A few things new on the trams

A decade ago route 57 was my local tram route, and one night I heard something different clattering down the road – a brand new E class tram on test.

So I got in the car and chased it down the line, snaking around the reserved track of Maribyrnong until it reached the route 82 terminus at Footscray.

A decade ago I was also still commuting to the CBD for work, when I found some brand new yellow plastic kerbing in place along the Collins Street tram tracks.

Intended to make life difficult for motorists driving over the tram tracks, they didn’t seem to deter the nuffies who drive taxis in Melbourne.

Continuing to block the tram tracks and make u-turns as they please.

A problem not addressed until 2020 when the yellow plastic strips were replaced with hard concrete ones – and reducing vehicle-to-tram collisions by around 30 per cent.

And on the trains

A decade ago a new style of door handle was first trialled on the aging Comeng trains.

Eventually rolled out to the entire fleet, but in 2024 an even more secure emergency door release system on the cusp of being rolled out – just in time for the Comeng trains to be retired!

More clueless drivers

Occasionally trams need to turn back before their usual terminus, with one of these crossovers being the Maribyrnong River crossover on Maribyrnong Road, Ascot Vale.

Unfortunately this motorist didn’t realise the tram in front wanted to come back the other way – perhaps forgivable, given it’s an infrequent occurrence.

Meanwhile this driver of a Queensland registered car didn’t know what to do on Swanston Street when the road ran out, so decided to drive along the bike lane instead.

But this taxi driver should’ve known better – the tram driver going DING DING DING but the driver still decided to sneak down the tram tracks.

And this even stupider driver deciding to driving advice from a taxi driver, and follow them.

Another ‘professional’ driver was behind the wheel of this delivery van, who also decided to drive down the Swanston Street tram stop.

But unlike all the other clueless drivers this month, they didn’t get away with it – Victoria Police officers pulled them over afterwards.

Over to Moonee Ponds

Here we see the old Moonee Ponds Junction tram stop, with route 82 passengers forced to cross multiple roads to reach the narrow ‘safety zone’ tram stop on the other side of the intersection.

The tram stop was eventually rebuilt in 2016, with route 59 and 82 trams sharing a new accessible platform stop, next to the bus interchange.

Also nearby I found a route bus operated by Moonee Valley Coaches.

They continued operating two bus routes from Moonee Ponds towards Brunswick until March 2024, when the routes were sold to much larger bus operator Dyson Group.

And Southern Cross Station

March 2014 saw some more retail outlets being added to Southern Cross Station – this time on the Bourke Street Bridge.

But the congestion on the streets around the station – zero attention being paid there!

Just Grand Prix merchandise stalls to make matters worse!

But this hoarding on the Collins Street concourse had something different hiding behind it.

A big hole with a massive cage of reinforcing bar at the bottom.

So what was it?

I didn’t find out until a few months later.

Footnote

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

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I pulled over to take a closer look, and found a car belong to SGS S.A. – a Swiss multinational company which provides inspection, verification, testing and certification services.

There was a piece of tripod mounted equipment labelled TIRTL on one side of the intersection.

And a second unit on the other side.

Also connected to an equipment box.

So what was it all for? The green thing labelled ‘TIRTL’ is actually a ‘The Infra-Red Traffic Logger‘ unit:

The transmitter sends two cones of infrared light across the roadway, and the receiver records vehicles as they break and remake these cones. TIRTL transmitter’s infrared cones cross each other and form two straight and two diagonal beam pathways.

When a vehicle crosses the beam pathways, TIRTL records two beam events; it records one from the vehicle breaking and one leaving the beam pathway. These two beams events are recorded for all four beam pathways. Thus, eight timestamped events are generated per axle. The velocity is derived from the timestamps of these beam events.

This velocity data is then compared with the velocity data calculated by the speed camera system itself, as part of the testing and maintenance procedures required under the Road Safety (General) Regulations 2019.

Quarterly:

– Speed accuracy and speed reliability testing
– Camera system asset inventory
– Camera system sensor evaluation

Which leads to the issuing of an annual test certificate for each camera.

Footnote: and another one

I’ve also found the speed and red light camera at the corner of Flinders Street and William Street undergoing testing.

Back in 20114 it was the speed camera which issued the most fines in Victoria, with 20,774 in one quarter. While in 2017 it claimed the dubious honour of Victoria worse location for motorists running red lights, with almost 2000 fines issued in one quarter.

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Down by the tracks

We start this month down at the west end of the Melbourne CBD, where the apartment blocks of Docklands towered over wasteland of railway sidings.

