Melbourne Rail Plan 2O19-2O5o
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THE MELBOURNE RAIL PLAN 2O19-2O5O MOVING PEOPLE IN A CITY OF 8 MILLION RAIL FUTURES SUMMARY EDITION SEPTEMBER 2018 INSTITUTE INC. A0059839B THE MELBOURNE RAIL PLAN 1O KEY ELEMENTS Making the existing system and assets Developing new medium capacity 1. work better. 6. (including light rail) cross-suburban transit corridors. Creating a multi-modal grid network 2. of high frequency services. Connections to and between 7. National Employment Clusters and Completing high capacity rail links major activity centres. 3. to the CBD and providing seamless cross-city trunk routes. Redesigning the bus network to 8. effectively complement rail and trams. WHAT IS Maximising potential of the tram 4. network to provide middle and inner Strongly facilitating active suburbs to CBD connections, cross 9. transport (cycling and walking) suburban journeys and links to rail to and from public transport. THE interchanges. Improving accessibility of services Extending electrified rail coverage to 1O. to less able people meeting MELBOURNE 5. outer growth areas. DDA compliance. THIS PLAN FROM RADIAL TO GRID RAIL PLAN? WILL DELIVER: The keystone of the 6 major cross-city mass transit Melbourne Rail Plan rail routes and a dedicated THE MELBOURNE RAIL PLAN is a is to transform the Melbourne Airport rail link current radial network blueprint for the next 30 years of 8 extensions of rail into a connected electrification for Metro cross-city grid network. rail development in Melbourne. services to serve outer growth Melbourne’s train and tram but will take many years to fully suburbs networks evolved as a radial develop. Getting the network right The challenges of population growth require integrated multi-modal transport system for the future. system focussed on the CBD. is more important than choosing fundamental shifts in strategic transport policy and It shows how such development, through phased New connections to National But if Melbourne is to become between train, tram or bus modes. serious integration of transport and land use planning. significantly less car-dependent the investment, can significantly reduce Melbourne’s Employment Clusters and The effectiveness of a grid network radial network must be transformed Major Activity Centres is highlighted by the current Public transport services have increased in recent years massive car dependency and benefit the city’s into a connected cross-city grid situation, in which: but population growth has been faster. liveability, economic performance, social fabric and network. 5 new cross-CBD tram routes 88% of the area and 92% of the environmental sustainability. A well structured grid network Improved rail services as part of an integrated transport population of Melbourne’s inner with friendly interchanges and policy can play a very significant role in terms of the These outcomes also require other complementary 3 cross-suburban non-CBD area (where there is a partial frequent service levels will growth and development of Melbourne, consistent policies and programs. In particular, Government needs grid network) is covered by high tram routes maximise the range of places one capacity (rail) public transport. with the objectives of the State Government’s Plan to take a strong strategic lead in planning policy; and can reach with just one transfer Melbourne and the Transport Integration Act. new mechanisms found for funding public transport. 20 cross-suburban via CBD and be an attractive alternative to 41% of the area and 54% of the tram routes a car trip. population of Melbourne’s middle The Melbourne Rail Plan presents a strategy for rail The Melbourne Rail Plan seeks to strike the right balance area (which has a limited grid The ideal spacing between parallel based transport modes within the context of a fully between ambitious and conservative approaches. network) is covered by high 13 extensions of existing tram routes in the grid is about 1km, capacity (rail) public transport. routes so no-one needs to walk more than 500m to catch a service. Just 4% of the area and 24% of PO Box 1257 This plan has been prepared by Rail Futures Incorporated in the public interest. 