The Null Device

The Melbourne Tube

To help alleviate Melbourne's transport woes, an academic specialist in public transport has called for a Melbourne "tube" line. The line would bypass the already congested above-ground transport infrastructure and would cut under the centre of Melbourne, from South Yarra in the south to Melbourne University in the inner north.

So, in short, what we currently have looks like:

schematic diagram of the city loop
Were Professor Currie's proposal to be implemented, it'd look something like:
the city loop, plus the proposed line
Though why not stop there? There was, a while ago, a proposal to build an underground line from North Melbourne, across the inner north (including Melbourne University), through to the Eastern Freeway and along the centre of that to Doncaster and the suburbs. Were that to be resurrected and combined with this plan, it would start to look like:
and another one
Of course, the chances of seeing anything of this sort happen are not good.

There are 5 comments on "The Melbourne Tube":

Posted by: Andrew
http://
Mon Nov 7 21:56:09 2005

It's a difficult choice for a government. Spend money on inner city transport, when compared to the 'burbs it's already fantastic, or build new trainlines out to where they currently don't exist (Rowville, Doncaster etc.).

Posted by: gjw
http://the-fix.org
Tue Nov 8 04:53:35 2005

They should concentrate on the outer suburbs every time. Those are the people with the cars, the long trips, the lack of options for public transport. Distances in the Melbourne CBD are quite walkable. I heard Perth has a program of extending the trainlines further out every year as the suburbs expand. Non-radial lines across the suburbs are vital, too, if you really want to give people reasons not to drive cars. When I lived in the city, that was the main reason I drove. It was fine catching a train to Adelaide for work and back, but getting to another suburb might involve two trains and a bus - so I just got in the car.

Posted by: acb
http://dev.null.org
Tue Nov 8 09:48:54 2005

I heard that the argument against non-radial lines is that only a tiny minority of trips are across suburbs, from, say, Glen Waverley to Dandenong or wherever. Melbourne's still very much a radial city.

And extending railway lines into the suburbs would have to include the Doncaster line down the Eastern Freeway. Which means either running it into the already congested City Loop or building an underground line under the inner north (which probably wouldn't cost more than adding another level to the Loop, but would offer more benefits).

The problem with Melbourne's present infrastructure is that everything is concentrated into a central loop and radial lines. Living in London, where there is no such centralisation, makes one realise the shortcomings of such a system.

Posted by: Reader

Thu Aug 28 03:58:59 2008

The best realistic submission so far, by Michael Kerjman http://210.15.220.118/ewlna_submissions/EastWestResponse_060608_MichaelKerjman.pdf

Posted by: Internet-goer

Wed Oct 22 10:47:18 2008

Reader,

It helps him in Melbourne a little as locally UK sirs are supposed for a paid employment only.

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