In 2015 the rail freight terminal was relocated to make way for the ‘E-Gate’ urban renewal project, but it was not to be – Transurban came along with their unsolicited West Gate ‘Tunnel’ idea, and now the land is being covered with a tangle of elevated roads forming the Wurundjeri Way extension.

Next stop, over to Murrumbeena and Hughesdale.

The tracks used to be down at ground level, surrounded by trees.

But the entire section is now parkland, the railway line being elevated onto the ‘skyrail’ viaduct in 2018 to remove multiple level crossings.

Next stop, Coburg station.

That station building is still there today, but the tracks are not – a new elevated station was built on the site in 2020, removing the Bell Street level crossing.

And finally, the complex mess of cars, trams and trains crossing Burke Road at Gardiner station..

The railway lines was placed beneath the road in 2016, removing the 30 km/h speed restriction for trams and trains.

Metcard vs Myki

The rollout of Myki to trams in Melbourne was underway, with the “you don’t need to touch off on trams” message struggling to get out.

Diehard Metcard users still pumping coins into the ticket machines onboard trams.

Railway stations also still had their 1990s-era ‘Booking Office Machines’ used to issue Metcards.

And crowded Myki gates at railway stations was still an issue.

Overflow gates having been installed in an attempt to handle crowds, but often went unused.

Ding ding

In recent years many Melbourne CBD tram stops have closed – the one at the corner of William and Lonsdale Street is one of them.

A decade ago, the work on the platform stops along Swanston Street was still getting dragged along.

The corner of Swanston and Collins Street a construction site for months.

As was the tram stop at Swanston and Bourke Street.

It took until July 2012 for them to finally open to passengers.

Also this month the ‘H’ crossing at the intersection of Victoria and Peel Streets was being renewed.

Fresh tram track being installed where routes 58 and 57 intersect, during a weekend shutdown of the complete intersection.

On the buses

A decade ago Melbourne’s bus operators still had their fleets painted in their own corporate livery – Ventura in two-tone blue with yellow highlights.

Driver Bus Lines had white with blue and teal stripes.

And Grenda had red and yellow stripes.

Ventura still operates bus services in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, but the routes once operated by Driver Bus Lines were acquired by CDC Melbourne in 2013, and the Grenda brand has now been absorbed into the Ventura Group.

Construction

Work on Regional Rail Link was quite disruptive through Footscray, as the rail corridor was expanded to fit two new tracks.

The first section of the new Nicholson Street bridge in place.

Ballarat and Bendigo trains started using the new tracks from July 2014, with Geelong trains following from June 2015

Also in the west the expansion of Highpoint Shopping Centre was underway, tower cranes at work on a $300 million extension featuring a David Jones store.

Which wasn’t a successful move for the high end department store – in 2021 they shrunk the store to a single floor, to make way for Kmart!

While over in Ascot Vale, the abandoned Racecourse Hotel had been set on fire.

After laying empty for many years.

The site was cleared soon after, and after many years of planning objections, the 22 storey ‘Only Flemington‘ apartment tower was eventually built on the site.

And everything else

While passing through West Footscray I found the infamous Sims Supermarket – known for their ‘The Price Crusher’ slogan.

The small supermarket chain went into administration in 2017, and the store is now an IGA.

On the subject of supermarkets, I found two Coles stores across the street from each other in Coburg.

One of the stores has always been as a Coles, while the other was a rebranded Bi-Lo store, trading beside each other until one was closed in 2021 and turned into artist studios.

I also found a Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car.

The custom registration plates indicating it was part of the Victorian Government’s five year ‘Electric Vehicle Trial‘ launched in October 2010.

While a mid-term report was published in 2013, the final report of the trial has not been published.

I also went past the Port of Melbourne to photograph some container ships.

A location now inaccessible following the expansion of the Swanson Dock container terminal.

And finally, I went for a walk over the surprisingly leafy looking Western Ring Road.

At the Craigieburn Bypass interchange.

But a decade on, the same scene is covered in concrete – the recently completed M80 Upgrade added additional lanes between Sydney Road and Edgars Road at a cost of $518 million.

Footnote

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

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This Weston Langford photo from 1963 shows a Footscray bound tram headed west along Maribyrnong Road in Ascot Vale.

Weston Langford photo

And here is the same location today.

High floor trams still clunk their way along route 82 on the same timetable as decades ago, so it is no surprise that Maribyrnong Road is clogged with motorists headed to Highpoint Shopping Centre from the surrounding suburbs.

At least I can’t complain about lush trees that now flank the road.

Footnote: a history of the tram

You might think the tram in the 1963 photo is a rickety old W class, but it isn’t – it’s actually VR tram #52, one of three trams built by the Victorian Railways in 1942 for use on the broad gauge St Kilda to Middle Brighton ‘Electric Street Railway‘.