15 potential Medium Capacity The huge area that Melbourne the population of Melbourne’s CARLTON VIC 3053 Rail Futures Inc. is an independent non-partisan group formed to advocate Transit routes covers is a challenge to achieving outer area (which has no grid railfutures.org.au cost effective rail and intermodal solutions for public transport and freight a grid network, but our flat terrain network) is covered by high and grid form of roads provides capacity public transport... based on sound commercial, economic and social reasoning. Rail Futures This Plan will be supported by A0059839B opportunity to retrofit public Yet this area contains 44% of RAIL FUTURES members include experienced rail professionals, engineers and economists. SmartBus routes and rail/tram transport. Transitioning from a Melbourne’s population. INSTITUTE INC. COPYRIGHT ©2018: Rail Futures Incorporated A0059839B feeder bus services. radial to a grid system can be done While planning policies propose rebalancing growth from Melbourne to regional Victoria, population projections for 2050 Melbourne show an even higher proportion of the State’s population than now. Rail Futures InterCity proposals address this issue. WHY WE NEED See www.railfutures.org.au THE MELBOURNE RAIL PLAN POPULATION GROWTH MELBOURNE’S TRANSPORT CRISIS THE KEY CHALLENGES Plan Melbourne seeks to expand central Melbourne with major urban renewal precincts, re-shape greater FOR TRANSPORT PLANNING ARE: Until the 1950s Melbourne’s urban expansion followed Melbourne’s massive urban spread and population growth Melbourne from a monocentric to a polycentric city train and tram routes. Since then most of the growth has not been matched with an equivalent expansion of • Maintaining personal mobility across Greater through development of innovation and employment has been in areas generally remote from rail and tram the transport network. Symptoms of the transport ma- Melbourne for a much larger population, when the clusters and activity centres, continue extensive outer lines. Melbourne’s population has reached 5 million laise include worsening congestion, long journey to work available road space will be unable to accommodate urban corridor development; and encourage urban and current growth rate indicates that the most recent times, poor access to jobs, car dependent new suburbs, many more vehicles than it does today. Autonomous intensification across the established metropolitan area. forecasts of 6 million by 2031 and 8 million by 2050 will along with consequential social, health and environmen- vehicles will have a place but cannot provide a mass While planning policy encourages residential intensification be reached sooner. Melbourne will displace Sydney as tal impacts. Most new outer urban growth is occurring transit solution. near public transport, retail policy encourages ongoing proliferation of car-based centres, resulting in further Australia’s largest city and be comparable with Paris, in areas without adequate or planned provision of public • Retrofitting an integrated Public Transport network increased demand for car-based travel. London and New York. This scale and pace of growth transport. Most freeways and major arterial roads are at into Melbourne’s existing built form in ways that will is unprecedented since the Gold Rush and one of the or near capacity and yet only around 12% of all current significantly reduce car dependency Current growth area planning perpetuates the pattern highest rates of growth in the Western world. Much of trips are made by public transport. Strong population and of car-based, relatively low-density detached housing the growth will be in the outer growth corridors, with the employment growth in central Melbourne and inner sub- • Maximising opportunities for Public Transport to be separated from retail and other services with little local western and northern regions alone accommodating urbs are placing severe strain on the radial rail and road a significant city shaping influence on Melbourne’s employment. Without specific provision for high quality 3.5 million people by 2050 or sooner. But growth has networks. Melbourne’s trams, carrying around 85% of the future development public transport links to rail stations and major activity also returned to the inner and middle suburbs through passenger numbers who travel by train, are overcrowd- • Ensuring public transport services are accessible to centres, ongoing outer urban development will further isolate the 1.5 million new residents located there from rapid urban densification, straining an already heavily ed on many routes. Our trams are among the world’s all travellers employment opportunities and condemn them to used radial train and tram network. slowest, operating well below their potential. Meanwhile, Our transport system has failed to match population ongoing car dependency on increasingly congested roads. patronage on the bus network is declining. Much of the growth... but business as usual is simply unsustainable. transport infrastructure and vehicles are not compliant with Disability Discrimination Act specifications. A long-term integrated transport plan that extends beyond NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT State election cycles is essential to maintain Melbourne’s AND INNOVATION CLUSTERS A long-term integrated transport plan is essential liveability and economic competitiveness. Public Intensified polycentric development