IntroductionIn today's episode, I'll be talking about Melbourne's amazing train network. Melbourne is known mainly for its superb and world class tram network but Melbourne also has an amazing train network as well. I'll be explaining why the system is good, the history of the system and what's to come. I have another blog post on this website talking about the Melbourne Metro Tunnel. Why is the system so good?Sydney's network is a lot different to Melbourne's network. Sydney shares track a lot which makes the whole system congested and if one platform closes, the whole station needs to stop. In Melbourne, all the tracks are separate from each other. All the lines go in their separate ways and connect in the city centre. This plan did kind of backfire because there was huge congestion on the city circle but Melbourne also fixed that with the Metro Tunnel. The history of the networkOn the 18th of September 1854, the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway Company opened their first line. It was an approximately 4 kilometre track between Flinders Street Station and Sandridge now called Port Melbourne. This line was the first steam railway line to be opened in Australia and the line also housed the first steam train ever to be produced in the Southern Hemisphere. The track is still in use to this day and has been converted to tram tracks. In 1857, the same company opened their second line going again from Flinders Street station to St Kilda. This is when private companies started showing up. The St Kilda and Brighton railway company extended that line towards Brighton. The first country line also started operation in the same year. The line was opened by the Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company and it went between Geelong and Newport. There were also many other lines and private companies that came and went but I won't talk about them now. What's to come?One of the most looked forward to projects of infrastructure in Melbourne was the Airport Rail Link. Since the airport's opening in 1970, many projects were proposed to create a rail link between Melbourne airport and the City. In July of 2018, the Victorian State Government and Australian Federal Government both pledged $5 Billion dollars towards the project. In 2020, planning commenced and construction should start extremely soon. Another project that would greatly help the suburbia of Melbourne is the Suburban Rail Loop. During the 2018 Victorian state election, the state government pledged another $300 million dollars to create this line. It will go from the proposed Airport Rail Link in Melbourne Airport connecting to suburban stations on the Craigieburn line, the Upfield line, the Mernda line, the Hurstbridge line, the Lilydale and Belgrave lines, the Glen Waverley line, the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines and the Frankston line. Construction on the first line commences this year as well and the full line will be operational in 2050.
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IntroductionAustralia doesn't have many scenic routes but in my opinion, it has enough. We have 4 famous scenic routes. These are the Indian Pacific, The Ghan, The Overland and the Great Southern. The major cities they go to are Darwin, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth. In today's blog post I will tell you about these 4 passages, how much they cost, where they go and many other things. The Indian PacificThe Indian Pacific is my favourite scenic route. It goes from my hometown, Sydney to Perth via Adelaide. It is a 4 day, 3 night journey with 9 meals. You can choose Sydney to Perth, Sydney to Adelaide and Perth to Adelaide. The train also stops in small towns such as the Blue Mountains, Broken Hill, Cook, Rawlinna, Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills. Something that all these scenic routes offer is Off-Train excursions. Now let's get into the cost. The cheapest Sydney to Perth route is $1,819 per person. PRICY! The cheapest Sydney to Adelaide is $639 per person. A bit better. Lastly, the cheapest Adelaide to Perth service is $1,279 per person. Pretty much the only downside is that you can only fit 2 people in each Gold Cabin. Other than that, the Indian Pacific is amazing. Now you know the general facts, let see the experience. On day one, you will start in Sydney and explore NSW, including the Blue Mountains and Broken Hill. On day two, you will arrive in Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and Adelaide. On day three, you will in remote Western Australia and on the last day you will arrive in Perth. The GhanThe Ghan is also an amazing route. The Ghan goes from Darwin, in the Northern Territory, to Adelaide in South Australia. This means it goes to Uluru. Probably the most iconic natural landmark in Australia. Sadly, The Ghan only goes to the Uluru in specific months, so if you want to go to Uluru, you have to plan ahead! There are two different routes. One is The Ghan and the other is The Ghan Expedition. The Ghan stops at, Katherine, Alice Springs, Marla and Manguri. The Ghan Expedition stops at, Katherine, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy and Manguri. To stop at Uluru, you must pay extra. Now to the price, The Ghan Expedition only depearts Wednesdays, April to October and the lowest price is $2,829 per person! The cheapest Ghan ticket is $1,239 per person! Still very expensive! With the Ghan, it is close to the Indian Pacific because it also provides all meals. Now here is the experience of being