PROV image VPRS 12800/P1, item H 2870

Following the closure of the Victorian Railways tramway in 1959, the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board acquired the three newest trams, converting two to standard gauge, and allocated them to Essendon Depot where they saw regular service use on route 82.

Of the three ex-Victorian Railways trams, tram #54 was scrapped in 1967 for spare parts. Tram #52 was withdrawn in 1975 is now preserved by the Tramway Museum Society of Victoria at Bylands, while classmate #53 is preserved at the Melbourne Tram Museum, Hawthorn.

Today Z3 class trams are used on route 82, the high-floor non-air conditioned trams having entered service between 1979 and 1983.

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Weston Langford photo

Going back in time

Today’s Raleigh Road bridge carries four lanes of traffic into the western Melbourne suburb of Maribyrnong.

Lining up with Maribyrnong Road in Ascot Vale.

And used by route 57 trams to West Maribyrnong and route 82 trams to Footscray.

But the bridge didn’t always carry cars – the 1966 Melway shows that road vehicles once had their own bridge to the north.

Melway edition 1, map 28

Taking a dogleg beside the Anglers Tavern, while trams had their own timber trestle bridge.

1945 Department of Lands and Survey photo map

So how did it come to be?

Early years

The first river crossing on the site opened in 1852 – a punt operated by Joseph Raleigh, owner of a nearby meat preserving works, to serve diggers headed to the goldfields. In 1858 the punt was replaced by a pontoon bridge.

SLV photo IAN20/12/66/4

The bridge was soon joined by two hotels – a two story bluestone building called the Raleigh’s Punt Hotel in 1866, followed by the the Anglers Hotel in 1870.

Charles Nettleton photo, SLV H82.246/2

And in 1870 the pontoon bridge was replaced by a sturdier timber bridge, funded by the nearby Melbourne Meat Preserving Works, and local landowner George Petty.

Charles Nettleton photo, SLV H84.79/1

Regular floods on the Maribyrnong River threatened the bridge.

SLV photo H90.160/864

Which needed to be patched up to cater for heavier traffic.

SLV photo H90.160/865

But it took until 1906 for work to start on a replacement. Designed by John Monash with five reinforced concrete spans, each nominally 40 feet (12.2m) in length, work started in 1909 and was completed in 1911.

SLV photo H90.160/866

In the years that followed, local residents agitated for the extension of trams from Ascot Vale into Maribyrnong.

The Age, 10 August 1927

But it took the outbreak of World War II for the tram extension to be approved, to serve the explosives factories on the western side of the Maribyrnong.

The Age, 1 October 1940

As might be expected for wartime, the minimum effort was made – the existing road bridge was left in place, trams being carried over the river by a timber trestle bridge.

A fatal fall

In November 1950 a man walking across the tramway bridge fell and drowned.

The Herald, 10 November 1950

The bridge being a popular shortcut for local residents.

Schoolboys Use Bridge As Short-Cut

The Maribyrnong tramway bridge was perfectly safe for pedestrians, the publicity officer of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tram ways Board, Mr L. E. Russell, said today.

Last night, Edward Kordus, a New Australian, of Raleigh Street, Maribyrnong, was drowned when he slipped into the river from the bridge.

“Hundreds of people pass over the bridge every day,” Mr Russell said. “This is the first fatal accident that I have heard of.”

Today, a Herald reporter and photographer inspected the bridge.

It has three wooden gangways for pedestrians. They are about 2ft. 3in. wide and. are bolted to the tram line sleepers. There is a clear drop through
a two- foot gap, between the sleepers, to the water below.

It would be possible, but unlikely, for a man to slip through. The bridge is lit at night.

Is Short Cut

The reporter saw half-a-dozen people pass unconcernedly over the bridge. They included a small boy who said that he and his schoolmates used the bridge as a short-cut to school.

Pedestrians cut off about 100 yards by using this bridge instead of a neighbouring one, which is for motorists and has only one footpath.

The bridge has notices “Trams Only,” but this is meant to apply only to cars. The gangways were put across the bridge expressly for pedestrians.

But some locals didn’t consider the bridge safe for pedestrians.

I cannot agree with the Tramways Board Publicity Officer that the Maribyrnong River Tramway Bridge is safe for pedestrians. If it were, the board would surely have provided a more convenient approach than by the open cattle pits at the north-east end. It should be stressed that the bridge was erected as a temporary structure during the war and should now be replaced.

New warning signs were soon added.

The tramway bridge over the river at Maribyrnong is often used by pedestrian traffic but this practice is extremely dangerous. Before Christmas a
New Australian fell through the bridge and was drowned and recently another fatality was only narrowly averted.

