No airport rail line for Melbourne

[Bruce Tuncks]

Wish you were right Bex, but Australia doesn't do any manufacturing these days, except for Jabirus.

 

Everybody else works in security or aged care.

 

I wish Dick Smith would stand for parliament. Without him, there is only Pauline Hanson.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Australia is a very wealthy place and can afford it.But there are so many barriers that make it difficult, from Unions, Conservationists, Farmers, Work, Health and Safety, Political Parties that aren't in long enough, it just gets "too hard".

its just the squatocracy want a fortune for the land, in china the gov takes what it needs

 

 

[SDQDI]

Wish you were right Bex, but Australia doesn't do any manufacturing these days, except for Jabirus.

But aren't even Jabiru sourcing more and more things from overseas?

 

Aussie manufacturing is disgracefully absent but we can only blame ourselves the consumers.

 

 

[Yenn]

You can't blame "us" the consumers. Even if we do want to but quality goods it is just about impossible. Bunnings have presided over the demise of all its opposition and where I used to be able to get quality, iy is all gone now. Bunnings have discontinued some of the lines of better product they used to carry.

 

Where can I get a decent pair of walking boots? All the old brand names are now rubbish and fall apart in 2 years because they have Polyurethane in them.

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

You are right Yenn, but I have to confess to buying the cheap stuff.

 

 

[turboplanner]

You can't blame "us" the consumers. Even if we do want to but quality goods it is just about impossible. Bunnings have presided over the demise of all its opposition and where I used to be able to get quality, iy is all gone now. Bunnings have discontinued some of the lines of better product they used to carry.Where can I get a decent pair of walking boots? All the old brand names are now rubbish and fall apart in 2 years because they have Polyurethane in them.

I'm the same, I have to hunt for good boots, and have now resorted to second hand steel tools where the steel comes from Sweden, Sheffield or Germany.

It would be more correct to say that you can blame SOME of the consumers - about 60% in my experience. These people will not look further than the ticket price, and you can see the results in the number of trash car makes coming on to the Australian market, spray guns which don't even work for the first job, washing machines with a two year life cycle, TVs the same etc.

 

Unfortunately, with the small Australian consumer market, a company like Bunnings can "crash" the industry, putting the higher quality suppliers below the break even point, and sending them out of business.

 

Products like Sidchrome tools and PBR brakes are just a memory.

 

PBR just reminded me of the trailer Master Cylinders that sat out in the weather for a decade or two and still worked. The last three generic branded master cylinders I bought all failed to make 12 months without either seizing or leaking.

 

This has created a different cost profile for us:

 

In some cases it works, such as buying a drill from Supercheap for less than $50.00 and throwing it away at the end of its life, buying a new one vs trying to repair a more expensive drill for $250.00.

 

That has created a secondary problem where a lot of repairers have gone out of business, and parts businesses no longer carry $2.00 washers, but sell you $80.00 sub assemblies instead.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Wish you were right Bex, but Australia doesn't do any manufacturing these days, except for Jabirus.

You missed the sarcasm with GM, Ford, Toyota, Electrolux and a few others packing up and leaving.

 

You are right Yenn, but I have to confess to buying the cheap stuff.

Yup, we all do it, price is the most powerful thing out there.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

<snip>

Products like Sidchrome tools and PBR brakes are just a memory.

 

<snip>

 

.

Blimey! Sidchrome is gone? I had my old Sidchromes out yesterday thinking when I am in Aus, I will get some more - they are way better than what I can find here (at most retail chains, anyway)

 

Looks like I'll have to make do or find specialty retailers that do good stuff

 

 

[kgwilson]

Yep, ya canna handa mana granda spanna. I keep mine locked up in case the tools mafia put out a contract to get them

 

 

[Prometheus_au]

IIRC the Victorian government cannot build a rail link to YMML without opening itself up to a lawsuit.

 

Transurban's contract with the Kennet Liberal Government precluded any competition to it's virtual monopoly. So it won't happen in the next 40 years.

 

As for unions being a block to projects like this the RTBU and the CFMEU and the TWU are all for it.

 

The only block was put there by a Liberal government kowtowing to vested corporate interests.

 

 

[Kununurra]

Don't know why anyone would want to live in Melbourne anywayone day people will realise that in regional vic they can buy a near new house for under $500k and travel 15 km to work in 15 minutes and then park all day for nothing

ps also only takes 10 minutes to get to the local airfield

Not many cities in Australia where you can park for free they must be doing something good then

 

 

[coljones]

