Transit News for September 2010
NATIONAL
Australians remain more concerned about improving public transport than improving roads, the latest quarterly transport survey from the University of Sydney shows. More than half of those surveyed in the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies-Interfleet Transport Opinion Survey said improving public transport was Australia’s highest transport priority, with less than a quarter saying better roads should be the top priority. The findings from the survey of 1,000 adults across Australia suggest Australians are looking towards sustainable transport solutions. http://sydney.edu.au/business/itls/tops
NEW SOUTH WALES
On 1 July the Transport Construction Authority (TCA), formerly Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation (TIDC), came into existence. TCA is part of Transport NSW and is currently responsible for delivering the South West Rail Link, Rail Clearways Program, Commuter Car Park Program, Northern Sydney Freight Corridor Program and Auburn Stabling Project.
In late June figures from the annual Household Travel Survey 2008-09, the largest of its kind in Australia, were released. Some of the information released includes: weekday public transport use is up, and car use down, for the fourth consecutive year; rail travel increased 3.1%; bus travel by 2.4%; walking by 2.7% and car use fell by 0.3%. Despite this household vehicle ownership continues to grow, increasing by 2.8%.
Sydney Buses
On 29 June the final 19 of the 300 ‘growth’ buses were delivered, 12 months after delivery started. The last of the 300 buses have gone to Western Sydney and the Hills District and have resulted in additional weekday services.
Metrobus Route 40, from Bondi Junction to Chatswood, commenced on 18 July and resulted in some rearrangement of the stands at Chatswood Interchange.
An announcement was made on 20 July of a major expansion of the metrobus network which includes the expansion of services to two private operates, Veolia and CDG. The focus of the expansion is on servicing Western Sydney and the total number of routes will increase to 13. The fifth of the already announced Metro Bus routes, M50, is to start in October between Drummoyne and Randwick via the CBD. The first new route will be Metrobus 52, which started on 8 August between Parramatta and the CBD along Victoria Road. Bus services will also benefit from the conversion of transit lanes to bus-only lanes between Gladesville and Ryde; the introduction of bus-only lanes through Ermington and the bus lanes between Drummoyne and Rozelle.
The other new routes include:
M41: Hurstville to Macquarie via Burwood;
M54: Parramatta to Macquarie via Epping from 10 October;
M60: Parramatta to Hornsby via Baulkham Hills;
M61: Castle Hill to the CBD via Baulkham Hills;
M90: Liverpool to Burwood via Bankstown;
M91: Hurstville to Parramatta via Bankstown
M92: Sutherland to Parramatta via Bankstown.
Sydney Light Rail
On 19 July it was announced that the light rail corridor between Lilyfield and Dulwich Hill will host Sydney’s first ‘GreenWay’, said to be an environmentally sustainable, integrated transport corridor incorporating a bicycle and pedestrian path. On the same day Transport NSW lodged the project application and Preliminary Environmental Assessment with the Department of Planning.
Nine stops have been identified as part of the project application and they are:
Leichhardt North (west of James Street, adjacent to Darley Street and the City West Link Road);
Hawthorne (between Darley Road, close to Lyall Street and the Hawthorne Canal);
Marion (north of the overbridge crossing of Marion Street, close to Lambert Park);
Taverners Hill (northern side of the Parramatta Road overbridge, just east of Battle Bridge over the Hawthorne Canal);
Lewisham West (south of the Longport Street overbridge);
Waratah Mills (north of the Davis Street overbridge);
Arlington (adjacent to Johnson Park, north of the Constitution Road overbridge);
Dulwich Grove (between New Canterbury Road and the Hercules Street overbridges); and
Dulwich Hill Interchange (adjacent to Dulwich Hill station).
The project will add a cycle and walking path south beyond the light rail stop at Dulwich Hill so that people will be able to walk or cycle from the Cooks River to Iron Cove. There will also be a new walking and cycling path built across the Hawthorne Canal for Haberfield residents to access the Hawthorne stop. In some places, the rail corridor is in a deep cutting and not wide enough to have a shared path alongside, meaning the path will have to divert from the line for short distances.
Sydney Trains
The CityRail website section listing trackwork now has a dropdown map showing the current week’s bus replacements and approximate hours-
www.cityrail.info/service_updates/trackwork/trackwork_map.pdf
Also available on the website are some interesting figures about peak hour train seat occupation
www.cityrail.info/about/our_performance/service_capacity.pdf
The car numbers of Set A1 are: D6301-N5301-N5501-T6501-T6601-N5601-N5401-D6401 and it seems that the last 2 digits of the car number match the set number.