Notices are posted on the bridge warning people that they must not walk across or use the bridge for swimming but at Monday’s council meeting, Cr. J. McDonald declared that this hadn’t stopped the practice.

He moved that the Tramways Board be asked to prosecute any persons contravening the by-laws.

But the Braybrook Council wanted the bridge replaced.

The necessity to do something about the Tramway bridge over the river at Maribyrnong was mentioned again in the Braybrook Council on Monday.

Though the bridge is purely for trams it is used a lot by pedestrians and last week a New Australian walking along fell through the bridge and was drowned in the river.

Cr. J. McDonald said that the traffic bridge alongside was almost as dangerous.

The Council only recently gave consideration to’ improving the bridge and has been in contact with several government departments who are interested parties.

It was decided to ask the authorities to expedite the reply to the Council’s proposition.

Cr. Dobson said that residents of the area should be told that the Council had been active over the matter.

And the new bridge

In the years that followed the tramway and road bridges continued to deteriorate, but it took until the 1960s for work to start on a replacement – a seven span bridge 145 metres (478 feet) long, carrying a roadway 15 metres (50 feet) between kerbs with two 2 metre (7 feet) footpaths.

The first stage being ground stabilisation for the western abutment.

Country Roads Board annual report 1965

Followed by a complicated juggling act.

A.E. Smith photo, SLV H83156/49

Equipment set up on one track.

Country Roads Board annual report 1967

While the foundations for the new bridge were driven.

Country Roads Board annual report 1967

The new piers were built alongside the existing timber trestle.

A.E. Smith photo, SLV H83156/47

While trams continued to use it.

A.E. Smith photo, SLV H83156/51

The Country Roads Board describing the process in their 1967 annual report.

The 1964/65 and 1965/66 Annual Reports described the methods adopted to accelerate the consolidation of the compressible strata at the Sunshine abutment. This report refers to the construction procedures used, in view of tram traffic requirements and the confined space for pile driving.

The new bridge is on the same alignment as the original timber and steel girder tramway bridge. Stage construction methods have been used as described below, to maintain the two-way tram service while this bridge is under construction. Road traffic has continued to use the existing road bridge.

Stage 1

Step 1. The tram traffic was restricted to the existing upstream track while the pier pile groups at the downstream side of the new bridge were driven.

Step 2. The tram traffic was restricted to the existing downstream track while the pier pile groups on the upstream side of the new bridge were driven. The downstream pile caps and columns were constructed during this stage.

Step 3. The tram traffic was restricted to the existing upstream track, ,and the downstream track and the downstream section of the superstructure were demolished. The abutment piles were driven and then the pier and abutment crossheads and the superstructure for the downstream side of the new bridge were constructed.

Step 4. The tram traffic was restricted to a temporary single track located on the Stage 1 deck of the new bridge.

Stage 2

Step 1. The upstream superstructure was demolished and the abutment piles beneath the upstream track were driven and the upstream crossheads and superstructure completed.

Step 2. The tram tracks were located at the final position on the structure.

Step 3. Tram traffic was permitted on the final location two way, double track.

The two stages of the superstructure are separated by a longitudinal joint running the full length of the bridge.

And the design of the foundations.

The bridge foundations consist of concrete filled 18 inches diameter steel shell piles up to 70 feet long in the abutments and up to 60 feet long in the piers. At some of the pile groups it was necessary to use a special pile toe incorporating an RSJ to penetrate hard layers above the contract level and to achieve the required degree of fixity. The pile driving was done with a B.S.P. diesel hammer on hanging leaders supported from Dutch shear legs. This type of pile driving frame was very suitable for this site where working space was extremely confined.

Once the new bridge was completed, the 1911 concrete bridge by John Monash was demolished.

Country Roads Board annual report 1967

Giving the scene seen today.

Footnote: another upgrade

Now pedestrian and cyclist traffic is overwhelming the current bridge, so $2.7 million is being spent to widen the paths on each side of the bridge.

The Raleigh Road Bridge shared user path and surrounding trails are popular routes for cyclists and pedestrians.

The Victorian Government is investing $2.7 million to provide new three-metre-wide paths on each side of the Raleigh Road Bridge.

With over 33,000 vehicles and 3,000 pedestrians and cyclists each day, the Raleigh Road bridge upgrade will provide a safer experience for locals and drivers alike.

The shared user path upgrade will provide safer active transport infrastructure by:

• Providing a safer crossing for cyclists and pedestrians on the Raleigh Road Bridge through increasing the path width to 3.0m on both sides
• Improving connections to the river trails to the north and south of the bridge
• Relocate tram poles to remove fixed hazards
• Upgrades to the bridge barriers.

We’re starting works in November 2020 and expect to complete construction by early 2021.