Too much at stake to build a railway, too many rorts going on in the Govt & big business run the country anyway!The biggest issue though is not the money to build it or the million years it would take union run Co's it's the infrastructure that is needed to support a rail link. Lets look at an Eg. You live in one of the Ghetto's that have sprung up in SE Melb (there's plenty to choose form) & you want to get to Tulla for yr 2 hr flight to the Gold Coast for a 2 week holiday departing at 8am. You need to be at the airport an hour before at least. That's 7am arrive at the drome. You need to work backwards from the rail station at Tulla to figure out when to leave home. Taking into account you have to get to the nearest railway station either by taxi, friend or take yr own car & find parking for 2 weeks. Load all yr luggage on-board a packed commuter train (sounds like fun...NOT!) Then catch the train (assuming it's not cancelled or late good luck there!) into Melb CBD & connect with the train that runs out to the airport all the time lugging yr luggage around & possibly a couple of young kids. You finally get on the airport train which is running late or you missed the one you had panned t catch as you where late getting in from the Ghetto. When you get to Tulla drag yr luggage to the check in counter along with hundreds of others all at the same time.................oh sorry you booked with Tigers (Silly you) & you are 3 mins late before the fight closes...........welcome to Melb's airport rail link completed in 2030!

Oh ye of little faith!! The train to Sydney airport works ok. The biggest complaint is the airport station access fee which can make it cheaper to hack a cab to the city if there are more than 2 people. The biggest money spinner at an airport is the parking - The operators wouldn't give a rat's if there were no planes at all.

 

 

[facthunter]

I'm sceptical as to whether a rail link to an airport has much relevance anymore. People come from everywhere to get to Tullamarine. How's a fixed railway link on the surface from a designated departure place with a few pickups with the super high land acquisition costs and associated chaos about displacing houses and trees etc, a solution? It's now a political game so what hope of a reasonable solution? Turnbull is playing games with the dough he's withholding. Victoria can run it's own affairs and priorities. It's a state matter Malcom.

 

 

[red750]

Part of the problem is that the airport in locked in on 3 sides by residential development. The only direction where the line could be built without buying up a lot of houses, or tunnelling, is from the west, as a branch line from the Sunbury line. The problem with that is that it is the opposite side of the airport to the terminal.

 

 

 

[Pearo]

I'm sceptical as to whether a rail link to an airport has much relevance anymore. People come from everywhere to get to Tullamarine. How's a fixed railway link on the surface from a designated departure place with a few pickups with the super high land acquisition costs and associated chaos about displacing houses and trees etc, a solution? It's now a political game so what hope of a reasonable solution? Turnbull is playing games with the dough he's withholding. Victoria can run it's own affairs and priorities. It's a state matter Malcom.

For business travel, I prefer the sydney airport link over a taxi. Melbourne on the other hand, is a pain in the arse. You have no choice but to be stuck in traffic. The transit lanes in Melbourne rarely seem to be enforced by the police and subsequently there is just as much traffic in them as there is on the other roads.

 

 

[Peter Anson]

Part of the problem is that the airport in locked in on 3 sides by residential development. The only direction where the line could be built without buying up a lot of houses, or tunnelling, is from the west, as a branch line from the Sunbury line. The problem with that is that it is the opposite side of the airport to the terminal.

If you have a look at Tullamarine on Google Earth you will see that there are already two different rail lines that run within 5 kilometres of the airport. The Broadmeadows line could be extended via a 6 or 7 km loop through open land under the eastern approach. There is also a freight line which goes through Footscray which could be extended from the south which would cause disruption to a large industrial area. An 8km branch could be built off the Sunbury line going around the southern side of the airfield through open land. It's all possible but just keeps getting put in the too hard basket.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Too much at stake to build a railway, too many rorts going on in the Govt & big business run the country anyway!The biggest issue though is not the money to build it or the million years it would take union run Co's it's the infrastructure that is needed to support a rail link. Lets look at an Eg. You live in one of the Ghetto's that have sprung up in SE Melb (there's plenty to choose form) & you want to get to Tulla for yr 2 hr flight to the Gold Coast for a 2 week holiday departing at 8am. You need to be at the airport an hour before at least. That's 7am arrive at the drome. You need to work backwards from the rail station at Tulla to figure out when to leave home. Taking into account you have to get to the nearest railway station either by taxi, friend or take yr own car & find parking for 2 weeks. Load all yr luggage on-board a packed commuter train (sounds like fun...NOT!) Then catch the train (assuming it's not cancelled or late good luck there!) into Melb CBD & connect with the train that runs out to the airport all the time lugging yr luggage around & possibly a couple of young kids. You finally get on the airport train which is running late or you missed the one you had panned t catch as you where late getting in from the Ghetto. When you get to Tulla drag yr luggage to the check in counter along with hundreds of others all at the same time.................oh sorry you booked with Tigers (Silly you) & you are 3 mins late before the fight closes...........welcome to Melb's airport rail link completed in 2030!

This is precisely what happens at other progressive cities around the world - they use the urban transport infrastructure to get to the required station and go from there. I see no reason why Melbourne can't achieve the same thing. What this highlights is a common problem emerging here as well; there is not enough investment in infrastructure to handle increased housing density - including improvements in transport infrastructure. But I see the Gov't's attempts at doing it on the cheap haven't quite worked...