It was announced on 28 June that construction was commencing on the southern flyover at Glenfield as part of the South West Rail Link which will connect the future rail line from Leppington to the existing rail network south of Glenfield interchange. Construction on the flyover to the north of Glenfield had started earlier to separate the East Hills Line from the Main South Line.
The new timetable for the Eastern Suburbs, Illawarra and South Coast Lines, with minor changes to other lines has been released, commencing 10 October. Announced changes include:
more direct electric services between Kiama and Wollongong/Sydney;
faster weekend services from Kiama to North Wollongong and to Sydney, including direct services to Town Hall and Bondi Junction with all services being Oscar trains;
improvements to late night services from the city to the South Coast, including service gap reductions and the last three services now departing from Bondi Junction;
some minor journey time improvements on weekday South Coast services.
On the Illawarra and Cronulla Lines changes include:
more services between Cronulla and the city during the peak, off-peak and on weekends;
between Cronulla and Kirrawee four new express morning peak services stopping all stations from Cronulla to Sutherland, then Hurstville, Redfern and all stations to Bondi Junction;
a new express afternoon peak service to operate from Bondi Junction to Cronulla;
a new semi-fast afternoon peak service to operate from Bondi Junction to Waterfall;
a new all stations afternoon peak service to operate from Bondi Junction to Hurstville
more weekend services with a 10 minute service frequency at Bondi Junction.
For the rest of the network, changes are mostly minor and customers will receive the same level of service, frequency and stopping patterns as provided in the October 2009 CityRail timetable. The new timetable will provide an additional two services an hour during the day on weekends on the South Line. This change will see increased frequency for customers at stations between Glenfield and Granville, Auburn, Lidcombe, Strathfield, Croydon, Ashfield, Redfern, Central and the City Circle. The timetable allows for the progressive introduction of Waratah and Oscar trains into service.
QUEENSLAND.
Brisbane
TransLink has published a list of projects to be completed in the 2010-2011 financial year.
These include:
introducing more than 125 new buses to the TransLink network;
new services on the Ipswich/Caboolture line, aligned with the completion of infrastructure projects such as the Corinda to Darra upgrade and the new line to Richlands in early 2011
new ferry services with the introduction of new CityCats.
Infrastructure improvements planned include:
new bus park ‘n’ ride facilities at Enoggera Reservoir and Klumpp Road;
extensions to park ‘n’ ride facilities at Petrie and Birkdale stations;
an extension to the pedestrian footbridge over Fairfield Road at Yeerongpilly Station, to connect with a future TOD;
completion of park ‘n’ ride facilities at Mt Lindesay Highway, Park Ridge;
new cycle facilities across the network.
The TransLink Tracker report, which measured public transport usage in the January to March quarter of 2010, sets a benchmark of 92.4% for trains to arrive within four minutes of the timetable. During the morning and evening peaks times, 91.6% of trains arrived on time, down from the 92.04% during the previous quarter. More than 95% of buses ran on time against a 90% benchmark. The overall number of people using public transport declined marginally in the January to March period. More than 315,000 extra go cards were issued between January and March 2010 and about 60% are now paid by the cards.
As the free go card distribution began on 28 June the one millionth go card went into circulation two years after the integrated system started. Take up of the free offer was slow and it was extended by two weeks. There were 23.6 million go card trips between January and March, more than double the number of trips for the same quarter in 2009.
Brisbane Buses
The CityGlider bus service carried over 300,000 passengers in its first three months with a July average of about 26,000 each week.
Another bridge, parallel to the existing road bridge over the South Pine River to the Redcliffe Peninsula was opened on 11 July. The two bridges are one way and both have a full time T2 lane to improve bus services.
Brisbane Ferries
On 1 July BCC introduced their 16th CityCat into service along with eight extra weekday services. .
Brisbane Trains
By late June at Darra the overhead was being placed over the new tracks and track laying was taking place for the Richlands line junction. An announcement was made in early July that track was being laid on the Richlands Line. The announcement said that Richlands will open in the first half of next year and Springfield in 2013. The total length of the completed line will be 14.5 km. The Springfield rail line will include a new station near the Orion Shopping Centre with an integrated bus and rail interchange facility. The footbridge at Darra is to be improved as it is believed to be among the lowest on the system.
At the start of July there was an official rebranding of urban passenger operations into QueenslandRail, including the introduction of a new train livery and new staff uniforms.
There was also an announcement of extra peak services on the Ipswich and Caboolture lines.
