Purpose

The purpose of public transport is to help us get from Point A to Point B. It doesn’t get much simpler than that! Public transport is about synergising large groups of people who have a common travel route. You see that in the radial nature of Melbourne’s railway network; all lines lead to the CBD/Flinders Street.

Melbourne’s History

I have read the history of Melbourne’s public transport system - in a word it’s disparate. Originally, on the back of the 1850s Gold Rushes, Melbourne expanded, grew and private operators became the pioneers competing to provide a transportation service.

Today’s inner suburbs carry the legacy of competing private interests - trams vs trains. The sorry history has been documented on Wikipedia and the various Department of Transport/VicRail websites for public viewing. Add buses into the mix and you had three services competing. With no oversight and coordination coming from the State Government, we actually had the scenario of buses cannibalising tram routes by duplicating the same route just leaving slightly earlier.

Tram routes were rarely built to complement train lines. That kind of big picture thinking was unheard of. In short, the forces of competition and capitalism brought Melbourne the very worst, not the very best. On the railway network side, regional Victoria was just as bad - we had two gauge standards! That was part of the difficulties in building the Sydney-Melbourne railway link. Early operators folded, or were bought over and eventually when the government did finally take over, we had MetLink.

It’s not all 100% bad for the government track record. Under their guidance, they did give us the loop system under the CBD - this solution as introduced to alleviate the technical challenges and capacity constraints between Flinders St and Spencer St Stations. Melbourne plans did contain a future Doncaster railway line and the land has been preserved all these years as the median strip of the Eastern Freeway... Metcards were introduced as a single cross-network ticketing system.

Which brings us  to Myki. Myki is such a special case I’m reserving comment for a dedicated article.

Common Design Principles for Futuristic Melbourne Public Transport

1. 1.Driverless trains; current drivers redeployed as train conductors/service on board.
   

2. 2.Precision stopping, standard platform access (carriage door positioning) and restricted access to tracks (platform-side sliding doors)
   

3. 3.Wide central platforms - our current Melbourne Central/Southern Cross platforms are a good standard here.
   

4. 4.100% enforcement of ticketing gantries (CBD stations being the baseline standard)
   

5. 5.Grade separation of all current railway level crossings (think Toorak Rd/Glen Waverley line, Springvale Rd/Dandenong line, etc...)
   

6. 6.Integration with buses/trams/retail activity centres
   

7. 7.Underpasses/overpasses to reduce pedestrian traffic crossing major roads
   

8. 8.Conversion from current overhead power lines to track-based powering.
   

The full implementation of the above, particularly (2), (4), (5) & (8) would minimise public unrestricted access to railway tracks. Recent deaths and accidents involving prams would all be a thing of the past.

The implementation of (4) for suburban stations is of course challenging, but if all stations are activity centres, with a handful of shops (milk bar, newsagent, etc...) this makes the entire system more workable.

Buses should really be feeder services for trains. I have had some radical thoughts that major roads like Springvale Rd, Warrigal Rd and even Punt Rd should all have metro lines either below ground or elevated above the current road/ground level. Today’s Punt Rd parallel alignment to a section of the North-Western train line is the precursor of such thoughts.

If only the government had the foresight and conviction years ago, the disruption to today’s existing transportation network would be minimal. The amount of disruption required to actually build underground train lines today would be extreme pain. Of course, we need to invent some kind of tunnel boring equipment and construction engineering where maybe we can build and duplicate train lines underground while existing ground level services can continue unhampered...? I dream on...

The implementation dreams equally apply to (3). ALL stations should be designed with a single central platform with the two tracks on the outer side. Existing stations which are the inverse (tracks on the inside, with two separate platforms on the outer side) would need “converting” - aka rebuilding! I know that for the Dandenong line between Caulfield and Clayton that majority of the stations are of later design and would need change under my futuristic plans, so again, there would be an unprecedented amount of pain during the period of construction and conversion...

