Re: Extend the Alamein line? (was Trams to Knox City??)

["Michael Walker" <walker@hotkey.net.au>]

>> More importantly, connect the Alamein line to the Glen Waverley and
>> Dandenong lines again, reservation still exists.
>
>I was looking at my roadmap of Melbourne the other day to see just how
>much of the Outer Circle reservation still existed. Most of it seems to
>be there. Rebuilding an electrifying it (perhaps even as light rail)
>would provide a handy service, though I fear the burghers of Kew and
>Balwyn would object to trains racing past their kitchens.
>
I work near the reservation of the Outer Circle (Our school shares Shenley
Oval with Camberwell Grammar) and to be honest, with the exception of the
reservation between Fairfield and Harp Road bridge and a short section from
East Camberwell to just past Camberwell Grammar, most of it would have to be
expensively tunnelled. The existing reservation is not much bigger than the
walking track running along it let alone a single track modern railway. As
you correctly point out, the local residents who are not too likely to be
public transport users going by their average income will object, especially
those along the stretch between Eastern Freeway and Harp Road.

It's a shame as the line would service the schools in the area far more
efficiently than the thousands of cars and cavalcade of buses that do it
now. I would imagine that it would stand some chance of being profitable
even with the tunnelling required and the fact that the students are mostly
concession fares simply due to the large number of private schools it would
serve or provide some sort of link for. The bus services are inadequate and
our students have signed a petition telling the National Bus Company their
new 285 service stinks. Many of our 960 students and 80 staff would be much
better served by the train line reinstated than any current services and I
am sure most of the other schools within a 4-5 km radius would too.