Sources

• Country Roads Board annual report 1967
• The Herald, 10 November 1950
• Maribyrnong Heritage Review – Volume 2: Environmental History
• Living Museum of the West – Ecomuseum Broadsheet: Getting Around
• Victorian Places: Maribyrnong
• Timeline of the bridge rebuilding

And a few more photos

• X2 class tram No 678 heads across the old bridge in 1962
• Looking towards and along the old bridge.
• ‘Bathing and diving prohibited’ sign on the old bridge.
• Looking south-west and north-east over the bridge replacement works.
• Single track over the bridge and with one track gone during the works.

Postscript: Melbourne’s other tram bridges

After putting this post together, I realised there were a few more tramway only bridges in Melbourne.

The Miller Street’ hump next to Preston Workshops connects St Georges Road to High Street.

The tangle of bridges at St Kilda Junction.

And one carrying the route 59 tracks over the Calder Freeway at Airport West.

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Last year Melbourne newspaper The Age wrote about a council survey of residents in Richmond and Fitzroy who lived near public housing estates:

Separate lives on our housing estates
November 27, 2012
Miki Perkins

Overwhelmingly, residents at the Richmond estate and those living nearby were concerned about the effect drug use had on the area’s safety. Residents told the council’s researchers the playgrounds were raked every day to remove needles, and women living nearby avoided walking on or near the estates.

”I don’t like my children to go into the gardens. There are people there I don’t trust and needles that will harm them,” said a Richmond estate resident quoted in the report.

Only two in five people from the surrounding area had been to the estate, and this was primarily to use it as a short cut.

In Fitzroy, many said they felt two separate communities were living in close proximity, with the estate a ”no go” zone. But the majority said they were willing for more integration, including removing the perimeter fence and putting paths through the estate, the report found.

They also ran a piece on the effect that public housing estates had on property prices:

Public high-rises keep prices down
October 2, 2012
Simon Johanson

The closer you live to public housing estates such as Richmond’s towering commission flats, the lower property values become. Data supports what is often an unspoken assumption among home buyers – namely, that properties farther from public housing estates generally sell for more than those close to them.

Five years of sales results in Richmond show a median price of $765,500 for homes within 200 metres of the towers. Beyond 200 metres, the median rose to $795,000, analysis by buyer advocate Paul Osborne found. Being near to housing commission flats has a negative effect on value, he said.

So how about Ascot Vale and the public housing estate there? Unfortunately I don’t have access to a real estate sales result database, but I found some other interesting statistics to look at in the 2009-2010 annual report of the Moonee Valley Legal Service.

Looking at the country of origin of residents, the 2006 census gave the population of the suburb of Ascot Vale to be 12,398 people, with 3,382 being born overseas (27%). Meanwhile on the housing commission estate the statistics are flipped on their head – those born overseas dominate, as seen in the table below. When the two statistics are combined to exclude residents of the public housing estate, the number of overseas born residents in Ascot Vale falls from 27.3% to 18.4%.

A similar disconnect between the public housing estate and the rest of the suburb is seen when examining the unemployment rate: the 2006 Census states that of the 6,372 people aged 15 years and over in the Ascot Vale population only 7.0% are unemployed, but among the public housing residents 83.3% are not participating in the workforce.

The reliance on government benefits is reflected in the median individual income statistics: in the three public housing Estates in Moonee Valley around two-thirds of all households live on an income of under $400 per week. For comparison the 2006 census found the average Australian earned $466 per week, with the average Ascot Vale resident earning $520 per week.

As for the rest of Ascot Vale, having a public housing estate down the road doesn’t seem to have killed property prices: according to Australian Property Monitors the median house price for the suburb in 2012 was $683,000 and growing by 6.8% per year.

Further reading

• How rent is calculated for public housing in Victoria
• Statistics for the Ascot Vale estate, from the Moonee Valley Legal Service

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In the case Epsom Road in Ascot Vale, stop 30 on route 57 is taking quite a pounding, with cars crashing into the safety zone on a regular basis.

I first noticed damaged to the tram stop back in March 2012, when a damaged fence panel was replaced with plastic safety tape.

Repairs followed and I forgot about it until February 2013, when I found more damage – this time four of the fence panels were gone.

Again, repairs followed, until May 2013 when I found a ute impaled on five metres of the safety zone fence.

Once it was cleaned up, red plastic safety fence replaced the four damaged fence panels, along with a new safety zone sign to replaced that lost in the crash.

August 2013 found another driver ploughing through the safety zone fence, this time taking out five panels, the traffic light post, and a sign.

The end of August saw more repairs completed, but it only lasted a month – three fence panels were taken out by the next wayward motorist.

