Rails out west

We start outside Footscray, where I captured a V/Line train sharing the suburban tracks on the way to the city.

In 2010 it was announced that Regional Rail Link would expand the cutting from four to six tracks, with V/Line trains from Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat moving onto their own tracks in stages between 2014 and 2015.

And a few kilometres away I found route 82 trams passing Highpoint Shopping Centre, where platform stops had recently been built.

A decade on the elderly Z3 class trams still ply the route, forcing intending passengers to climb a flight of stairs to board.

At Southern Cross Station I found The Southern Spirit – a luxury rail cruise train operated by Great Southern Rail around the east coast of Australia, using carriages normally seen on The Ghan.

The service ran in January 2010, January 2011 and February 2012 before being discontinued, however it was revived in 2019 as the Great Southern.

Late one night I found this pair of diesel locomotives making their way to Flemington Racecourse, Craigieburn and Williamstown – a driver training run to ensure that the train crew remained qualified on the routes.

Works trains continue to run over the Melbourne network, but now operated by Southern Shorthaul Railroad.

And at the Alstom Ballarat factory I found dozens of carriages wrapped in plastic – brand new X’Trapolis suburban trains waiting to be fitted out for use on the Melbourne network.

The final X’Trapolis train was delivered in 2020, leaving the Alstom Ballarat plant mothballed.

Building stuff

2011 saw work on the South Morang Rail Extension well underway, featuring the construction of 3.5km double track railway from Epping to South Morang, three new stations, and duplication of 5km of existing single track between Keon Park and Epping,

One night at Keon Park I captured a works train headed out to the works site.

Loaded with long lengths of freshly welded rail to form the new tracks.

Work on the project commenced in June 2010, with the extension to South Morang opening on April 2012.

On the road front, the $48.5 million Kororoit Creek Road duplication project was underway, including the removal of the level crossing at Altona North.

Work on the project was completed in December 2011.

And $200 million was being spent on the Anthony’s Cutting upgrade to the Western Freeway.

Requiring a massive cutting was excavated west of Bacchus Marsh.

The upgraded freeway opened to traffic in June 2011.

And screw ups

Down at Caroline Springs, work had started on the access road to the future railway station.

But that is as far as the project went for years – work on the station was paused until 2015, with the access road needing to be rebuilt to suit the updated plans.

One morning at Ascot Vale I was unable to reach the railway station – the pedestrian subway had flooded!

Thankfully newer stations in Melbourne don’t have the same problem – they keep the water off the tracks by pushing it back onto neighbouring streets.

Another day I was down at Yarraville station, where only a level crossing links the platforms. With trains running every 10 minutes the boom gates spend more time down than up, leaving passengers waiting and waiting, as the train they intend to catch prevents them from accessing the platform.

In the years since nothing has changed – there have been campaigns to reopen the pedestrian underpass, but the Level Crossing Removal Authority has no plans to touch the crossing.

And finally – the Siemens train braking saga. A spate of incidents in 2009 saw an investigation launched.

Since its introduction, the Siemens train has been involved in a relatively high number of reported overrun events when compared to other types of train operating on the network. The six platform overruns between 8 February and 3 March 2009 suggested that systemic issues remained unresolved and triggered this investigation.

The chosen fix – equipment to drop sand on the tracks.

The equipment was first trialled in March 2010, with installation across the fleet commencing in September 2010. By June 2011 the roll-out was complete, and speed restrictions removed.

A few buses

A decade ago bus routes still ran down Flinders Street in the Melbourne CBD.

Route 605 was one of them.

rerouted in 2017 to travel via Queen Street and Flagstaff station, as part of a package of changes made due to Metro Tunnel works at Domain Interchange.

And the other was route 238.

The route was discontinued in 2014, replaced by route 235, 237, 234 and 236 services between Fishermans Bend and the CBD.

And finally… ding ding!

In 2011 retired W class tram SW6.969 was converted into a bar and parked outside the Arts Centre.

It reappeared every summer as ‘Tram Bar’ until it was closed permanently in January 2015.

Footnote

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

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Down in Docklands

We start down in the windswept streets of Docklands.

Where I had a look over the last remaining part of Melbourne Yard – the heritage listed No. 2 Goods Shed completed in 1889.

And looked across to 67 Spencer Street – the former Victorian Railways head office.