Central Station entry arrangements changed to all go card from 26 July with 34 gates being card operated and paper ticket holders having to pass staffed gates.
Gold Coast Buses
There was a major reorganisation of southern Gold Coast services from 28 June designed to improve train connections and create more direct routes to popular destinations and provide extra services. A new route was introduced between Tweed Heads and Robina via Varsity Lakes Station, providing a direct bus service between the airport and train services. Other services were changed to reduce duplication, and improve reliability and coverage. New Route 761 from Tweed Heads to Robina is a trial service for six months, running hourly and express along the Pacific Motorway to cut about 20 minutes off the trip between Elanora and Varsity Lakes.
Gold Coast Rapid Transit
The first contract for the light rail system has been awarded to Leighton Contractors to build the Gold Coast University Hospital Station shell and associated roadwork in Southport. The package includes construction of the floor, roof and walls that will support the station.
TASMANIA
An amount of $2 million of State Government funding over two years has been provided to support additional non-metropolitan bus services. Service Development Plans developed by bus operators based on the needs of the community will be used to guide the allocation of funds. Operators have been working with communities to better understand the specific needs of passengers. Based on this feedback they have formulated and submitted proposals to increase services and improve their attractiveness and convenience. Depending on the feedback there may be extra buses at peak times, as well as extended routes for existing buses. There are also plans to add extra buses at off-peak times allowing more accessibility to passenger transport at evenings and weekends.
Hobart Light Rail
A community advisory panel has been set up to help develop a business case for light rail service to the northern suburbs. The panel is investigating the potential for light rail as part of an integrated transport system. The State Budget allocated $350,000 for the preparation of the business case. The Government’s Urban Passenger Transport Framework identified light rail as a long-term option for delivering a greener and more extensive public transport network between the northern suburbs and Hobart.
VICTORIA
Bendigo
In early July the Bendigo Night Rider bus service was withdrawn after the failure of a recent agreement in which the operating costs were to be covered by fares from patrons and contributions from the City and late-night venue operators and owners. Apparently only three out of the six late-night venues have paid the agreed annual contribution.
Melbourne Buses
There was a reorganisation of Melton area bus services from 19 July. Two new local routes commenced and many extra services were added.
Bus service changes for Cardinia, Casey and Greater Dandenong areas were announced, with implementation later in the year. In all there are six new routes and improvements to ten routes.
Melbourne Trains
From 15 June the back platform road at Laverton was available for use and number 2 platform returned to service.
Aout $220 million will be spent this financial year on upgrading and improving infrastructure, including: 61,000 concrete sleepers replacing wooden sleepers; 22 sets of points to be reconstructed; 36 kilometres of new rail to be installed; 140 kilometres of rail grinding; 20 stations to be repainted; six station platforms to have platform edges rebuilt and then the platforms will be repaved; 27 kilometres of overhead contact wire to be replaced; three substations to have equipment renewed; 40 signal heads replaced with LED signals and 15 kms of signal cabling to be renewed.
The route of the inner city section of the Regional Rail Link has been finalised and plans for five stations in the Melbourne Metro project released including a new station at Arden Street in North Melbourne, Parkville, Melbourne Central, Flinders Street and Domain Road.. The Regional Rail Link project has been separated into major works packages which will go to market in the coming months. Two tracks will be constructed from Sunshine to Footscray at surface level and will largely be contained within the existing rail reservation and a new rail bridge will be built over the Maribyrnong River.
Melbourne Trams
Route strip maps for the routes covered by a particular vehicle are appearing inside trams. As an example Kew trams show Routes 24, 48 and 109 on three separate strip maps; but if Kew borrows a tram from Camberwell that tram will show strip maps for Routes 70 and 75 while if Southbank borrows a C class for Route 96 only routes 24, 48 and 109 will be shown.
Harbour Esplanade Docklands
Work commenced in early June on the replacement of the tracks along the waterfront between La Trobe Street and Bourke Street to the centre reservation along Harbour Esplanade. The changes to the area are expected to take around 12 months. Of the 35 palm trees that lined the Esplanade, 24 were relocated. Traffic has been reduced to one lane in each direction during the works causing congestion in the area at peak times and after events at Etihad Stadium. During the construction of the tracks it is expected that only twice will trams be replaced by buses, for a two day and a five day occupation when the junction at La Trobe and Harbour Esplanade is replaced and the connecting tracks across Bourke Street are connected. Once the new track is completed, the previous track, the oldest part dating to 2000, will be removed.
