Perth vs Melbourne (Was: Melbourne Double deckers)

[Jennifer Richmond <richmond@melbpc.org.au>]

Graeme wrote:

> By running through trains as well say and
> I'm only guessing Broadmeadows to Melbourne then through to Frankston with
> the train being limited stop on both sides, you start to promote cross city
> travel.

Perth is different to Melbourne in the fact that Melbourne has a rail loop in
the city:
If you were running terminating trains in Perth, the driver would need to change
ends in the city and clog up the platform by turning around. In Melbourne, the
train just keeps going and ends up where it started
If you were running through trains in Melbourne, the train would need to bypass
the loop (missing up to 3 stations) and loosing a potential customer base. A lot
of people use the loop stations as they are close to their work or in the case
of midday users, close to the shops.


> You also don't have to be a rocket scientist to also work out that
> running expresses contra flow also gets the equipment back into the City for
> a second or even third trip in the peak.

Again, Perth is different to Melbourne:
Melbourne is about (I say about) 3 times bigger than Perth, so the suburban rail
lines are longer. It can take over an hour to do a complete single journey,
whereas Perth's longest route takes just 38 minutes stopping all stations
I agree that there should be more express trains and I believe that Hillside are
planning on putting more express services on. There are reverse-express services
operated in Melbourne (Mostly on the Ringwood lines) but they don't reduce
travel time by very much i.e. 0917 FSS - BEG via MCE. Departs FSS at 0917 and
only stops at premium stations en-route to BEG , where it arrives at 1016,
taking 59 mins via loop instead of 74, bypassing 17 stations. It has  taken off
less than 1 min per station bypassed. (I must say that it is nicer than stopping
though).

I think that Perth is a great system - for Perth. Melbourne has 15 heavy
passenger railway lines, whereas Perth has 4. Melbourne has 2 different Railway
companies whereas Perth has 1.
I think that some of your methods used in Perth would work in Melbourne, but
some wouldn't.

Sam Eades