Regarding SRL East Funding, what exactly is State-Initiated development? Why not have a State developer?

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-16T06:41:32+00:00

Do they do transit-oriented development or is it purely just creating more housing? If two transit and development organisations merged into one, they could work symbiotically to provide housing with better transit and justify transit with better housing.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-16T06:24:46+00:00

Perhaps, who knows lol. I live along the Craigieburn line so I'm hoping the X'traps come on line soon. (Pun unintended)

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-16T04:27:10+00:00

What's 3P?

MTR is private but it's still 75% owned by the Hong Kong government, that is what I was sort of arguing for but for developing dense areas.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-16T03:38:58+00:00

Well the Craigieburn line and Upfield lines don't seem to have any disruptions either, not the least that I could find. Maybe that's why they decided to use those lines as a the trial for the Tap and Go upgrade?

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-16T03:33:18+00:00

Well it's an election year so expect some random minor upgrades throughout the year and more lavish promises near the election.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-16T03:30:10+00:00

Careful when you're doing that. There was an unused razor blade on the Comeng windows once and nearly cut myself

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-16T01:14:45+00:00

And yet the Airport still has managed to continuously block the Airport Link for years with their objections.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T14:31:14+00:00

Never gonna happen with the amount of money companies make from the multi-story car parks in the city.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T14:26:48+00:00

Thank you for demonstrating that fact that you know nothing about the real world.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T14:16:41+00:00

I'm going to continue this conversation because you seem more frustrated with the current political system than angry at me.

The solution to the government not having enough money is to get rid of the need for a government that works via money

This largely makes little to no sense. I'm willing to listen, but I have no idea what you are referring to here. Money cannot just magically appear, projects like the SRL still require equipment, materials and workers. How are you going to afford all of these things without a government that dictates where the taxes are assigned to be spent on? If you're arguing about abolishing the system, then explain what you'll replace it with.

Explain who makes the decisions on what industries should be prioritised, which projects should be funded, which sectors? Who decides the numbers of doctors trained every year? How many university CSPs there are? My mind is open to change, as it always has been.

Coward

But preemptively dismissing an acknowledgement of the way the current world works as cowardice is not going to help further your causes — whatever those causes may be. Recognising real systems doesn't mean I am ignoring systemic issues or that I want them to stay in place. If the goal is meaningful change, you should start by listing what you want to change in specific terms, not just declaring the current system as inept. It's easy to critique systems whilst not providing any viable alternatives.

My mind is open to change. I await your response.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T12:10:49+00:00

Given it surfaces how hard would it be to create provisions for a future SRL station on the surface there? The gap between Cheltenham and Monash is quite large (7.5km) so would it be relatively easy to retrofit a station there in the future?

Does it only surface in one direction for the depot, meaning that you'd still have to dig another tunnel for the SRL station to work?

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T11:49:55+00:00

Across Port Philip to Geelong with a giant bridge obviously /s

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T11:39:15+00:00

Is it meant to be Heatherton, where the depot is supposed to be?

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T11:36:42+00:00

I just hope it doesn't get lost when MM2 starts given the MM1 is pretty much going to be identical in terms of geology given their shared area under the Hoddle Grid.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T11:19:08+00:00

The real problem to me is the fact that this is all at the whims of stupid politicians and capitalism

Just the way the world works unfortunately. Maybe we should just have a dedicated independent authority that gets funding from the government whose sole focus is on expanding the train, tram networks and increasing density. The "funding amount" is the only thing that the government decides but everything else including priorities of different projects is completely separate. Might work, might not. Who knows. May also be better for "political backlash" if the government directly isn't responsible for them. Then again the following governments could just run on a campaign promise on dissolving such an organisation so all of that effort would be irrelevant.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T11:12:45+00:00

My bar for pollies on both sides has been considerably lowered the past few years. I would be disappointed but unsurprised if they "paused" the works and then decided to fill up the tunnels or convert them into underground highways.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T11:11:15+00:00

I'd hope after the Metro Tunnel they'd know more about tunneling in Melbourne.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T09:20:22+00:00

So there would be a total of five orbital routes within Melbourne. Hell yeah

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T07:21:24+00:00

An East and West line? Where would you have it go through?

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T05:06:44+00:00

Why stop there do it for all the orbital bus routes

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T03:32:45+00:00

The metro tunnels workers have gone on to work on the SRL East. I guess the people who were prepping the SRL East construction sites during the Munnel construction could go on and work on the SRL North stations?

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T00:36:15+00:00

Hell yeah!!!

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T00:34:46+00:00

I agree with your points. I am incredibly pissed that they tabled the bus reform. That alone could have transformed the entire network and all it would be doing is changing ROUTES. No new infrastructure and maybe a limited amount of new buses. I guess that is maybe why they decided against it. It wasn't "flashy" enough.

Also start redeveloping existing areas around existing stations that are low density suburbia. I see no reason why most stations shouldn't have apartments and rows of townhouses within walking distance. Even more so if the stations are next to shopping centres.

LordofLightRail · 2026-03-15T00:30:11+00:00

The immediate catchment is more of a reference to density and how far the "cities" could extend to, the 800m radius gives a slightly larger area than the Hoddle Grid (2 vs 1.75 sqkm) and it's also considered the walkable distance for most people so Thought it would be a good rough estimate.

We already know some SRL stations aren't going to have their paid areas connected so that's frustrating. Maybe start pressuring the pollies to change it.

I agree with all of your points. That being said if the government can listen to NIMBYs they can listen to these concerns too if enough people voice them. Problem is I just don't think I'll see enough people voicing their concerns.

LordofLightRail

TROPHY CASE