Also in the plan is a new tram line along Footscray Road to the Dudley Street and Docklands Drive intersection. These trams currently lay up on the centre track between La Trobe Street and Bourke Street. Route 30 will terminate on the new section of track in Footscray Road but the last stop for passengers will be a new platform stop to be built in Harbour Esplanade at Docklands Drive.
Regional Victoria
On 8 July at Bombardier’s Dandenong plant the first full three-carriage VLocity train was undergoing the final stages of commissioning before entering service a few days later. This meant that 102 out of 134 VLocity cars are now in service.
Regional rail patronage in the five years to 2008/09 increased by 89.8% and now more than one million trips are made on the network each month. A record 12 million passenger trips were made in 2008/09 and every indication is that 2009/2010 will surpass that figure.
Passenger services returned to Maryborough from 25 July with the introduction of a day return service from Maryborough to Melbourne via Ballarat.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Perth
Overall, Transperth patronage numbers increased during the financial year 2009-10 compared to the previous year by 2.2%. These were buses 1.6%, trains 3%, but ferries fell 4.1%. Free travel on the CAT network and within the Perth Free Transit Zone on ordinary services saw an increase of 2.9%. The fall in numbers using the ferries can be put down to the frequency of parallel bus services and the circuitous route of the Blue CAT route from the northern end, Barrack Street Jetty, to the central city.
Perth Buses
The bus bridge in central Perth over the Fremantle and Joondalup lines west of Perth Station has been completed, except for a small section at its northern end which has delayed the opening.
Significant frequency improvements to CAT services in central Perth were introduced from 1 August. These involve more weekend services on the Red and Yellow routes as well as more frequent Yellow CAT services during weekdays.
Perth Trains
On 13 July the project to extend the Joondalup rail line to Butler moved closer with the passing by State Parliament of the Butler to Brighton Railway Bill 2010. Once proclaimed, the Railway (Butler to Brighton) Act 2010 will establish the legislative authority to extend the metropolitan rail network approximately 7.5 kms north of Clarkson to a new park ’n’ ride and bus transfer station, Butler. Butler will provide approximately 1,000 car bays and the project will include the addition of new buses to provide feeder services to Butler and Clarkson Stations. The extension is scheduled to be open by December 2014.
Further Bombardier three car EMUs up to set 89 have entered service. This leaves just sets 90 to 94 of the batch of 15 to be introduced and it is expected that 91-94 will be operated as additional spare trains in anticipation of the opening of the extension of the Joondalup Line to Butler in 2014. There are still three, four car A series trains operating on the Joondalup and Mandurah lines during peak periods.
An additional entrance/exit has been constructed leading from the concourse level at Perth Underground into the ground level retail area below 140 William Street, the massive office development above the station and opened about the end of July.
NEW ZEALAND
Auckland
NZTA in partnership with KiwiRail has appointed advisers to carry out an evaluation of options for an additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing. Three separate evaluations will assess the case for either a bridge or tunnels between the Wynyard Quarter west of Auckland's CBD and Esmonde Road on the North Shore. When completed they will provide more exact information so decisions about the options and timing of the crossing can be made with more certainty. An additional crossing is not included in the NZTA's current 10-year State Highways Programme for funding.
Auckland Trains
Redwood Group, a development company, with Auckland City wants to run the main trunk railway through a tunnel capped by a podium structure supporting ‘mixed-use’ buildings up to five levels high on the Orakei Peninsula. Surrounding blocks are planned to rise to six floors above ground to house up to 1600 residents in 700 apartments within 10 years. Redwood has made design allowances for the podium, which would extend about 300m from Hobson Bay to the Orakei Basin, to handle a potential third rail line for freight as well as the electrification of the existing two sets of tracks for passenger trains to and from Britomart. With support from Council, it is promoting its scheme as a classic ‘transit-oriented development’ in terms of the Auckland regional growth strategy
www.redwoodgroup.co.nz/index.cfm?action=Residential&page=detail&projectID=95
The upgraded Kingsland Station was opened on 6 July. The station's two platforms have been lengthened to 155m with several new sets of stairs and a 3.5m-wide underpass running beneath the rail tracks, between Sandringham Road and the station's northern platform. A Rugby match on 10 July was used to test the facility.
By mid-July the digging of the trench at Manakau was complete after a year’s work. The trench is 300 metres long by seven deep and up to 18 wide. Work has commenced on pouring the concrete slab as the base for the platforms. Contractors are now preparing areas for escalators, lifts and stairs up to the Davies Avenue bus interchange which will also lead into Manukau Institute of Technology's planned tertiary campus.
