Over the past few years the City of Melbourne has currently installing more bike hoops around the CBD, permitting more cyclists to securely park their bikes. But what happens when one of the hoops is placed in a stupid place?
Back on 29 January 2018 I spotted this example near the corner of William and Bourke Streets – a bike rack running 90 degrees to the road and blocking the footpath.
I tweeted about it the next day, and a week later the City of Melbourne entered the discussion – agreeing that they were stupidly placed.
They are part of our target to provide an additional 2000 on-street bicycle parking hoops by 2020. We have arranged for the hoops to be reorientated to 45 degrees so that there will be more space available on the footpath for pedestrians.
Presumably cyclists thought the same thing, as the bike hoops were often empty, compared to the hoops across the street.
Presumably cyclists didn’t want their valuable bike jutting out into the footpath, ready to be smashed into by passing pedestrians.
But some still took the risk.
But eventually the City of Melbourne got around to doing what they promised – a year later in February 2019 the bike hoops had been cut off at footpath level, and two new hoops installed parallel to the kerb.
Leaving clear space for pedestrians.
Footnote
I guess we should count ourselves lucky that these bike hoops were never noticed by business owners – advertising bikes are even worse.
Way back in 2012 I wrote Chronic commuter congestion fills Flagstaff on the ever increasing number of train passengers travelling to the CBD, and the delays caused by them passing through the ticket gates to exit the station.
But it appears that this problem is nothing new, as this August 2002 item from Newsrail is anything to go by.
It reads:
In mid-May four new ticket barriers costing $82,000 were commissioned at Flagstaff station. The new barriers increase the number of controlled exit/entry points at Flagstaff to nine.
M>Train City Loop Customer Service Manager, Mr Rhett Flannigan, indicated that the additional barriers had substantially reduced the length of queues during the peak period. Mr Flannigan said, “In the morning, we have gone from fairly long queues to no more than five to eight customers at any one time”.
With electrification extended to Sydenham (Watergardens) in January 2002, the St.Albans island platform no longer functioned as a terminal. This meant the electronic barrier gates which had previously controlled all passenger movements for suburban trains were now only half utilized.
These were relocated during May 2002 to Flagstaff, where they complimented the existing bank of barriers to better handle the increasing traffic through the southerly entry/exit point.
As well as listing the other stations that had Metcard ticket gates.
Electronic barriers were ultimately installed at all five city stations as well as Footscray (Centre platform), St Albans, Essendon, Glenferrie, Camberwell, Box Hill, Mitcham (Down platform only), Ringwood, Glen Waverley, South Yarra, Caulfield, Dandenong and Frankston.
But the “nine ticket gates” figure has me confused – as of 2011 Flagstaff station had the following arrangement.
1 wide and 2 standard gates to the north.
And nine gates to the south – split across one wide and six standard to south-west, one wide and one standard to the south-east.
So did the 2002 changes shuffle ticket gates between the two entrances, with three more gates added at a later date – or did the 2002 figure exclude the northern entrance?
Midway between Geelong and Ballarat I found an ex-Adelaide H type tram sitting in a backyard.
Between Geelong and Melbourne I found an Indian Pacific liveried locomotive hauling The Overland through Lara.
And at South Dynon I found the Road Transferable Locomotive – a truck that could haul freight wagons along railway lines.
The biannual Avalon Airshow was held in March 2009, and V/Line was running plenty of extra trains to transport patrons from Melbourne to Lara, where a bus connection was provided to Avalon Airport.
Extra trains were transferred out of Bacchus Marsh on Friday night to help move the crowds.
One of the days was pissing down rain.
But the weather eventually came good, as I spent the weekend driving in the shadows of the You Yangs.
Capturing V/Line trains along the Geelong line.
Another unusual train I captured was a 707 Operations charter to Colac.
I’m not sure what is in the water down in Geelong, but the boom gates at the North Shore Road / Station Street level crossing next to North Shore station seem to spend more time under cars than stopping them.
October 31, 2013
A broken boom gate at North Shore station. We now have police there making sure trains are safe to pass until its fixed #vline
Almost 200 peak-hour commuters were stuck at the station this morning as a Geelong-bound train stalled at North Shore. The first service to suffer was the 7.10am from Southern Cross Station to South Geelong.
August 17, 2017
Another day, another disruption on the Geelong line thanks to a car taking out the level crossing at North Shore
Damage to a local level crossing caused commuter chaos for those travelling on in and outbound Geelong VLine services this morning.
November 27, 2017
16:06 SCS – Waurn Ponds will terminate at Marshall due to late running caused by a damaged level crossing at North Shore. Customers wishing to continue their journey are asked to board the next available service.
Geelong Advertiser Trains cancelled, replaced with buses
V/Line trains on the Geelong line were halted for an hour on Wednesday night due to a faulty boom gate at North Shore and at least two trains were cancelled. Trains resumed just before 6pm but commuters were still reporting long delays.
