$395 million AUD for the Hurstbridge Upgrade Phase 1 https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/contract-signed-hurstbridge-line-upgrade-to-start-soon/ That's tunnel + bridge and track duplication over 1km, a new station + level crossing removal at Rosanna (rail over road) and another level crossing...

It was a roadheader that dug the tunnel. Cut and cover seems to be a dirty word around these parts, it's all to do about the disruptive cost that government has shied away from. The Melbourne Metro Tunnel was supposed to be cut and cover on Swanston Street right in the heart of the city and it...

The level crossing removal project also retains its place as the most in your face (or in the face of voters) PT project in the city (however Melb Metro will probably overtake that as the TBMs are set to launch soon) simply because the entire metropolitan area is seeing change. The original...

Just on Hurstbridge, the first phase of the bottleneck removal was tied in with a level crossing removal and station rebuild at Rosanna, duplicating a small one-track segment that included a new short tunnel and bridge: It was finished last year The second phase will be duplicating this...

The surprise from the budget was actually the $3.4bil in bringing more suburban line upgrades (they were known about, weren't expecting them to get started ASAP). $2.1bil is going to the Sunbury line to ready them for HCMTs (post metro tunnel opening) - includes accessibility upgrades at 8 of...

Victorian Premier alluding to something in today's budget (released in about an hour).

Via reddit, it's anecdotal on the first day of ops, but over the long run, it'll be interesting to see more traffic impact data.

Just back on catenary, you have me intrigued now steve. This is a vid from South Yarra to Dandenong to highlight all the changes that have happened on this line (main S.E. Melbourne line), to summarise posts at the start of the thread: new train sets (bigger, more energy intensive), huge...

^ I defer to your better judgement lol (I've no idea about electrics! :D). Google's been pretty quick (or rather, Transport for NSW has been quick) to update the Sydney region / transit info. Blue line is the Metro phase 1, Chatswood to Epping section has been there for 10+ years, the new...

Yep, all Australian cities do, but we're happy to build underground rail lines in the 'burbs though!

I had to ask on another forum where there's been a tonne of posts over the past 24 hours from Sydney-siders, but in the surface/above-ground sections I noticed that each track is double-wired. In Melbourne you'll get that between each segment for 100-150m or so but nope, the whole thing is...

The "new" infrastructure in that video above starts at 16m (at the points: left, where the train/video eventually goes, is new tunnel and to the right is the old connection to the T1 line when the tunnel between Chatswood and Epping was used by existing trains). I always wondered what it'd...

And the media release from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, first day of ops, today (Sunday), is free: https://www.nsw.gov.au/your-government/the-premier/media-releases-from-the-premier/north-west-metro-will-be-free-this-sunday/

And another article from the local Murdoch rag up there (probably paywalled) https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/sydney-metro-northwest-shows-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/news-story/8f083645839f0ca22bf3865857c821c6

Sydney Metro phase 1 opens up for business today. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-commuters-to-hop-aboard-high-tech-railway-future-20190524-p51qpg.html I'm patiently* waiting for POV vids to be uploaded to Youtube (*not so patient, actually). :)

Now the Federal election is over, the annual laundry list of state budget measures are being announced before the Treasurer does his speech next week. Confirmation of SRL planning money in the budget: https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/work-gets-underway-on-the-suburban-rail-loop/ Confirmation of...

I always make a distinction between state and federal parties. Thankfully, Labor or Liberal parties at the state level fully recognise their role: delivery services and the primary source of planning (and implementing) urban infrastructure - rather than trying to shadow federal level...

Blergh, the coalition are back. Opinion polling is shite (every poll pointed to a Labor victory - exact opposite happened, every damn poll was wrong). Projects like SRL will still continue because they're state initiatives (important point from my first post in this thread) - the ALP federally...

Ah "Kevin '07" - still smug and going strong. Bless his cotton socks.

I saw on the news yesterday (Sunday) that the ALP are going to have another rally in Blacktown in Sydney on Thursday before election day on Saturday. Blacktown is Western Sydney (traditionally a Labor area but more marginal since John Howard era) and if they've ponied up $17billion for...