Finally, interchange stations would be revamped on a case-by-case basis:

1. 1.Richmond: a very important station, but geographically challenging because of the Punt Rd overpass. Initial thoughts are to preserve current separation of tracks, but physical space is a main challenge/constraint to work around.
   

2. 2.South Yarra: imagine the current station as-is, just fully enclosed and the ceiling being the current ground level.
   

3. 3.Caulfield: Underground. Integrated into Monash Caulfield and/or the racecourse. All tracks would be underground to the overpass of Dandenong Rd.
   

4. 4.Holmesglen: Underground, integrated into Holmesglen TAFE & Warrigal Rd shops. NOT currently an interchange, but in my future, it would be - Glen Waverley line intersecting the Warrigal railway line.
   

5. 5.Chadstone: Future interchange for Warrigal, Dandenong and Glen Waverley lines (see below).
   

6. 6.Oakleigh: Underground, integrated into the Shopping Centre. Also a future interchange for the Warrigal railway line.
   

7. 7.Huntingdale: Future interchange for the Monash/Rowville railway line!
   

8. 8.Cheltenham: realign railway to intersect better with Southland Shopping Centre; interchange with the Warrigal Line
   

9. 9.Westfield Doncaster: Future interchange for Warrigal, Doncaster and Springvale lines (see below)
   

10. 10.Glen Waverley: Future interchange for Glen Waverley/Knox line with Springvale line (see below)
    

All new railway lines would be completely underground. In general, my designs for their alignment follow roads (Warrigal Rd, Springvale Rd, North/Wellington Rd, etc...) to minimise construction interference/disruption to homes.

The new metro lines of my futuristic Melbourne are:

1. 1.Glen Waverley extension to Knox City
   

2. 2.Alamein extension to East Malvern (there is a historical deja vu here) and Chadstone Interchange.
   

3. 3.Doncaster line: from Clifton Hill/Punt Rd following the Eastern Freeway > Doncaster Rd to Westfield Doncaster
   

4. 4.Warrigal line: Start at Westfield Doncaster, head south along Station St to Box Hill, deviate along Surrey Drive, follow Elgar Rd (Deakin & PLC), follow the Gardiner Creek alignment to join up with Holmesglen, deviate for Chadstone interchange, curve back to Warrigal Rd/Oakleigh, follow Warrigal Rd all the way to Argus St so as to connect with Southland/Cheltenham.
   

5. 5.Rowville line: Start from Huntingdale Station, follow North/Wellington Rd eastward, deviate for Monash University, possible separate station for the Synchrotron, possible deviation for Waverley Park, terminating at Studley Park Shopping Centre.
   

6. 6.Springvale line: Start at Keysborough/Springvale Rd, head north along Springvale Rd, interchange at Springvale, interchange with the Rowville line at Wellington/Spirngvale Rd, interchange at Glen Waverley for GW/Knox line, interchange at Nunawading for Ringwood lines, following Mitcham/Doncaster Rd to terminate at Westfield Doncaster.
   

Now you could argue that the Doncaster line (3) really continues on as the Springvale line (6), I choose to split them for ease of mind.

One of my favourite thoughts in this futuristic design is that you could take a shopping your train ride. You could visit the following retail activity centres all from the convenience of a train:

1. ➡Chadstone Shopping Centre
   

2. ➡Box Hill Central
   

3. ➡Westfield Doncaster
   

4. ➡Centro The Glen
   

5. ➡Knox City/Ozone
   

6. ➡Centro Oakleigh
   

7. ➡Monash University Clayton & Caulfield
   

8. ➡Studley Park Rowville
   

9. ➡Springvale
   

10. ➡Southland
    

11. ➡Tooronga Village
    

Now, I know all of the above focuses on South East/Eastern Melbourne. I do live out this side of the city so I know the roads and areas much better. If I ever do spend time in the Northern and Western suburbs of Melbourne then I’ll be able to add them to Futuristic Melbourne. There’s also the possibility for multiple people to contribute to this and make it more complete...