A trip to Sydney

I decided to make the trip up to Sydney this month, catching the XPT north from Melbourne.

And being greeted by a light rail vehicle tram as soon as I arrived at Central Station.

I saw a double decker train the next day.

And presumably took some other photos up there, but they weren’t of trains – as I still haven’t uploaded them to my Flickr account.

Then then flew back home to Melbourne – to be greeted by a Myki visitors pack advertisement inside the Qantas terminal.

Along with a SkyBus one.

A decade on and the Myki machines at Melbourne Airport are just as hard to find, and SkyBus is still the only public transport route that runs from the airport to the CBD.

Melbourne Central

I also went on a tour of the Melbourne Central Tower this month, where we got to look out over the roof of Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, towards Myer House and Emporium.

But unfortunately we only got to look down on the glass cone, not look inside like some previous tours did.

Technology

It seems like an everyday scene now, but a decade ago seeing an entire tram full of passengers absorbed in their smartphones was still novel.

But Telstra was still behind the times – rollout out their ‘Telstra Air’ wifi hotspots to payphones, despite almost everyone having stacks of mobile data to use on their phone.

The Wi-Fi network is still in place today, but free since 2023.

Trams

‘Safety’ zone trams stops were still common place in the Melbourne CBD a decade ago – this one was on Collins Street at William Street.

This particular tram stop was replaced by a platform stop in June 2015, with the last safety zones in the CBD upgraded in July 2024. As for the rest of the tram network – the December 2022 deadline to make all tram stops accessible has been and gone, with hundreds still non compliant.

Meanwhile Yarra Trams was coming up with crackpot schemes like a coffee stall taking up precious space for passengers at the Flinders and Swanston Street stop.

Luckily that idea got kicked out very quickly.

A handful of 1970s-era Z1 class trams were also still kicking around the network, with their crappy little sliding windows and only two doors per side – despite having supposed to have been retired a decade earlier in favour of the incoming low floor C and D class trams, but kept on due to increasing patronage.

This particular tram – Z3.86 – was eventually retired in August 2015, following the delivery of the new E class trams.

A different flavour of stupidity are people who drive down Swanston Street – this driver managed to break down in the middle of the tram stop, and drum up help from passersby to get clear of the tracks.

While this confused country bumpkin headed up Swanston Street in their LandCruiser got pulled up by an unmarked police car, and got sent on their way.

And a decade on – nothing much has really changed.

V/Line trains

Here we see an original liveried VLocity train departing Richmond station for the city.

These days the entire VLocity fleet is in the PTV purple livery, the open air ramps at Richmond station are now roofed over, and Eureka Tower has been usurped by Australia 108 as the tallest building in Australia.

Down in Geelong I photographed a 6-car V/Line train approaching the brand new terminus station of Waurn Ponds.

Opened in October 2014, Waurn Ponds gained a second platform in 2022, and the 8 kilometers of track between South Geelong and Waurn Ponds has just been duplicated.

And a V/Line train in are more shocking condition was VLocity set VL12.

Involved in a collision on the Werribee line in August 2014 where a V/Line train passed a signal at stop and crashed into the rear of a Metro train, it had to be dragged to the workshops at Bendigo to be repaired.

The collision resulted in Metro trains rewriting the rules around passing a signal at stop, while VLocity VL12 reentered service in March 2015 as the only 2-car VLocity set to ever wear the PTV livery.

A load of rubbish

After the removal of rubbish bins from Melbourne stations due to the “increased terror alert level”, they all got dumped in a pile at Flinders Street Station.

And the average passenger responded as you might expect – like a filthy pig just leaving their rubbish on the ground.

The bins were eventually returned in March 2015, with the exception of the private management at Southern Cross Station, who still refuse to place any rubbish bins on their platforms.

A different kind of rubbish

It was the leadup to the 2014 State Election, and the Napthine Government was ramped up their ‘Moving Victoria’ campaign, promoting their unfundedthe Melbourne Rail Link project.