Christchurch Trams
The Christchurch Mayor has made a number of proposals in a report to Council after a 16 day study tour to North America. Council will be asked to undertake detailed investigations into key topics, including: funding, investment and financial tools to speed up central city regeneration; different funding methods for regeneration projects, including public-private partnerships; the scope, opportunity, scale and costs of developing a rail system (including streetcar, light rail and heavy rail) and how the council's social housing program could be enhanced to support regeneration in the central city and ‘priority’ suburban areas.
On 24 June Council voted on the location of the second stage of the tram extension. The return leg of the tram route will run through the polytechnic campus, rather than looping around Barbadoes, Coventry and Williams Streets as originally planned. The Polytechnic said the proposal would support campus plans to become a more significant part of the city. The plans would affect several campus buildings, with work already under way to clear an area for the tram.
Wellington Trains
The first of the Matangi trains left South Korea in mid-July for delivery in about mid-August. The rest of the cars will start arriving in batches from October. After arrival in Wellington the first unit commenced testing at a new purpose built depot in Wellington yard. The commissioning will take several months, and the set will enter service on the Hutt Line, followed by Johnsonville from April 2011.
Indonesia
Jakarta
The Governor of Jakarta has announced that the monorail project is back on the agenda, but only after discussions on compensating the previous private sector owners is completed. Jakarta Monorail officially abandoned the project in 2008 after financial problems and legal disputes. Pylons half constructed in 2004 still line Jalan Rasuna Said and Jalan Asia-Afrika in South Jakarta. The monorail was approved in 2003 and there were to be two lines.
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur
Rail electrification between Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh opened in mid-July with five EMU sets of about 350 passenger capacity operating eight return services per day and journey time reduced from three hours to about two.
Singapore
It was announced that from 28 June 20 bus routes were to get extra services in peak periods and that as many as possible trips were to have double deckers and articulated buses to help ease crowding. The North-East MRT line also has many extra daily services from the same day. At the same time the fare structure has been changed from flat fares to distance based fares with free interchange.
Thales has installed an automatic, contactless fare collection system using smart cards for the Circle Line. Currently, 16 stations are operational. The Circle Line project is expected to be completed in 2011 and feature a total of 29 stations.
Thailand
Bangkok
On 25 June Skytrain operator Bangkok Mass Transit System Public Co Ltd marked the arrival of its new fleet of 12 four-car trains from China with a Buddhist blessing ceremony. The 48 cars have been manufactured by CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles Co under a contract signed in July 2007. Following four to six months of testing, the trains will be deployed on the Silom Line, allowing the existing fleet of 35 Siemens three-car trains to operate a more frequent service on the Sukhumvit Line. The four-car Changchun trains can carry 1,490 passengers, compared with 1,106 passengers in the existing trains, easing congestion at Saphan Taksin caused by ‘current technical teething problems’, believed to be a length of single line track. Average weekday ridership on Skytrain is now running at around 500,000 journeys, with peaks as high as 570,000 passengers/day. Commercial and residential development along the Skytrain routes has resulted in increased travel demand, so there will be an order for a further 35 trailer cars to extend the older Siemens trains to four cars.
The Philippines
Manila
LRT Line 2 carried a record 249,085 passengers on 2 July, 3.3 % higher than the previous record of 4 December 2009. In the first six months of 2010 Line 2, averaged 193,284 passengers daily with at least 12 trains sets running during the peaks. Apparently the load factor is still only 35%. Line 1’s highest daily ridership record was registered during a religious festival as 582,989 passengers.
Vietnam
Hanoi
The Vietnam Construction Import-Export Corporation, Vinaconex, has submitted to the Prime Minister a plan to build a monorail in Hanoi. According to the plan, the monorail will run overhead in the middle of the road from Hoang Hoa Tham to the end of Lang-Hoa Lac highway, a distance of 38 kms. The route will have 14 stations, and carry around 60,000 passengers a day. The Government has told the Ministry of Transport to make a feasibility report for the project.
Ho Chi Minh City
The city People's Committee and the Ministry of Planning and Investment have held a meeting to discuss the need for immediate investment in two ‘tram’ routes. One route will link Nguyen Van Linh Road and Tan Thuan Bridge in District 2, while the other will begin at Quang Trung Software Park and run along Quang Trung Road to the six-way Go Vap crossroads. These routes have severe traffic jams due to a huge volume of vehicles and limited space.
Under the city's plan to 2025 for transport networks, six metro routes are to be built.