Then walked home past the ‘Wailing Wall‘.

None of these views are possible today – the Melbourne Quarter development covers the block bounded by Wurundjeri Way and Collins Street, the retained wall partially demolished to provided vehicle access.

Taking off

October 2010 saw me pay a visit to Essendon Airport.

Where the terminal looked much the same as when it served as Melbourne’s international gateway.

But the scene is different today – a $4 million renovation completed in 2019 has converted the main arrival hall into office space.

An even more dramatic transformation was at RAAF Williams in Laverton.

Once empty paddocks between the Princes Freeway.

A decade later the airfield is gone, turned into the suburb of Williams Landing.

Big road spending

Work on the $371 million West Gate Bridge Strengthening project was well underway, with scaffolding covering the bridge while work was completed to add a fifth traffic lane in each direction.

Another road project was the $48.5 million Kororoit Creek Road duplication, which removed a level crossing on the Werribee line.

And Laverton station received yet another car park extension, taking it all the way to the Princes Freeway overpass.

At the rate the car park is being extended, it will soon join up with Aircraft station!

New trains

Delivery of more X’Trapolis trains was starting to ramp up during 2010, the imported body shells waiting outside the Alstom plant in Ballarat awaiting final fitout.

And a new stabling yard had just opened at Newport to park all of these extra trains.

A decade later the new HCMT fleet is being built at Newport, the Alstom Ballarat plant mothballed due to with no work, the workers redeployed to the V/Line maintenance workshops down the road.

Forgotten heritage

I made my way up to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

Where I found a tine capsule from the 1980s.

Buffet carriage ‘Tanjil’.

The carriage remains in storage today, awaiting a future restoration to service.

Meanwhile in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, the Preston Workshops was a dumping ground for retired W class trams.

But the scene today is different – in 2014 the old trams were moved out and given away to new homes, making way for the ‘New Preston Depot‘ that opened in 2016 for the fleet of brand new E class trams.

Meanwhile Flinders Street Station was a dank and crumbing place.

The only upside being a dance party happening in the Campbell Arcade subway.

A decade later the tiles have finally been fixed, part of the $100 million Flinders Street Station upgrade project, but for the Campbell Arcade the future is not as rosy – half the shops are due to be bulldozed by the Metro Tunnel project to provided a connection to the new Town Hall station.

And things that never change

Promotional crap blocking access to Melbourne Central Station.

It just keeps on happening.

Footnote

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

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Changed scenes

Back then the tram stops along Swanston Street were at ground level.

The platform stops at Collins, Bourke and La Trobe Street weren’t completed until July 2012.

And the Melbourne CBD skyline was much smaller, as seen in this view from the rail yards of West Melbourne.

This entire area is about to be covered in freeway overpasses as part of the West Gate ‘Tunnel’ project.

The railway yards beside North Melbourne station have also changed, when I photographed the ‘Apex’ quarry train parked for the weekend.

And a grain train headed to Kensington.

Both trains still run today, but under new operators – Qube Logistics and Southern Shorthaul Railroad respectively – while the sidings they use have been completely rebuilt as part of the Regional Rail Link project.

Another scene changed thanks to Regional Rail Link is the approach to Sunshine, where V/Line and suburban trains had to share the tracks.

Today a second track pair runs between Sunshine and the city, speeding the journey for V/Line trains on the Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo lines.

And new trains

The construction of new X’Trapolis trains had just restarted at the Alstom Ballarat workshops.

A decade on we’re still building them, with seven follow on orders signed so far, but no firm commitment has been made as to the future of the facility.

And the older Comeng trains were also in the middle of an air conditioning upgrade program.

Previously known for their propensity to drop dead whenever the temperature hit 36 degrees, the State Government spent $18.7 million retrofitting the units so that they would continue to run at temperatures up to 45 degrees.

The Bombardier plant at Dandenong was also busy, refurbishing Endeavour and Xplorer railcars for New South Wales.

Due to the railways of New South Wales being standard gauge, each railcar needed to be transferred to broad gauge bogies at South Dynon, then dragged to Dandenong behind a diesel locomotive.

Headed out west

Another rail gauge muddle can be found at Maryborough, where the mothballed standard gauge track to Ararat met the broad gauge tracks from Ballarat.