Conceived as an alternative to the Metro Tunnel, the Melbourne Rail Link tunnel would have run between South Yarra and Southern Cross, serving new stations at Domain and Fishermans Bend – instead of Arden and Parkville, who would be stuck using buses and trams.

But as you might have guessed, the Melbourne Rail Link project went nowhere, construction of the Metro Tunnel started a few years later and is almost finished, work on the Melbourne Airport Rail project has been stop-start, and a rail link to Fishermans Bend is as far away as ever.

And another piece of pork barrelling I photographed was this Denis Napthine’s $115 million dollar train on the Frankston line – or what the government called the ‘Bayside Rail Project’.

Announced in May 2013, the Bayside Rail Project was promoted as bringing the newest trains in Melbourne – the X’Trapolis – to the Frankston line.

However these trains accelerate faster than anything else in the Melbourne fleet, putting them at risk of beating the boom barriers at level crossings, but because of the upcoming election, it was decided in October 2014, to just run a single X’Trapolis train on the line each morning, but with a speed restrictor on the throttle and two drivers in the cab.

Following changes to level crossing timings on the line in August 2016, the restriction on X’Trapolis trains was removed, allowing any X’Trapolis set to run revenue services to Frankston, and more amazingly a decade later, the bulk of the level crossings on the Frankston line don’t even exist anymore.

And a third kind of rubbish

For decades this ancient advertisement for Medibank Private faced passengers at Melbourne Central platform 1.

But 2014 saw this billboard finally removed from the platform wall, replaced by the ‘Xtrack TV’ digital screens with their insipid loop of advertisements – with audio soundtrack.

And Medibank Private – it’s still just as useless as the rest of the Australian private health insurance system.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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The story starts in May 2013, when then-Premier Denis Napthine announced the $100 million ‘Bayside Rail Project’ to appease voters along the Frankston line, home of a number of marginal seats. The headline:

$100 million Bayside rail upgrade brings newest trains to Frankston line

Then elaborated further:

“Since the November 2010 election, the Coalition Government has announced orders for 15 new X’Trapolis trains, but these trains could only carry passengers on the Alamein, Glen Waverley, Belgrave, Lilydale, Hurstbridge and South Morang lines due to the different position in which the driver sits in the cab, affecting the ability to see some signals.

“This $100 million will mean the Frankston line will also be able to accommodate the X’Trapolis trains, giving passengers the fastest, most reliable and most comfortable commute to and from the city,” Dr Napthine said.

A year later in May 2014 another story starts, when the same Liberal government announced a $457 million package of works to remove level crossings at Burke Road in Glen Iris, Blackburn Road in Blackburn and North Road in Ormond.

We now move to the leadup to the 2014 State Election, and both sides of politics pulling out all stops to wow voters.

The Labor Party promised to remove 50 level crossings across Melbourne if they won the election, while the incumbent Liberal Government pushed Metro Trains and PTV to introduce a token X’Trapolis train to the Frankston line before infrastructure works were completed, requiring special speed restrictions to be put in place due to level crossing issues.

Labor came out in front on election day and Daniel Andrews took the reins as Premier of Victoria. He didn’t spare any time in putting his level crossing plan into action, and wasn’t afraid to revisit existing projects – in May 2015 the scope of the North Road works was expanded to include the neighbouring Centre Road, Bentleigh and McKinnon Road, McKinnon level crossings.

July 2016 saw work on the Frankston line kick up a gear, with train services being shut down for a month to allow all three stations to be demolished and the new railway cutting to be dug.

North Rd crossing at Ormond station – Herald Sun photo by Chris Eastman

Rail services returned on August 1st, with Premier Daniel Andrews’ office releasing a media statement:

The crossings are gone, the track has been lowered and tomorrow the trains are back, completing one of the biggest construction efforts in Victorian history. We said we would get rid of these dangerous and congested level crossings – and we have got it done.

With the work completed, trains now pass beneath the former level crossings.

Among them is Denis Napthine’s election train – despite his loss at the 2014 State Election, the token X’Trapolis service continues to run.

