Re: New railway stations in Melbourne

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

>>2. South Alamein (due to a slight extension of the existing line)
>
>You mean rebuilding the old Outer Circle? There is probably some merit in
>rebuilding through to the Glen Waverly line.
>
There would be some merit in rebuilding the whole line I would imagine. I am
sure the Bureau of Statistics census shows that people tend to be travelling
less to the city and more across suburbia. Sydney is fortunate in that they
have many 'cross country' suburban lines or potential for it. Melbourne on
the other hand never really had any apart from Inner Circle and Outer
Circle. I can't see much merit in rebuilding the Inner Circle (not to
mention the land was sold off and built on) due to the short distance and
other public transport options, but the whole of the Outer Circle has some
merit. Especially given that the line links some major centres plus has some
potential for significant traffic growth.
The major centres are Camberwell, Oakleigh and the traffic generators would
be the Kew schools and Chadstone shopping centre. Plus it would make cross
city travel much quicker and more convenient.
Personally, it would cut my public transport trip from around 90 minutes to
about 40 minutes from Greensborough to Canterbury (the school I work for is
within 5 minutes of East Camberwell station and two minutes from the where
the line went under Canterbury and Mont Albert Roads - the bridges are still
there in good condition! This is comparable with my 35 minute car trip at
present (you can guess I gave up public transport). The PTC would also get
my Zone 1 fare as well - an extra $50 a month to them. There could also be a
triangle in the large block of land at Fairfield as well thus meaning trains
could be run from Heidelberg which would be a more likely traffic generator
than Fairfield or Clifton Hill although I guess you could feasibly run
trains from the city.
Maybe they should think about it, especially as the land is still there and
in state government hands.