The Public Transport Users Association has criticised the state government for giving the go-ahead to the Regional Rail Link (RRL), without an independent review to fix the project’s problems and explore alternative plans.

PTUA secretary Tony Morton said the government’s approval made a mockery of its commitment to set up an independent Public Transport Development Authority to guide the improvement of Victoria’s public transport system.

“We strongly support the government’s initiative for an independent, expert body to guide the development of public transport services and infrastructure. We understand the government is in the process of selecting the key personnel. So why wouldn’t these, the experts we’re counting on to guide the system over the coming years, start by reviewing the largest and most expensive Victorian rail project in living memory?” Dr Morton said.
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JASON Dowling’s defence of the Regional Rail Link (Comment, 22/2) essentially asserts that a project costing about $5 billion must be a good thing.

What began as a line on a map in the Eddington report has evolved secretly and fitfully. We still have no idea how train services will be organised, but we do know that many passengers will actually be disadvantaged by the project as it is configured.

The basic problem is that it tries to be both a regional and a suburban project. New stations at Tarneit will be served by crowded Geelong trains making extra stops. Tarneit residents won’t get the same frequency of service as other metropolitan rail users.
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The billion dollar blowout in the construction costs of the Regional Rail Link, reported in the Australian Financial Review today (3 February 2011), could provide the opportunity to revise the project and fix its worst problems, the Public Transport Users Association has said.

Secretary Tony Morton said that well-chosen experts for the proposed new Public Transport Authority could now be appointed to “do the homework” on the Link that had been neglected by the Department of Transport.

The PTUA has previously raised concerns that existing plans would make Geelong trains slower and cut connections to the City loop, the University precinct bus shuttle, and the Upfield, Craigieburn and Werribee suburban train lines. Passengers may have also overloaded the trains serving the proposed new stations.
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As the state election approaches, the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has called for upgrades to V/Line short distance services^[1] to run at least every 30 minutes, seven days-a-week.

PTUA regional spokesman Paul Westcott said that with strong patronage growth, V/Line train services are increasingly overcrowded not just in peak times, but also at off-peak times, including weekends, and that waiting times are excessive.

“You will wait an hour between trains from Geelong to Melbourne, for  example. You could drive the distance in that time.

“And our members report passengers forced to stand for long distances on some off-peak V/Line trains.”
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The Metropolitan Transport Forum (MTF), of which the PTUA is an associate member, is holding public transport forums in various areas around Melbourne in the lead-up to November’s state election.

The forums will feature speakers from all the major parties and questions from the community.

Six forums are planned so far:
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The Federal Government are to be congratulated for finally putting money into urban public transport, which will cut congestion by getting cars off the road, cut emissions, and give people more sustainable transport choices. But brickbats are due to the Brumby State Government for advancing flawed projects, says the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA).

Despite the name, the Regional Rail Express project funded by the Federal government will help metropolitan train users, by separating out fast and stopping trains, allowing many more trains and better reliability. The lengthening of platforms at stations is also good news for regional and outer-urban passengers.
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Community fears betray poor standard of metro train service, says PTUA

Calls by sections of the Sunbury community to retain the existing V/Line service in preference to more frequent suburban train services are “an indictment of Connex’s poor standard of service”, the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) said today, while restating its support for the project.

“Connex’s poor reputation for slow, dirty, overcrowded, understaffed and unreliable trains has tainted the perception of our suburban trains to the point where people don’t want them, even where they can provide a much more frequent service,” said PTUA President Daniel Bowen. “This outcry from Sunbury is a clarion call to Connex and the Brumby government to clean up their act.”
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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has welcomed the government’s commitment to expand the train fleet and redevelop Footscray station, but noted more needed to be done to help western suburbs commuters.
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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has called for an immediate frequency upgrade of train services on the Werribee line to help ease severe overcrowding and congestion on roads.

PTUA spokesman Christopher Trikilis called on the Government to ‘stand up and deliver’ for passengers on the busy Werribee rail line and help improve severe overcrowding problems on the line. “Despite adding additional express trains in recent weeks on the line, poor implementation has done little to ease the overcrowding and lack of regular services in the peak times.” Read the rest of this article »

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has slammed plans by the State Government to spend over $1 billion building a third track on the Dandenong train line — which will be at the expense of projects such as the Altona loop duplication, benefiting the entire Western suburbs, and other projects in the upcoming “Transport and Liveability” statement. Read the rest of this article »