Re: What Might Have Been...in Melbourne

[John Cleverdon <johnc@cdi.com.au>]

Another thing I remembered from my time at uni...RMIT's map library included some
1970's MMBW planning scheme maps. One of the more interesting features on this was
a "bypass" line, proposed for the southwestern suburbs.
IIRC, the area around the White City flyover (the only part of this plan to be
built) would become a bigger junction, and a new line would be built.
This line was to run west/southwest to Somerville Rd, then on to Boundary Rd,
before running south along Fitzgerald Rd and the Princes Fwy, to meet the Geelong
line just on the Up side of Laverton.

Had this line been built, it would have been quite a benefit to the
Melbourne-Adelaide standard gauge, as the SG trains could have run along this line,
saving several km's, instead of going via Newport and the Brooklyn loop. As well,
there would have been the possibility of gaining new traffic, as the eastern part
of this area was already an industrial estate, while the same is now happening to
the northwestern section.

John
--
John Cleverdon, B.App.Sc. (Cartography), AMMSIA
Amateur astronomer & Railway enthusiast | Essendon - 1999 AFL premiers
Dromana, Victoria, Australia | Phone: 03 5987 1535 (H)
E-mail:  johnc@cdi.com.au  ** New address **
The Locomotive Page: http://www.railpage.org.au/loco
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