Re: Travel patterns (was Re: New form of rail transportation)

["Peter Berrett" <pberrett@optushome.com.au>]

Ben <smithb@alphalink.com.au> wrote in message
3a13bef1@news.alphalink.com.au">news:3a13bef1@news.alphalink.com.au...
> > Unfortunately, the idea of a railway extended from Williamstown under
the
> > bay to Dandenong sounds a little absurd.
> >
> What about a half decent ferry service that connects Williamstown,
> Footscray, Southgate, Port Melbourne and St Kilda or even Frankston. Not
one
> of those touristy things but a proper ferry service using "Rivercats"
> (Yarracats/Baycats) like in Sydney and Brisbane.
>
> Incidentally has any one seen the ex Sydney ferry  in Melbourne, it lives
in
> Victoria Dock, I think its called the Party Boat. I was was surprised to
see
> it last year while sailing past the Newport  power station.
>
> Ben Smith

I don't think that it is all that absurd but I am willing to compromise.

I have for some time wondered about the economics of the Williamstown line.
With short lines I reckon one good way to make them more viable is to extend
them to somewhere useful eg Alamein to Chadstone.

But Williamstown is a bit more difficult.

Northwards I couldee merit in running trains from some sort of cross town
railway but ideally it would good to provide that cross town link.

So in keeping with the idea of a compromise how about some sort of
amphibious train. Yes I know that sounds pretty bizarre but then so is the
idea of a truck that runs on rail and roads and we certainly have those in
Victoria.

I envisage that you would need a form of  hovercraft with the ability to run
on rails. The hovercraft could use the fan at the back to move forwards,
backwards and brake. On land it would run on small wheels under the
hovercraft and on the sea it would operate as a normal hovercraft.

Given the larger width of hovercraft one would need to space the up/down
lines further part than usual but it appears technically feasible except in
really bad weather. It would be great to catch the hovertrain in Sunshine,
run express down to the Williamstown line stations and then slide into the
water for a quick hover to Brighton where the hovertrain would run down the
middle of North Road to arrive at an interchange station on the Dandenong
line. Naturally this trip would be integrated into the existing multimodal
fare structure.

cheers Peter