on The Ghan. On Day 1, you will be in Adelaide on Day 2 you will arrive in Alice Springs and on the last day you will be in Katherine and Darwin. The Great SouthernThe Great Southern is another amazing route. It goes from Adelaide to Brisbane via Melbourne, Canberra and popular regional NSW spots like Hunter Valley, Port Stephens and Newcastle. Two bad things about this route. Number one: It does not stop in Sydney even though its stops in other places in New South Wales. Number two: The Great Southern only runs every December and January. Now to the prices! There are only two routes and they both start at a whopping, $2,229 per person. From Brisbane it costs $2,839 per person! WOAH! Keep in mind that that is the cheapest ticket. If you choose to go from Adelaide to Brisbane, here is the journey. On day one you will settle into your cabin and will arrive in regional Victoria where you have a number of choices of Off Train excursions in the Grampians region. On day two, you will arrive in Canberra where you will spend the whole day there. You will be able to choose from the many wonders there such as the War Memorial, Parliament House, National Gallery and so many more. On day three you will arrive in Coffs Harbour and you will have again a large range of Off Train Excursions before you have your final lunch and arrive in Brisbane. ConclusionNow I won't write about the Overland because it only goes from Adelaide to Melbourne and doesn't give you a true scenic train experience like the Indian Pacific and The Ghan do. Overall, Australia has some wonderful scenic routes. Thank you so much for reading this week's blog post.
BLOG 8 Introduction to the ProgramAs you may know, NSW and all of Australia for that fact, does not have high speed rail. It does have regional rail and Interstate rail as well as scenic passages such as The Ghan and the Indian Pacific but none of these rail links are high speed. There is a simple reason to why Australia still doesn't have High Speed Rail. It's because we have so much farmland which is in the way of making track. Luckily, Australia's and New South Wales' government has got a plan. Today I will be telling you about this plan, where it will go, when it will open and so many more things about New South Wales' High Speed Rail. Planning is nearly complete and construction is on its way. Where will the Rail go?The New South Wales High Speed Rail won't have just one route. It will have many routes. The first one will be going through the T1 line and the Blue Mountains before going through Lithgow, Bathurst and terminating in Orange and Parkes. The second line will be the Central Coast line. It will also go through existing track, up to Newcastle and go through new track such as Gosford and Port Macquarie where the train will terminate. The third line will be going through the T4 line until Wollongong and go all the way to Nowra in the South Coast. To top it all off, the last line will be the most popular line. It will connect Sydney by High Speed Rail to Goulburn and Canberra. Sadly, nothing has been planned to go to other states and cities like Melbourne and Brisbane. Maybe something like this will be thought about later. How long will it take to get from one place to another?The High Speed Rail network will slash travel times massively. Here are some of the times from major cities and stations. From Sydney to Canberra, it currently takes 4 hours and 7 minutes on normal rail and on High Speed Rail it will be a short 1 hour. That's 3 hours and 7 minutes faster! From Sydney to Newcastle it currently takes 2 hours and 35 minutes on train. With the High Speed Rail, it will take 45 minutes! I'm not going to type them all out but I will leave a picture of the timetable at the bottom of this blog. More things about the project.Because Australia is absolutely clueless about what they are doing, they are learning from other networks in Japan, the UK and France. They also teamed up with many different teams in the UK to learn more about new High Speed Rail projects in the United Kingdom. If you want to learn more about the High Speed Rail project, please click on the link here: New South Wales High Speed Rail. BLOG 6 Introduction to the ProjectThis project isn't an amazing high budget metro or train infrastructure project but this time it's about TRAMS! Sydney has 3 tram lines right now. The first line goes from Central to Dulwich Hill. The second line goes from Circular Quay to Kingsford and the last line goes from Circular Quay to Randwick. The fourth line will be located mainly in the newly opened Parramatta CBD. Rundown of the ProjectCurrently 1 stage of the project is confirmed and the second stage is already vaguely planned out. The Parramatta Light Rail will connect the communities on the closed Carlingford line to the newly built Parramatta CBD. The first line will be connected to Westmead and then it will go into Parramatta, go up the old T6 line and terminate in Carlingford near Pennant Hills. The second line will go from Camellia through to Olympic Park via Rydalmere, Ermington, Melrose Park and Wentworth Point. Cool Stats about the network.The first line will have 16 stops. They include, Westmead Station, Westmead Hospital, Westmead Children's Hospital, Cumberland Hospital, Factory Street, Fennel Street, Prince Alfred Square, Eat Street, Parramatta Square, Harris Street, Tramway Avenue, Camelia, Rydalmere, Dundas, Telopea and Carlingford. The second line will include 10 - 12 stops and the stops have not be concluded. The project will open in 2023.
