Re: New form of rail transportation

[usenet.spam@gunzel.net (Michael)]

Alex Pout <alpout@optusnet.com.au> wrote in article
<3a0f6b86$0$19412$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au>: 

>Around Newcastle (and I presume Sydney and the Illawarra) there are
>dedicated bus lanes at some intersections.  From memory of Melbourne
>roads, particularly in the eastern suburbs (Boronia Rd being a good
>example, at Stud, Scoresby, and Dorset Rds, and Mountain Hwy) the road
>widens up giving an extra lane.  Why not turn that into a dedicated bus
>lane, if running busses is the best thing to do.  (I still reckon it
>isn't.  Would you count Boronia to Oakleigh as a radial journey?)

Because you would have too many stupid people at the shallow end of the 
gene pool who would think BUS stood for something other than a mass transit 
vehicle, or they'll read it and decide to use it anyway.

I've slightly changed my mind re a ring railway. Maybe a full ring railway 
is not needed after all, but joining some lines up to service areas that 
are largely not covered by rail, or where existing alignments exist would 
have some advantage. Example, extend the Alamein line to join up with the 
Glen Waverley line, extend the Glen Waverley line to Rowville/Knox/Scoresby 
(the areas that need rail most). Run Glen Waverley locals via Alamein, and 
run the extended line trains direct via Burnley. You would then have a 
direct service to Chadstone shopping centre. 

With the electrification to Craigieburn (or Wallan - I have seen ads on TV 
that they are building housing estates in Wallan now!!),  reopen Upfield to 
Somerton. If the airport line is routed via Broadmeadows, then it would be 
an advantage for V/Line pass trains to use the Upfield line instead. Ease 
traffic off the Broadmeadows line to provide frequent airport services.

Admittedly, it's not much - but it would, while giving passengers the 
choice of two different routes (in the case of Glen Waverley), also 
disperse passengers to make trains less crowded (provided the frequencies 
of all the lines match the rest of Melbourne).

M.

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