National

Aust Capital Territory

Event Papers 2006

Public Transport and the 2030 Strategy

Peter Batchelor Minister for Transport

Fabian Society

New international Bookshop

Trades Hall, Carlton

6.30pm Wednesday, 21 June 2006

Victoria is renowned as one of the most liveable places in the world.

And to be one of the most liveable, you have to have a workable transport system.

Transport in Victoria is in good shape, but more and more people are using it, whether it’s for getting to work, visiting friends or doing the weekly shop.

Meeting Our Transport Challenges is the biggest single transport investment program in Victoria’s history.
It’s a 25-year strategy, with $10.5 billion invested over the next 10 years for transport projects.

It sets out a strategic, long term and funded plan for Victoria’s transport system.

It’s not an exhaustive list, but rather a framework upon which future Govt’s can build.

So why are we doing this? What are we trying to achieve?

It’s because we face some potentially debilitating transport problems due to a lack of funding from previous governments, both State and Federal.

These include:

2 million Melburnians living beyond the direct catchments of rail networks.
An increasing proportion of multi-modal trips as the city grows beyond rail network catchments.

Under-investment in both the metro and rural track and communications in preceding decades.

Limited rail capacity and overcrowding during peak times.

Limited road capacity and widespread peak-hour traffic congestion - the costs of congestion estimated to be up to $4 billion per year and rising.

Meeting Our Transport Challenges will improve livability across Victoria through major improvements to public transport services, better planning, and more sustainable travel choices.

For everyday Victorians, this means a major boost to the level of public transport services and a better, safer and more expansive road network.

More people – not just people with cars - will have better access to transport services for their jobs, education, recreation and family.

We will build on our reputation as a leader in road safety, and deliver improved safety standards on our public transport networks.

We will put in place innovative solutions to ensure the ongoing management of congestion on both our public transport system and road network.

This statement will help to grow the whole state through new investment in both road and rail infrastructure.

We will ensure long term planning is undertaken, leaving future generations of Victorians with the flexibility to respond to the economic, social and environmental challenges.

Local Bus

We are going to deliver more buses, more often, and over a longer daily time-frame for almost every bus service in Melbourne.

And, we are going to deliver new services in growth areas, with a 22 per cent increase in local bus services over the next 4 years.

Not only will we be creating new routes and boosting existing services in Melbourne’s middle and outer suburbs,

But, we will also be providing connections to new cross-town SmartBus services and the rail network.

And existing bus services will be expanded between the city centre and the Eastern suburbs ( Doncaster, Templestowe, Warrandyte), with better frequency, longer hours of operation, and on-road bus priority.

SmartBus

We are expanding the tremendous SmartBus program.

SmartBus services have the ability to change traffic lights from red to green, and they offer digital real-time information along the bus routes to passengers.
Routes already committed for Wellington Road and Stud Road will be completed over this year and 2007.

This will be followed by three orbital routes through the northern and western suburbs with improved links to rail and other services.

They are:

Red Orbital - Box Hill to Altona,
Green Orbital - Nunawading to Airport West, and
Yellow Orbital – Ringwood to Tullamarine.

There are 12 million trips taken across Melbourne each day, and the majority of these trips involve travel within and between the middle and outer suburbs.

Therefore this major investment in bus improvements will offer a real alternative for people who are taking these types of trips.

The combined SmartBus, local bus and Doncaster bus programs will deliver a 30 per cent increase in bus services over the next four years - easily the largest ever increase in this sector.

Rail

A $2 billion investment into Melbourne’s rail network represents the biggest upgrade since the construction of the city loop.

And, w ehave also allocated $2.9 billion for greater reliability and more trains and services.

Since the construction of the City Loop, patronage on the metropolitan rail network has grown by 45 per cent – and 6.5 per cent over the past year alone

Initially, peak services capacity will be boosted by adjusting timetables and adding more services late on Friday and Saturday nights.

There will be five new timetabled services during the morning peak and shoulder peak periods.

These additional services will carry 4000 passengers into the city each morning – equivalent to two extra lanes of freeway traffic.

There will also be additional services during the afternoon peak shoulder peak.

Our commitment to invest in a train replacement program of over 90 trains will provide new standards of comfort and safety, and cater for additional growth on the network.

Recruitment and training extra drivers is part of planning for the future to ensure there are enough train drivers in coming years.

We are funding major works to create additional capacity on our rail network, including:

Duplicating the track between Clifton Hill to Westgarth,
Building a third track between Caulfield and Springvale, and later to Dandenong,
Building a third track between Sunshine and West Footscray, and
Signalling upgrades on the city loop, Laverton to Werribee and Sunshine to Watergardens.

