On the first weekend of this two week shutdown V/Line trains terminates short of Melbourne – Bendigo passengers changed to coaches at Gisborne, Geelong passengers changed to the metro buses at Sunshine.

This was to allow minor changes to be made to the signals on the Regional Rail Link signals at Footscray – I believe the ‘M’ and ‘R’ identifiers were added to assist train drivers distinguishing between signals when a CBTC equipped train is using the suburban lines and the signals are dark.

The new West Footscray turnback can be used to terminate trains in both directions, and they have also installed a crossover outside Middle Footscray station to allow Sunbury line trains trains to terminate at Footscray.

On the signage front there was a few years where some stations got the new design while others didn’t – so who know what is going on!

I believe so – the crossover would’ve also been another handover point between the new CBTC system and conventionally signalled areas – so by getting rid of it, they’ve only got a single interface at the up end of South Kensington.

I only had to travel two stations in the counterpeak direction to connect with Geelong trains, so no issues with the buses. Once I was even the only passenger going to Sunshine!

Is there any indication as to whether the third platform at West Footscray will be used before the Metro Tunnel opens? Probably no point though. Can West Footscray be used as an inbound terminus as well if needed, or only for turning around from the City?

I also saw a test train running through Sunshine yesterday.

And does anyone know the reason why Geelong peak trains aren’t stopping at Tarneit and Wyndham Vale? Is that a capacity issue through the West Gate Tunnel works, or something else?

I was on leave at the time, so missed the V/Line outage last school holidays where V/Line basically dumped their passengers at the Metro boundary. Doesn’t work the other way, though. Although I saw a few more passengers than normal getting off V/Line trains at Sunshine last week – never more than one at a time though, just more frequently than normal.

I went to a public lecture last week in East Melbourne, and to avoid the chaos, I got a train from Watergardens to Sunbury, 479 from Sunbury to Melbourne Airport, 901 to Greensbrough and a train back to the city. At night, I got the replacement bus from Flagstaff to Sunshine, and I manageed to get on the first bus there. I am so relieved to hear that the chaos was not as severe as the media (and in particular commercial) reported it to be.

I caught the rail replacement buses a few times, but had the luxury of being able to pick when I travelled – by waiting until peak traffic had died down, the travel times on the express buses was comparable to driving myself, with a clear run down Sunshine Road to Footscray and then along Footscray Road, with the only congestion being the last bit along Dudley Street to Flagstaff Gardens.

Regional Rail Link works a decade ago saw lots of old high floor buses being used.

https://railgallery.wongm.com/rrl-bus-replacements/