Better Rail Action Group

LETTERS TO MPS ON BENDIGO FAST RAIL PROJECT:

POINTS TO CONSIDER IN WRITING TO THE PREMIER, STEVE BRACKS, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT, PETER BATCHELOR AND LOCAL MPS: BOB CAMERON (BENDIGO WEST), JACINTA ALLEN (BENDIGO EAST), JOANNE DUNCAN (MACEDON) AND GEOFF HOWARD (BALLARAT EAST) August 2004

• The formula for emails is: joseph.citizen@parliament.vic.gov.au
• Two BRAG documents on the web page summarise the key concerns re the Fast Rail project: The February Update and Frequently Asked Questions. Andrew McLean’s article in the June 2004 issue of Railway Digest, Single-minded Mania provides more detail.

SINGLING THE TRACK

• Singling the Line between Kyneton and Bendigo will reduce reliability. A small delay to one train can cause a delay to the train traveling in the opposite direction, with a chain reaction the rest of the day, not simply affecting the singled section of the Line;
• The closure of the Line for 29 weeks because of the singling of the track will cause huge inconvenience and probable irreversible loss of patronage as passengers make alternative arrangements; it is unheard of in rail upgrades elsewhere;
• Maximum capacity of a single track is a fraction that of a double track; why constrain future patronage given the government’s promised population growth, reduced greenhouse emissions and a shift from road to rail, as well as the escalating cost of oil, now at an all time high?
• Since existing trains pass comfortably on dual track through our heritage tunnels and over heritage bridges, why can’t the new, narrower trains on new, smooth track?
• The singling the Line between Kyneton and Bendigo as the government proposes would result in built-in delays for many trains far greater than savings due to faster running between loops;
• Will the supporters of the proposed singling please stand up?!

SPEED FOR JUST ONE HIGH PRIORITY EXPRESS IS NOT THE ISSUE AND, ANYWAY, IS NOT GUARANTEED

• Delays are currently in the metropolitan section of the Line between Spencer Street and Sydenham (Watergardens) and that’s where capital works should be focused; note the recent accident when all three occupants of a car trapped on a crossing in St Albans were killed as the train passed through at 100kph;
• There seems to be near unanimity (according to govt survey on Fast Rail website, public meetings, petitions, community groups, conversation, letters to the editor etc) that speed is not the main consideration in train use: rather it is reliability, frequency, extended hours (morning and night in both directions) and interconnections; state government itself admits reliability will be reduced (Bendigo Line Design Review, Nov 2003)
• The project contract only requires the capability for an express train taking 84 minutes between Melbourne and Bendigo; most services will be only slightly faster but, with reduced reliability, some services may even be slower than at present;
• Minor improvements to the double track between Kyneton and Bendigo (at far less cost) would make a reliable 86 minute schedule possible. Why the obsession with 84 minutes?

BROAD GAUGE SLEEPERS

• Unlike South Australia, where gauge convertible sleepers are routinely installed, on the Bendigo Line, the broad gauge only sleepers (5ft 3in) are to be installed; the Bendigo Line like the Ballarat Line will thus be locked out of integration with the rest of the state and the nation as standardization of gauge (4ft 81/2in) proceeds; gauge convertible sleepers can be quickly and inexpensively converted from broad to standard gauge, without capital cost;
• Gauge convertible sleepers would cost less than an additional 1% of the total budget - a prudent step and a trifling price to pay to keep the options open for future generations, with economic, environmental and social benefits;
• Freight will eventually only be carried on standard gauge and the Bendigo Line will only be a passenger Line; the ALP itself says: :All freight will eventually be on standard gauge. Victoria will eventually have to fall into line.’
• While a separate standard gauge link could be constructed from Bendigo to Echuca or Inglewood, as bureaucrats have indicated, why waste the opportunity of a once-in-a-century chance to reintegrate the passenger and freight network for greater efficiency and effectiveness?
• The new broad gauge, concrete sleepers now stacked along the Bendigo Line, can be well used in progressive upgrade of dead-end metropolitan passenger Lines such as Alamein and Lilydale;
• Standardization of the Bendigo Line is consistent with ALP policy;

WHAT DO WE SUGGEST?

• That no work proceed on the Bendigo Line pending an expert, independent review;
• That the state government respond to the recently launched Better Rail Timetable prepared by BRAG, in terms of capacity to deliver if the Line were singled;

We believe the government should:

• Keep the double tracks to maintain the reliability of the Line – the most important consideration to most travellers – and to preserve its capacity to carry greatly increased traffic;
• Give us trains that can travel safely on the present track alignments without alteration to heritage bridges, tunnels and stations;
• Restrict work between Kyneton and Bendigo to smoothing out bends which have serious speed restrictions and raise excessively conservative curve speeds. Thought the cost of this is trivial compared with what is proposed, it will generate almost all the promised time benefit. The government could then put the money saved towards buying the right sleepers and an upgrade of the metropolitan section of the Line to allow country trains reliable, fast paths into the city.

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