In 2018 the line from Ararat was reopened as part of the Murray Basin Rail Project that converted the Mildura line to standard gauge, but lefts things in worse shape than before: poorly built and slower than the previous route.

On my way back to Ballarat I visited the disused railway station at Creswick, as a grain train passed through.

The newly relaid track was part of the restoration of V/Line services to Maryborough, with Creswick station reopening to passenger on July 2010.

But a station in even worse condition was that at Maldon, on the the Victorian Goldfields Railway.

The 120-year-old building was gutted by fire in October 2009, but has since been rebuilt.

And the unexpected

One afternoon at Kensington I spotted some ‘police’ wandering the tracks at Kensington.

But it was just a television show.

Apparently for the Channel Seven series City Homicide, which screened between 2007 and 2011.

Footnote

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

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Rolling out a new look

The government released a flashy video alongside the media release, featuring an X’Trapolis train bearing the new Metro corporate image.

Back in 2009 X’Trapolis trains were the newest in the Melbourne suburban fleet, following a hurried order for 20 new trains to cater for an explosion in patronage.

But for the launch of Metro Trains Melbourne on 30 November none of the new trains were ready to carry passengers, so one of the older X’Trapolis trains was rebranded, with a design looking much like the train featured in the animation.

But it wasn’t a full repaint, but a change of stickers – goodbye Connex logo, hello Metro Trains Melbourne.

The same process followed with the rest of the fleet – the first Siemens train to receive the Metro livery appearing a week later, with the fractal design and large ‘METRO’ text fitting easily onto the flat carriage sides.

But that design wouldn’t fit over the fluted sides of the older Comeng trains, so a cut back version was devised – which didn’t appear until April 2010.

But if in doubt – rebrand again!

Following the launch of Public Transport Victoria in 2012, the Metro Trains Melbourne brand was taken off the side of trains, replaced by new PTV logos – resulting in three layers of branding visible.

Feedback from the workshops

In the years that followed, more X’Trapolis trains continued to be delivered – each one being painted plain white at the factory, with Metro stickers applied over the top.

Until July 2018 when a new X’Trapolis train emerged from the Alstom workshops at Ballarat, with a smaller Metro logo on the side.

But why was it changed? Take a look at the side of the side of an X’Trapolis train, when coupled to a classmate.

The previous version of the livery required four different types of door sticker to be kept in stock:

• ME (left side, left door)
• ET (left side, right door)
• TR (right side, left door)
• RO (right side, right door)

While the new design only needs one kind – plain blue. I wonder who made this clever observation?

Siemens train footnote

The Metro livery applied to the Siemens trains went through a far less noticeable evolution. Can you spot it?

The answer: the train to the left has the early version with one piece stickers, with the train on the right has stickers that avoid the seams in the stainless steel panels.

Presumably the stickers over the seam was would bubble up over time and eventually come loose, hence the change to a more secure two piece design.

And finally – level crossings

There is one that that features prominently in the government’s flashy video from 2009 – single track railways.

And level crossings!

Daniel Andrews took a ‘Level Crossing Removal Project’ policy to the 2014 State Election, with much work done since, but progress on duplicating single track railways is only happening on a sporadic basis.

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Lots of construction

On the Craigieburn line, a new $38 million railway station was taking shape at Coolaroo.

While at Craigieburn the second platform was being prepared for the use of suburban trains.

Both projects were originally intended to be part of the Craigieburn Rail Project completed in 2007, but descoped to a lack of funds.

Down on the Werribee line the $92.6 project to add a third platform to Laverton station was well underway.

The old ramp was ready to be demolished.

To be replaced by a steep set of stairs, and unreliable lifts that are too small to take an ambulance stretcher.

Work was also well underway on the new footbridge at Footscray station, with the site cleared.

And the first bridge span waiting to be lifted into place.

And a short distance away at Sunshine a different rail bridge was under construction.

Costing $15 million, the 8 span 220 metres long ‘Brooklyn Sunshine Triangle Bridge‘ enabled freight services from the north and west of Victoria to pass through Melbourne, removing the need for trains to stop at Tottenham Yard and reverse direction.

Regional Rail Link kicks off

August 27 saw the media circus roll into Southern Cross Station, as state and federal politicians turned the first sod for the Regional Rail Link project.

The crowd of minders having arrived an hour earlier, including a construction worker charged with making sure the pile driver was spotless.