October 2013 rolled around, and I stumbled upon yet another car impaled on the fence.

One would not want to have been waiting for a tram when the car hit.

A few days later, the fence has been completely repaired.

Until January 2014 when a a record sized crash took out the tram stop – nine fence panels were taken out!

How long until someone manages to take out all 13 panels?

Why are motorists so clueless?

Unlike other tram stops, the one on Epsom Road has a unique feature – no massive concrete prowl to divert wayward cars. In addition, the approach to the tram stop for southbound traffic on Epsom Road is as follows

• Two lanes of traffic become one between Union Road and the Coles supermarket
• Single lane of traffic past tram stop 32
• Two lanes of traffic beneath the Flemington Racecourse railway bridge
• Another merge into one lane of traffic, due to kerbside parking
• Slew to the left, as the parking is replaced by a right turn lane for Flemington Drive
• Dodge the tram stop on the far side of the Flemington Drive intersection

All of the above requires a motorist to be paying attention and follow the road as it slews around the tram stop – but given the intelligence of the average Melbourne driver, no wonder so many fail to do so!

Sources

From “Towards a More Accessible Tram System in Melbourne – challenges for infrastructure design” by Andrea Macdonald and Selby Coxon:

4.1.2. Safety zone

The rest of the stops are safety zones comprising 1/3 network or nominally 400 stops. Waiting and boarding is in a separate fenced refuge in the centre of road adjoining the tram track. Widths vary and there may be a shelter and a timetable. Open railings have been replaced by fencing excluding informal access.

Footnote

Soon after publishing this post a journalist from Melbourne newspaper The Age dropped me a line, which resulted in an article appearing on their website on February 7, 2014. Yarra Trams had the following to say:

Yarra Trams spokesman Simon Murphy conceded that the number of repairs at this stop was “higher than average”.

There isn’t space to install a concrete “prow” to divert traffic, Mr Murphy said, because of the volumes of traffic going in and out of the racecourse.

“This stop is outside the entrance to Flemington Racecourse, presenting a challenge in terms of the space requirements available to install infrastructure,” he said.

Passengers generally wait at the other end of the stop, and Yarra Trams had no reports of passenger injuries.

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If we jump back about 100 years in our trusty time machine, then this is what you see in front of you. (PROV image VPRS 12800/P1 Unit 270)

PROV image VPRS 12800/P1 Unit 270

Here is a view from the other direction, taken a few years later, circa 1907. (SLV image H90.160/838)

SLV image H90.160/838

A 1920s photo showing an early Tait electric train. (VPRS 12800/P1 Unit 270)

VPRS 12800/P1 Unit 270

And the modern day view for comparison.

Not much difference, eh?

Nitpickers corner

For those nitpickers in the audience, the changes over the past century include…

• The addition of overhead wires above the tracks, to power electric trains.
• The mechanically operated semaphore signal at the end of the platform replaced by a colour light unit.
• The chimneys on the main station building have disappeared.
• A timber shelter on the outbound platform has been replaced by utilitarian brick structure.
• Picket fencing and gas lights along the platforms are gone, replaced by chain-link fencing and electric lights.
• The platform edge was once bare, it now has a yellow line, and tactile guide markings are in the process of being added.
• The people on the platform are nowhere near as well dressed.

The first electric trains in Melbourne ran in 1919 between Flinders Street and Essendon, replacing the steam locomotives that hauled the trains before then.

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My local station was one of the latter, having two nice ladies saying hello to the regular passengers each morning, and keeping everybody up to date regarding late running and cancelled trains. While the sources of real time train information available to them were often patchy, they did their best with the resources available to ensure everybody got to work on time.

Everything was fine and dandy until one Monday morning in late September, when the usual whiteboard with train information was replaced by a farewell message from the station staff.

My initial thoughts were around Metro Trains trying to cut costs (as per usual) but the truth for their disappearance was revealed the next day by an article in the Herald Sun‘:

Constant monitoring of CCTV planned on Metro train stations in bid to improve safety
Lachlan Hastings
September 25, 2012

Metro is trialling “continuous monitoring” of CCTV feeds from all train stations on the Craigieburn and Upfield lines in a bid to boost passenger safety.

And during the six-month trial, passengers will be able to reach control centre staff from any station on either line by pushing the red button on platforms.

The red button was previously for use only in emergencies.

“CCTV at every station on the Craigieburn and Upfield lines will be monitored continuously while the network is operating, providing improved customer safety,” Metro spokeswoman Geraldine Mitchell today mX today.

“Control room officers at Broadmeadows and North Melbourne will also be able to provide added assistance during times of disruption or delay by providing long line announcements to every station along the Craigieburn and Upfield lines.”

