Re: mel loop operation

[David McLoughlin <davemcl*PISSOFFSPAMMERS*@iprolink.co.nzzzzz>]

Ted Gay wrote:
> 
> "John Wayman" <trecker@bigpond.com> wrote in message
> 3ad290ef$0$25522$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au">news:3ad290ef$0$25522$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au...
> > The City Loop was designed to overcome the bottleneck between Richmond and
> > Flinders Street that developed over the years. Trains terminating at
> > Flinders Street then reversing into the now non existent rail yards was
> the
> > problem.
> >
> > The loop allowed trains to speed around the loop, terminate at Flinders
> > Street then continue into the yards without a need to change ends, a
> saving
> > of 2-3 minutes. Thus the capacity at Flinders Street was increased.
> >
> 
> So was the loop built to move trains but without regard to the movement of
> passengers?


As someone who was growing up in Melbourne while the loop was being
built, the main stated aim was to provide a better distribution of
passengers around the CBD. Previously almost all passengers had to get
off at Flinders Street (a small number at Spencer Street) and walk or
catch trams to their destinations in the CBD. It was claimed that the
loop would make Latrobe Street a real estate mecca the way Yonge Street
in Toronto developed after the underground there opened in 1954, but
I've yet to see much sign of this on my irregular visits back home --
Latrobe Street still seems a backwater.

It's interesting to see that it has been St Kilda Rd which has developed
the way Latrobe Street was meant to -- huge numbers of people catch the
train to Flinders Street, then take the trams down St Kilda Road to all
the employment-generating developments there: Melbourne's prime example
of a reverse commute  (ie where there is a large peak hour public
transport flow out of the CBD in the morning peak and into the CBD in
the evening peak). 

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand