Re: St.Albans rail crossing

[Mark Bau <markbau@earthlink.net>]

in article 3B255D8F@MailAndNews.com, Vaughan Williams at
ender2000@MailAndNews.com wrote on 4/24/01 8:18 PM:

>> Where on earth do you get the idea that any sort of grade separation is "low
>> cost"? If it was it would be done a lot more.
> 
> It really doesn't cost that much. Just because it isn't done much doesn't
> mean 
> its expensive. There hasn't been much duplication of single track in the
> last 
> decade either, but that doesn't mean its not cheap or that its not badly
> needed.
> 
> Eliminating a level crossing by lowering the rail line and designing a
> proper 
> bus-rail interchange would probably cost $10 - 15m. Less if several are done
> at once or if its done as part of some other project (like triple-tracking
> to 
> Ringwood, for example). So eliminating the three level crossings on
> Springvale 
> Road might cost $30 - 40m which is nothing next to the Eastern Ring Rd ($2b)
> 
> Boronia cost $22m from memory, but that was more complicated because it went
> under an intersection rather than just a road, so the tunnel had to be
> longer. 
> Boronia also cost more than it needed to because the powers that be didn't
> follow the PTUA design for it.
> 
> Vaughan Williams
> Secretary
> Public Transport Users Association
> 247 Flinders Lane
> Melbourne 3000
> http://www.ptua.org.au
> 

I'm not going to dispute your figures (although I wonder who would pay the
10 - 15 million) but St. Albans is a bit different due to the fact that
freight trains use the line. In order to avoid a very weird track profile
and an excessive grade the length of the underpass would have to be much
longer than on a track that only runs sparks. Elsternwick is short and steep
and works fine on a spark only line but it would have to be done much
differently at St. Albans.

Mark