But during this period Craigieburn line stations Newmarket and Ascot Vale will no longer be staffed for ticket sales in the morning peak.

Mitchell said that under the trial, our staff who worked at the stations from 6am to 10am on weekdays would be redeployed to the Broadmeadows control centre.

(The above emphasis is mine)

Some of the ‘facts’ given by Metro in the Herald Sun article are rather dubious. For a start station staff at Newmarket and Ascot Vale never sold tickets to passengers as there was no booking office available to them, and long line announcements are nothing new – control room staff along the Craigieburn line were already making them on a regular basis, each morning advising passengers that every single Craigieburn-bound train was running about 10 minute late out of Flinders Street.

Over the next few days, posters advertising the CCTV monitoring trial appeared along the Craigieburn line:

Another change was the masking of the ’emergency use only’ message on the intercom units with a sticker detailing their new functionality:

After staff were removed from Newmarket and Ascot Vale the amount of useful information given to passengers has nosedived – both locations lack LED screens showing train departures, so there is no easy way to find out how far away the next train is. When station staff were around they kept a whiteboard up to date with a list of cancelled trains, and regular announcements over the PA system give passengers useful titbits such as letting a late running and crush loaded train depart, as the empty train behind it was just two minutes from arriving.

Today the only information that passengers get at unmanned station is from the insipid ‘talking brick’ – push the green button hoping to find out how long until the next train arrives, but instead you spend the next five minutes listening to the stopping pattern of the next three trains to arrive and the tedious ‘if travelling with Myki remember to touch on and on and on and on‘ message, with the minutes until departure found somewhere in between at a barely audible volume.

The only thing worse than listening to the stupid box go through the spiel is when you get a busy tone, because everybody else on the network is also trying to find out where the hell their train is – a far too frequent occurrence in the past few weeks.

After a few days of putting up with the green button, I had a brainwave: is Metro Trains contractually permitted to withdraw staff from railway stations in Melbourne? A look at their Customer Service Charter found the following:

Every weekday morning Metro will commit to providing staff at 22 Host stations meaning more than 80 percent of our customers will start their journey at a staffed station.

Did Ascot Vale and Newmarket fall into the 22 host stations they committed to staffing? I found more promising lead in the Melbourne Metropolitan Train Franchise document signed by Metro Trains Melbourne and the State of Victoria.

6. Staffing of Stations
(a) Each Premium Station must be staffed at all times when trains are scheduled to call at the relevant Premium Station (including for a reasonable period of time before the first and after the last scheduled train). Staffing at these times must be sufficient to cover operational and customer service needs.
(b) The Franchisee must ensure that at least 2 staff are providing customer service every Weekday between 7am and 9am at the following Stations (each a Hosted Station):

• Albion
• Armadale
• Ascot Vale
• Auburn
• Balaclava
• Burnley
• Carnegie
• Fairfield
• Glenhuntly
• Heatherdale
• Holmesglen
• Hoppers Crossing
• Huntingdale
• Jolimont
• Malvern
• Middle Brighton
• Moonee Ponds
• Murrumbeena
• Newmarket
• Noble Park
• North Brighton
• Nunawading
• Ormond
• Prahran
• Ripponlea
• Syndal
• Tooronga
• Windsor
• Yarraville

So it seems that Metro Trains is required to provide station staff at Ascot Vale and Newmarket stations each morning, or they are breaking their contract with the State Government.

Footnote

It is possible that Metro actually went to the government and said “we want to remove station staff from two stations for a six month trial – is that okay with you” but I haven’t been able to find anything supporting this theory – then again the management of public transport in Victoria is a Byzantine empire that doesn’t publicise any of their decision making process, so the lack of public information is not proof of anything.

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Located on 77 acres of land between Union Road and Ascot Vale Road, the estate is bounded by Dunlop Avenue to the north, Ascot Street to the south, and consists of a mix of multi-storey walkup apartment blocks and semi-detached cottages, all constructed in brick. Originally the site of a racecourse, I detailed the history of the site in a post about Melbourne’s former Ascot Racecourse some time ago.

Racing ended at the course in 1942 when it was taken over to assist in the military effort during World War II, with the fate of the course sealed in August 18, 1945 when State Premier Mr. Dunstan announced that the Government had decided to turn the site over for housing development. A notice of compulsory acquisition was issued in March 1946 under the Slum Reclamation and Housing Act, being finalised in October 15, 1946 when the State Cabinet agreed to acquire the site from owner John Wren for £142,618.