The politicians and media scrum had to make their way through the old Spencer Street subway.

Where they emerged at the future platform 15/16.

Victorian Premier John Brumby, Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky were there.

Where they slowly raised and lowered a pile driver head.

I also headed out to Wyndham Vale, where a long empty strip of land marked the site of the future station.

Dennis Family Homes, developer of the Manor Lakes estate, couldn’t believe their luck – their advertised ‘transport link’ was actually happening.

The new line opened to passengers in June 2015.

Around Melbourne and Geelong

At first glance Southern Cross Station didn’t look that different, with promotional stands blocking the main entrance.

But from up top the view was different – one could enjoy a drink in the bar, as late evening commuters trickle in.

The bar and food count on level 1 of the Collins Street concourse closed in 2011, replaced by a Woolworths supermarket.

Out in the boondocks of Campbellfield I crossed over the Western Ring Road onboard an Upfield line train.

The freeway has gone from six to eight lanes, upgraded by the ‘Tulla Sydney Alliance’ in May 2013 but the railway line is still single track, despite the removal of the nearby Camp Road level crossing in 2018.

While on the western edge of Geelong I drove out to the newly developed ‘Highview Estate’ in Highton, where houses were taking over the Barrabool Hills.

Today the fields are covered with houses, with many of the residents probably driving to Melbourne for work via the recently completed Geelong Ring Road.

And a few trains

August 2009 saw me take a ride around suburban Melbourne with Steamrail Victoria, with our seam train visiting Cranbourne, Upfield, Craigieburn and Williamstown.

I also followed a Connex Melbourne train through the open countryside of the Ballarat line.

The train was bound for the Alstom Ballarat workshops for upgrades to the passenger information and CCTV systems.

Also in Ballarat I found two accident damaged Comeng suburban trains.

Both have since been scrapped – carriage 1109T having been damaged in the 2002 Epping collision while carriage 553M was destroyed by fire in 2002.

And to finish – we see the Maryvale paper train waiting at North Dynon, before another trip east.

And another load of grain headed west from Geelong, with a rainbow overhead.

Footnote

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

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The ‘Rolling Stock Module’ of the 2017 Franchise Agreement between Public Transport Victoria and Metro Trains Melbourne describes how the ‘Mean Distance Between Failure’ is calculated:

MDBF = D/F

where:

• MDBF is the Mean Distance Between Failure (in kilometres);
• D is the total Franchise Rolling Stock Type fleet kilometres in the Relevant Month; and
• F is the number of failures in the items of a Franchise Rolling Stock Type in service in the Relevant Month.

As well as the definition of failure.

6. The definition of a ‘failure’ for the purpose of calculating MDBF is described below:

(a) A failure is the random stopping of the capability of the equipment to carry out its function, requiring an unplanned, immediate or deferred maintenance action.
(b) Failures that result in an item being unable carry out its function for a period of five minutes or greater are taken into account for this metric.
(c) Failures that are able to be rectified in under five minutes are not taken into account for this metric.
(d) If a failure lasting for a period of five minutes or greater occurs, but no fault is found, it is still recorded as a failure.
(e) Each failure situation that lasts for a period of five minutes or greater is recorded as a separate incident even if the cause of the failure is unchanged ie, if a failure on train xyz occurs at 0900 due to ‘Q’, and is rectified, then fails again at 1100 due to ‘Q’ or any other cause, this will be recorded as two failures.
(f) Failures lasting for a period of five minutes or greater and that are caused by collisions or vandalism are not taken into account for this metric.

As well as what is not considered a failure.

To avoid doubt, minor faults such as blown globes, fuses, and tripped circuit breakers etc. are not considered for this metric unless the incident result in the item being unable to carry out its function for a period of five minutes or greater.
(a) If a minor fault occurs, which does not force a train from service, but the defect precludes the train from a timely commencement of its next scheduled service run, that fault will be considered a failure disrupting service for a period of five minutes or greater and recorded as such.
(b) Delays resulting from non-maintenance sources, such as level crossing incidents, network incidents, driver errors or the like will not be considered for this metric.

As well as the reliability target that Metro Trains Melbourne will be measured against.

• X’Trapolis target: 52,000 km per Service Affecting Failure (SAF)
• Siemens target: 40,000 km per SAF
• Comeng target: 19,000 km per SAF

Which looks like this is graph form.