But why?
Eight confirmed hits in six years – so why do so many motorists manage to take out the boom gates at North Shore Road?
The level crossing is on a curve.
With a ‘T’ intersection on the northern approach.
With motorists from Station Street approaching the crossing on an angle.
A tragedy at the North Shore rail crossing. A father and daughter on a horse and buggy colliding with a train. The remnants of the buggy are on the right hand side.
A distraught mother has spoken of her pain at witnessing her daughter’s death this morning as she was hit by a train.
Schoolgirl Sarah Stringer, 14, was running across the tracks at Geelong’s North Shore station when a V/Line express train slammed into her, killing her instantly.
Sarah, who was on her way to visit her grandparents in Melbourne, ran across the tracks because she was running late, but did not know the train was not stopping at North Shore.
What about removing the level crossing?
Way back in 1972 Neil Trezise, local member for Geelong North, questioned the progress made towards grade separating the level crossing:
GRADE SEPARATION AT NORTH SHORE LEVEL CROSSING.
(Question No. 813)
Mr. TREZISE (Geelong North) asked the Minister of Transport
With regard to the North Shore rail crossing at Geelong-
1. What is the present daily-
(a) road; and
(b) rail traffic figure?
2. When approval was given for grade separation works?
3. When it is expected that grade separation works will- (a) commence; and (b) be completed?
4. Whether plans or construction dates have been varied in recent years; if so, when and for what reasons?
Mr. WILCOX (Minister of Transport)
The answer is-
1.
(a) The Country Roads Board has advised that its last traffic count at the North Shore road level crossing was in February, 1968. At that time the average week-day volume of road traffic passing over the crossing was 3,471 vehicles per 24 hour day.
(b) The number of regularly scheduled trains passing over the crossing on weekdays is 58, exclusive of shunting movements. Special train movements would raise this figure as high as 75 trains daily in busy seasons.
2. Approval was given for grade separation works on 7th November, 1969.
3. The timing of the grade separation at North Shore road has been discussed by the Abolition of Level Crossings CommiHee and the committee has not recommended a commencing date at this time.
4. No.
Fast forward five decades, and it looks like that grade separation won’t be coming any time soon.
According to the ALCAM 2008 list, the North Shore Road / Station Street level crossing is the 126th most dangerous level crossing in Victoria – and the current State Government’s level crossing removal program doesn’t feature it, despite including a half dozen level crossings lower on the list.
Do you remember the days when paper tickets were the only way to travel on V/Line trains? Every Monday morning passengers would forget their ticket had expired over the weekend, so would need to queue up at staffed stations to by a new one.
At least that is one thing that Myki has fixed!
On the tram front, I snapped a yellow ‘Bumblebee’ trams at the corner of Bourke and Spencer Street.
Over a Royal Park I photographed a pair of non-air conditioned high floor Z3 class trams running on route 55, passing a recently completed platform stop.
In 2017 it was merged with route 8 to form route 58, with low floor and air conditioned trams now making an occasional appearance. I wonder how many more decades it will take until the Melbourne tram network is fully accessible?
Construction is always a theme, and this month at Footscray station work had started clearing space for the new station footbridge.
Closer to the city at Southern Cross Station ‘Media House’ – the new head office for The Age – was spanning the suburban tracks on the south side of Collins Street.
And the new ‘Yardmasters’ office was emerging from between the sidings at north end.
Down at Flinders Street Station signal box ‘A’ was being rebuilt.
But it wasn’t all new things being built – down at Winchelsea station on the Warrnambool line the crossing loop was being decomissioned.
Originally a location that permitted opposing freight and passengers trains to pass each other, it took until 2013 for a replacement loop to be opened at Warncoort, around 30 kilometres away.
February 2009 saw me take a mystery tour of Melbourne by train with Steamrail Victoria, heading east to Ashburton and north to Broadmeadows.
We passed over the suburban lines at Tottenham, since expanded to four tracks as part of the Regional Rail Link project.
And had a dinner break in the platform at Caulfield.
Before venturing to the end of the line at Stony Point for a nightcap.
At the Newport Workshops in Melbourne’s west I spotted a few interesting trains.
Down at Geelong I found the ‘AK cars’ inspection train parked for the night outside Geelong, after ensuring that the tracks of the Melbourne-Adelaide railway were up to scratch.
But even stranger was CityRail Endeavour railcar LE 2853 – normally seen ferrying commuters on the outskirts of Sydney, I found it in the middle of a freight train at North Melbourne station.
Down in Melbourne to be refurbished by Bombardier in Dandenong, which is only served by broad gauge trains, unlike the standard gauge used by CityRail trains.
As a result the train had to be lifted by cranes at the South Dynon railway workshops, transferred onto temporary broad gauge bogies, and then hauled by diesel locomotives as part of a larger train due to the lack of functioning brakes. Simples!
And we end at Geelong, where I spotted a double rainbow over the tracks.
