Submerged Integrated Rail Transport

Utilising the latest tunnelling equipment and expertise from around the world, all Melbourne suburban rail lines will be submerged into three and four tunnel rail systems, extending the City Loop to encompass the whole city, whilst enabling an effective Ring Rail system to connect commuters in outlying suburbs, in effect easing congestion on the CBD public transport facilities.

The effect this will have on Melbourne will be immesurable. There will be no more vehicle congestion at boomgates and level crossings; commuter load can be shared across two or more tubes travelling in the same direction, enabling more people to comfortably and safely commute to and from work or school; the speed of trains can be increased between stations; there will be no more accidents between cars and trains; it will free tens of billions of dollars in real estate to be developed, creating more housing in inner city areas and across Greater Melbourne, also enabling more universities to be built in or near the CBD, on sites such as South Yarra and Richmond Stations. Most importantly, there will be no more rail deaths.

Once this is in place, introducing a Metropolitan Transit Levy (MTL) will reduce the amount of cars on our roads operated by single drivers and encourage more people to commute by public transport. This will in turn improve the services provided by our current bus/tram network, and also make it safer and easier to cycle to work. It will eliminate costly and unnecessary operations, investments and endeavours such as Myki, transport zoning, time limited tickets, ticket inspectors, ticket machine maintenance, road congestion tax, among other things. [Letter to The Age 'Opinion', by Understandascope Director, Frank Fisher, January 6, 2006 ]

The end result will be the cleanest, cheapest, most uncongested road/rail network in the country, and can rival the London Underground and the NY Subway in its massive urban face change to the City of Melbourne. Our goal is to make public transport the preferred method of travel for 90% of the non-trade and non-transport/logistics workforce by 2020. This will make Melbourne even more liveable globally, attracting foreign investment and recreational travellers, and ensure Melbourne has a system in place to easily handle any surge in population.

COST

There are 372km of electrified rail system in Greater Melbourne. If this land were to be sold at the median price of $300 000 per quarter acre it would generate A$52,580,000,000, and 18,600 new house blocks. This does not take into account that inner city real estate can sell in excess of A$700 000 per quarter acre. Real estate prices in Prahran, South Yarra, Toorak, Armadale, Malvern, East Malvern, Camberwell, Hawthorn, Kew and Glenferrie just to name but a few can reach up to A$1m.

The proposed underground rail linkup for North Melbourne is 15km and is said to cost approximately A$2bn, including 8 new train stations. At this cost scedule, 372km of submerged rail line will come to A$49.6bn. With a profit of more than A$3bn and thousands of employment opportunities, we cannot afford to NOT upgrade Melbourne into the most visionary city in the world.

JamesChristopherTyndall - 26 May 2008 - 17:31