Archive for March, 2021

Photos from ten years ago: March 2011

Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series – this time it is March 2011. Up in the air Who remembers the day of big events and flying? March 2011 saw the Australian International Airshow held at Avalon, with Tiger Airways still flying into the airport. V/Line ran extra trains to Lara station. […]

When is a platform tram stop not accessible?

Last week I had a look at tram stops that are triply inaccessible – where the only way to leave the tram stop is a set of stairs. But there is another feature of tram stop platforms that render them inaccessible – inconsistent platform heights. A tale of legacy platform stops Melbourne has a number […]

Melbourne’s triply inaccessible tram stops

The inaccessibility of Melbourne’s tram network is well known, thanks to hundreds of high floor trams still making up the fleet and modern low floor trams still using old fashioned street level tram stops. However there is a handful of tram stops that have a third level of inaccessibility – the only way to access […]

Upgrading Melbourne’s railway network in the 1970s

Recently I came across a 1973 Bureau of Transport Economics report titled “Review of Public Transport Investment Proposals for Australian Capital Cities“, which listed 16 upcoming public transport projects for Melbourne. But five decades later, how many of these projects actually went ahead? South Kensington – Footscray railway quadruplication In 1973 work on this project […]

When temporary platforms trump permanent stations

Back in 2015 work on removing the Main Road level crossing in St Albans was in full swing, and I noticed a curious situation – the ‘temporary’ St Albans platform 2 was better constructed than many railway stations in Melbourne! The good The platform was smooth and level, with plenty of room for passengers. With […]