It takes around an hour for a suburban train to travel the 58 kilometres between Flinders Street to Pakenham – assuming a train running between the two points all day long, that is 1,392 kilometres per day, which gives the following overly pessimistic ‘days between failure’ graph – in reality the time between faults would be at least twice this, given turnaround times and the nights that trains don’t run.

Comeng trains entered service back in the 1980s and are now approaching 40 years of age, so the fact that they are the least reliable isn’t surprising.

But the difference between the Siemens and X’Trapolis trains is interesting.

The first Siemens train entered serivce in 2002, as did the first X’Trapolis train.

But between 2009 and today, the X’Trapolis fleet has doubled in size, as a steady stream of new trains are built and delivered.

So are the X’Trapolis actually more reliable than a Siemens train of the same age, or does the younger age of the overall X’Trapolis fleet led to a more ambitious reliability target?

Footnote

Apparently the fleet of X’Trapolis trains are even more reliable than the current targets call for – travelling twice as far between failure, which is something around 100,000 kilometres or more, or two months in everyday operation.

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Here we see a single X’Trapolis carriage wrapped in plastic, being paraded through the streets of the French port city of La Rochelle.

We see the train parked by the water beside local politicians, along with a small band.

And the message on the side: “Livraison de 58 trains pour la ville de Melbourne”.

The backstory can be found on the website of Alstom, manufacturer of the X’Trapolis train fleet.

On May 4th 2004 ALSTOM celebrated the completion of the manufacture at our site in Aytré-La Rochelle, France of 58 X’TRAPOLIS trains for Melbourne.

One of the last body shells of the contract, resplendent in its commemorative covering, left the site for the Port de la Pallice in La Rochelle, whence it will soon begin its two-month sea journey to Australia. Upon arrival it will travel to our facilities in Ballarat, just like its predecessors, for assembly and testing, before entry into service at the end of this year.

The first order of X’Trapolis trains for Melbourne was made by Connex back in 2000, with the first of 58 3-car trains entering service in December 2002, and the last in December 2004. Trade magazine Railway Gazette detailed the construction process.

Recognising concerns about local industry, the Victorian Government’s Transport Reform Unit required Australian firms to be involved in the contract. The result was a significant element of technology transfer.

Under the terms agreed, the first two sets are to be fully manufactured in Aytré, where initial testing takes place. To permit trial running, Alstom added a third rail to its short factory test track to suit the 1600mm gauge. The following eight units are being mainly built in France but tested in Australia. Sets 11 to 58 will have bodyshells supplied from Aytré and bogies from Le Creusot, but fitting out will take place at Ballarat in the Melbourne suburbs.

Traction control equipment was designed at Alstom’s British plant in Preston, where the initial packs were manufactured. Later batches will be put together in the Alstom factory at Milperra in the Sydney suburbs, although traction motors will be supplied from Ornans in France.

The auxiliary converters were designed at Charleroi in Belgium, where the initial batch was produced; supply will later transfer to Milperra.

Given a heavy workload at Aytré at present, Alstom has subcontracted the supply of several major component groups. Labinal, for example, is responsible for all the cabling, and the company is supplying complete wiring and cabling kits to Aytré, where its own staff carry out installation. All interior panelling, ceilings, air ducts and door pockets are the responsibility of Alcan, which supplies kits for Alstom staff to install. Both Labinal and Alcan have agreed to find their own subcontractors in Australia, and a number of other components will be furnished directly by Australian manufacturers.

The expansion of the X’Trapolis fleet commenced in 2007, when the Victorian Government ordered 20 new 3-carriages trains. The same technology transfer arrangements applied as with the initial order – body shells imported from overseas.

Then moved by road to the Alstom plant at Ballarat to be fitted out.

And finally delivered by rail to Melbourne for final commissioning.

The only difference this time around is where the work happens overseas – Alstom now builds the bodyshells at their plant in Katowice, Poland then trucks them to Savigliano, Italy to be fitted out.

Footnote

• Hillside EMU shipped to Melbourne: delivery of the first batch of trains in 2002.
• X’Trapolis: Savigliano-Melbourne journey completed!: delivery of the first 2nd order train in 2009.
• All aboard Melbourne express, from Poland: a 2010 story from the Age on the plant at Katowice.
• New trains arrived full of defects: issues found in newly delivered train in 2010.

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