Each weekday morning the dedicated X’Trapolis train to makes two return trips to Frankston, then returns to the city to stable until next day’s junket.

I wonder what will come first – the completion of 50 level crossings removals projects across Melbourne, or the rollout of X’Trapolis trains to the Frankston line?

Footnote 1: nitpicking gunzel details

X’Trapolis set 176M-175M and 174M-173M were the initial train allocated to the Frankston line from October 2014, restricted in speed and operated by two drivers to avoid beating the boom gates at level crossings.

In February 2015 this set was removed from the Frankston line to undergo maintenance, and was restored to original specifications. It was then replaced by newly delivered X’Trapolis set 181M-182M and 183M-184M, which had the same master control restrictions applied.

Following changes to level crossing timings on the line in August 2016, the restriction on X’Trapolis trains was removed, allowing any X’Trapolis set to run revenue services to Frankston.

Footnote 2: down in the trench

Freshly shotcreted walls were the main sight on my recent trip along the Frankston line.

But vandals haven’t wasted any time – trains been back for just a week, and the trench walls at McKinnon station have already been graffitied.

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In May 2013 Premier Denis Napthine announced the $100 million ‘Bayside Rail Project’ with the following headline:

$100 million Bayside rail upgrade brings newest trains to Frankston line

Then elaborated further:

“Since the November 2010 election, the Coalition Government has announced orders for 15 new X’Trapolis trains, but these trains could only carry passengers on the Alamein, Glen Waverley, Belgrave, Lilydale, Hurstbridge and South Morang lines due to the different position in which the driver sits in the cab, affecting the ability to see some signals.

“This $100 million will mean the Frankston line will also be able to accommodate the X’Trapolis trains, giving passengers the fastest, most reliable and most comfortable commute to and from the city,” Dr Napthine said.

Turns out letting politicians control the transport planning agenda doesn’t work, as new issues kept on appearing:

• May 2013: because trains on the Frankston line run through to Williamstown and Werribee, the scope of the upgrade works had to be increased to cover these additional lines.
• October 2014: a token X’Trapolis train services was added to the Franskton line before the 2014 State Election, but had to be speed restricted due to level crossing issues.
• September 2015: due to the modifications made to level crossings to enable the operation of X’Trapolis trains, boom gates on the Frankston line will stay down for longer.

But one that slipped through to the keeper was the promise that the X’Trapolis trains being “new” was a good thing. Here is a typical X’Trapolis train.

And another.

And one more.

Notice how downright filthy and graffiti covered the passenger saloon is?

For politicians, assuming that a “new” train provides a clean and comfortable travelling experience for passengers is an easy mistake to make. However in the real world of Melbourne’s rail network, anything “new” is going to be completely trashed in next to no time, and stay that way thanks to a lack of regular maintenance.

It appears that somebody pulling the strings also realised how filthy the X’Trapolis trains were, as in August 2015 Public Transport Victoria announced a $2 million project to refurbishment the entire fleet of X’Trapolis trains.

The X’Trapolis train fleet will undergo a major internal refurbishment and graffiti removal program to help deliver a cleaner and more reliable service for customers.

The interior of the 80 X’Trapolis trains will be refurbished to remove all remnants of graffiti. From 14 August 2015, one refurbished train will be delivered to the network each day.

The refurbishment of each X’Trapolis train will take one full day to complete and includes:

• a buff and polish of all internal wall panels (to remove graffiti shadowing);
• application of a new anti-graffiti coating to wall panels;
• replacement of window protective films; and
• an upgrade of internal lighting (brighter lighting).

To keep the trains clean after they’ve been refurbished, there will be more regular checks and monitoring of CCTV to remove any new graffiti as quickly as possible.

The end result is a train that actually meets the expectations of the average commuter.

So why not roll out the deep clean to the rest of the network? The Age had this to say:

The clean-up will not extend at this time to the Siemens and older Comeng trains.

It takes some skill, but the politicians of Victoria have managed to link clean trains to marginal seats.

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