BLOG 5 Introduction to the ProjectSydney Metro is one of the largest public transport projects in Australia that are actually happening. It is happening in Sydney and it is all about making travel times around Sydney much quicker than what they are now. It also means that existing train stations in Sydney will be heavily upgraded, rebuilt or having a new station. Sydney Metro started planning in 2012 and after 7 years, the first line of Sydney Metro opened.
Read More ----------> Introduction to the ProjectThe Metro Tunnel is an amazing new infrastructure project for Melbourne in Australia. Melbourne is the 2nd most populated city in Australia and Flinders Street Station is one of the busiest train stations in the world. Because Melbourne is so busy, it has a large train network with over 200 stations and 800 km of track. The City Loop is the most congested part of the network with nearly every line using it. Because of this, a lot of services are getting stuck and delayed. This means less passengers and income as well as more work for the staff all around the network. What is the Metro Tunnel?The Metro Tunnel is a huge new infrastructure project for Melbourne. It is already under construction and it is said to open in 2025 or 2026. The tunnel will run from South Kensington on the Sunbury line to Anzac in the tunnel before arriving on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines at Caulfield Station. It will have 5 new underground stations including: Arden, Parkville, State Library (Melbourne Central), Town Hall (Flinders Street) and Anzac before arriving in the outside and at Caulfield station, where you will continue your journey until the terminus at Cranbourne or Pakenham stations. Why do we need the Metro Tunnel?As I said in the Introduction, Melbourne's City Loop is extremely congested with nearly every single line using the loop. This is causing delays. To fix that PTV has created a new infrastructure project called Metro Tunnel. When the tunnel opens, the Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines will not use the City Loop. You might be thinking that you can't go to any CBD stations but State Library is connected to Melbourne Central and Town Hall is connected to Flinders Street. Another good thing is that, you can get from one side of the CBD to the other by taking the Metro Tunnel. Now to the downsides. The tunnel means that Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham line users will have to get out at Melbourne Central or Flinders Street to get to other CBD stations. Is there more?Melbourne still doesn't have an Airport Rail Link but very soon they will have one. So what does it have to do with the Metro Tunnel? Services will at Metro Tunnel stations every 10 minutes which will then go up to Melbourne Airport. Why is it going through the Metro Tunnel? It is going through the Metro Tunnel because it will connect with the Sunbury line and go into the Airport. The project is proposed and is already in its planning stage. The project will commence construction in 2022 and open to the public in 2029. BLOG 3 Sydney has been waiting for new Intercity trains for such a long time. We did have the release of the OSCAR trains in December 2006 but they were only used on two routes and on suburban lines. It is good that Transport for NSW is finally releasing a new set of Intercity trains for Sydney and NSW on all of the intercity lines except for the Southern Highlands line. These new trains are already in testing! They are very accessible for disabled people and visually impaired people but that's not all! They also have amazing features such as a completely different toilet design with baby changing facilities, luggage racks, modern heating and cooling system, USB, USB-C and power plugs, tray tables, high-backed seats and secure bike racks. These new trains will also have completely new and amazing technology on the doors and screens which will not only be inside but also outside the train. The new trains will be called the Mariyung trans or the D set. The trains were built in a city in South Korea called Changwon. I have provided a map below. Something a lot of train enthusiasts have been waiting for is, the old Intercity V set trains retiring. They will be retiring in 2022 or when the new trains get released.
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