The Housing Commission was the developer of the site, believing the value of the land was reasonable if it was used for flats, but would not be economical if individual houses were built instead. Altogether homes for 2,600 people were built on the 77 acre site, made up of 400 flats, 100 villa pairs and 50 single villas, along with 5 acres of parkland. The first residents moved in to the estate by Christmas 1947, with the below photo from the Moonee Valley Library Service collection showing the estate soon after completion, looking west towards the Melbourne Showgrounds.

The network of streets that divide the estate were named after decorated World War II personnel, which can be seen in the following Google Map:

View Larger Map

For the people behind the street names, these short biographies extracted from Wikipedia give us an idea why they were recognised:

• Wingate Avenue
  Major-General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO and two bars (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944), was a British Army officer in Palestine in the 1930s and in World War II.
• Dunlop Avenue
  Lieutenant Colonel Sir Ernest Edward “Weary” Dunlop, AC, CMG, OBE (12 July 1907 – 2 July 1993) was an Australian surgeon who was renowned for his leadership while being held prisoner by the Japanese during World War II.
• Vasey Street
  Major General George Alan Vasey CB, CBE, DSO and Bar (29 March 1895 – 5 March 1945) was an Australian soldier. He rose to the rank of Major General during World War II, before being killed in a plane crash near Cairns in 1945.
• Churchill Avenue
  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS, Hon. RA (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War.
• Morshead Street
  Lieutenant General Sir Leslie James Morshead KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO, ED (18 September 1889 – 26 September 1959) was an Australian soldier with a distinguished military career that spanned both world wars. During World War II he commanded the Australian troops at the Siege of Tobruk and at the Second Battle of El Alamein, achieving decisive victories over the German Afrika Korps, and went on to lead the Australian forces against Japan during the New Guinea and Borneo campaigns.
• Blamey Street
  Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey GBE, KCB, CMG, DSO, ED (24 January 1884 – 27 May 1951) was an Australian general during World War I and World War II, and the first, and to date only, Australian to attain the rank of field marshal. During World War II he commanded the Second Australian Imperial Force and the I Corps in the Middle East.
• Savige Street
  Lieutenant General Sir Stanley George Savige, KBE, CB, DSO, MC, ED (26 June 1890 – 15 May 1954), was an Australian Army soldier and officer who served in World War I and World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant general and commanding a brigade in the North African campaign, the Battle of Greece and Syria-Lebanon campaign.
• Cunningham Court
  Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope KT, GCB, OM, DSO and two Bars (7 January 1883 – 12 June 1963), was a British admiral of the Second World War, being Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.
• Farncomb Street
  Rear Admiral Harold Bruce Farncomb, CB, DSO, MVO (28 February 1899 – 12 February 1971) was a Australian Rear Admiral who served in both World War I and World War II and the first Australian-born RAN officer to reach a flag rank in the RAN.
• Waller Court
  Hector Macdonald Laws Waller, DSO & Bar (4 April 1900 – 1 March 1942) was the captain of the light cruiser HMAS Perth (D29) in World War II. He went down with his ship when it encountered a Japanese invasion fleet consisting of two cruisers and twelve destroyers in the Battle of Sunda Strait at the beginning of March 1942.
• Sturdee Street
  Lieutenant General Sir Vernon Ashton Hobart Sturdee KBE, CB, DSO (16 April 1890 – 25 May 1966) was an Australian Army commander who served two terms as Chief of the General Staff. He proceeded to conduct a doomed defence of the islands to the north of Australia against the advancing Japanese forces.

As expected for a public housing project, the buildings that occupy the estate at Ascot Vale are all of similar design. First off are the apartment blocks: the majority of these are three storeys tall, with dual stairwells providing access to four apartments on each level, giving a total of 12 flats per block.

Some blocks have balconies, as well in the photo below, with this variation in design resulting in only 10 flats per block, due to the rooftop terrace between the two staircases.

The same type of commonality can be seen in the semi-detached cottages at the estate, where three basic types of floorplan used: small cottage with porch, small cottage with an extra room protruding from the front, and double storey cottage. These designs could also be mirrored, allowing them to be mixed and matched in combinations such as those seen below.

As of 2010 a total of 1,500 residents called the public housing estate home, down from the original design capacity of 2,600. One possible cause is smaller family sizes combined with an increase in elderly people living alone, resulting in each residence housing fewer people. Whatever the reason, going into the demographics of who lives in the estate is a story for another day.

Sources

• Ascot Course to be Housing Area. (1946, February 19). Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 – 1954), p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68963377
• Flats may be built on Ascot Racecourse. (1946, February 21). Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 – 1954), p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68963712
• Housing Commission Value For Land Challenged. (1946, September 17). The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 – 1954), p. 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2695592
• Rents Higher for New Flats. (1948, March 9). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1956), p. 5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22548833
• Statistics for the Ascot Vale estate, from the Moonee Valley Legal Service

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