These works will mean Melbourne’s train system can operate more efficiently, and importantly, carry more people.

The safety of the system for passengers is paramount, so we have allocated $750 million to address safety issues.

This is a major investment to replace ageing technology which may be largely unnoticed by commuters, but is critical to the future of the network.

Safety upgrades to the City Loop involves replacement of drainage, fire detection, emergency power and lifts and escalators.

The new VICERS system being implemented includes:

a device to check drivers are alert,
a train-based recorder to log train and driver actions; and,
software to analyse train and driver movements, particularly after an accident.

Level crossing accidents represent about 1 per cent of road accidents, but are usually very severe.

Funds will be used to systematically identify and prioritise level crossings for upgrades, as well as some grade separations.

In addition, the Government will replace and upgrade train management and communications systems at a cost of $264.3M,

including a new control centre to deliver more reliable and safer train services across Melbourne.

This funding is in addition to the $3 billion rail infrastructure upgrades.

The provision of new stations at Point Cook, Cardinia Road (in Pakenham), and Lynbrook will help provide for the growing outer suburbs of Melbourne.

We are upgrading North Melbourne station - the gateway from the Northern Group of metropolitan rail lines, as well as the Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong rail lines.

The station upgrade works will make interchanging at North Melbourne significantly easier for the 2 million passengers currently using it.

We will be returning more staff to the train system by upgrading seven metropolitan stations to premium status.

And upgrading transport interchanges to make travelling simpler for the increasing number of people who use a combination of transport modes.

Those Melburnians who currently drive to the station to park for the day before heading into the city on the train will benefit from a major upgrade to Park and Ride.

There are currently 29-thousand car parks across the metropolitan network.

The provision of 5 thousand additional spaces will make parking easier for those people, as well as attracting more people to public transport.

Trams

Melbourne ’s tram network is recognised around the world for offering high quality services.

Our strategy provides a historic $577M boost to Melbourne’s iconic trams.

Trams are not only a symbol for Victoria but they are also a fundamental part of our public transport system.

This investment will:

- give trams greater priority on our road network through the ThinkTram Project,

- deliver more services late at night, and

- deliver a replacement program for new low-floor trams onto the network.

Monash Westgate Corridor

A major program of improvements will boost the capacity of the Monash-West Gate corridor to ensure we have an efficient east-west route across the city.

We will also commit $120 milliontowards essential bridge strengthening works on the West Gate Bridge, and seek equivalent Federal funding for this $240 million project.

Structural work to reinforce the bridge is important to ensure the long term future of this transport route and Melbourne icon.

The needs study will look at various options for connecting Melbourne’s eastern and western suburbs, and recommend the best way forward for public transport, road and freight travel.

Victoria is considered a world leader in road safety. This Government will continue its effort towards reducing the road toll by allocating nearly $600 million towards the next generation of arrive alive!

In Melbourne’s outer-suburbs, we will be giving priority to projects improving cross-town and regional connections, providing better access to Transit cities and other activity centres, and upgrading major public transport routes.

In regional areas, priority will be given to projects that improve connections to regional centres and Melbourne that reduce accidents and that boost economic development and community liveability.

Maintaining our liveability requires changing our behaviour.
To encourage more people to use public transport, we have allocated $ 420 million for a range of programs including:

Delivering free public transport to seniors on Sundays in metropolitan Melbourne and regional centres,
Continuing the TravelSMART program;
Extending and improving cycling and walking options; and
improving public transport accessibility for older Victorians, parents with prams and people with mobility and visual disabilities.

We will deliver improved taxi services across the state, through the introduction of strict accreditation standards for taxi licence holders, operators, depots and secondary networks operators.

Our strategy will also help regional and remote communities use existing transport infrastructure better.

The Government will invest an additional $90 million over the next 10 years towards improving bus services in regional Victoria.

This investment will provide new services in growth areas and more night and weekend services - giving people better access to workplaces, shopping centres, health services and recreational activities.

A $347M investment in new rolling stock will enable the progressive retirement of the locomotive-hauled V/Line trains to ensure consistent and reliable delivery of services.

We will extend the Rural School Bus program - improving bus interchanges and roadside school bus stops - and we will provide a new package of assistance for provincial Victorian taxi operators.

Subject to Federal assistance, we will restore the rail track between Ballarat and Mildura to upgrade freight standard to 80 kilometres per hour.

Meeting our Transport Challenges is a comprehensive and visionary statement that, through an unprecedented $10.5 billion funding boost to the State’s transport network,

will deliver a wave of projects to ensure Victoria remains one of the most liveable places in the world.

Thank you.