk of a growing number of city-goers preferring their cars long-term to travel to and around the inner city. This trend has now materialised.

Road use in early March was 92% of pre-COVID levels and growing by 1% each week. Meanwhile, public transport remains around half (53%) of pre-COVID levels.

Encouraging people safely back on public transport, combined with a network of separated cycling corridors, will get the city moving again and benefit our economy. Flexible start and finish times, cheaper fares for buses and permanent off-peak travel discounts would go a long way to cut congestion across all forms of transport.

If we don’t make a change now towards safe and more reliable alternatives to car usage, our traffic will keep going in the wrong direction. And that will undermine the city’s revival.

Jonathan Spear is CEO of Infrastructure Victoria.

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advocacy public policy sustainability governance government policy motorways value for money

Roundabouts, overpasses, and carparks: Hauling the federal government back to its proper role in transport projects

by Marion Terrill for the Grattan Institute

Link to original article

Pork-barrelling wastes money, is unfair, and could be dramatically curtailed if the federal government stuck to its job of providing funding only for nationally significant transport projects.

Download the report

Download the chart data

At the last federal election only one of the Coalition’s 71 transport promises valued at $100 million or more had a business case approved by Infrastructure Australia, and for Labor, it was two projects of 61.

Federal pork-barrelling on transport projects favours electorally important states.

Queensland and NSW, where federal elections tend to be won and lost, consistently receive more, and Victoria less, than can be explained by population, population growth, size of the road network, share of passenger or freight travel, or what it actually costs the state government to run the transport system.

The federal government compounds this inequity by funnelling much more of its discretionary transport funding to the most marginal seats, such as Lindsay in Sydney, Higgins in Melbourne, Moreton in Brisbane, Hasluck in Perth, and Boothby in Adelaide.

The average marginal urban seat received $83 million from the federal Urban Congestion Fund, whereas the average safe Coalition seat received $64 million and the average safe Labor seat $34 million.

Politicians who insist on pork-barrelling are wasting taxpayers’ money, and the biggest losers are people who live in safe seats or states with few marginal electorates.

Politicians are not supposed to spend public money to promote their private interest, including their private political advantage. Avoiding such conflicts of interest would be more straightforward if the federal government stuck to its national role, and did its due diligence before spending public money.

Much of what the federal government spends on transport projects is outside the role that it has agreed with the states. The federal government is supposed to focus on nationally significant infrastructure on the National Land Transport Network; state and local governments are supposed to be responsible for locally-important roads and rail.

That hasn’t stopped successive federal governments since 2009 from funding nearly 800 roundabouts, carparks, and overpasses that are unconnected with the National Network.

Before approving any transport project, the federal government should have to consider and publish Infrastructure Australia’s assessment of the project, including the business case, cost/benefit analysis, and ranking on national significance grounds.

And whichever party wins government at the 2022 federal election should stick to its job: no more roundabouts, overpasses, or carparks, just nationally significant roads and rail on the National Land Transport Network.