rather slow I know, a lot of it runs on quite dilapidated track & signal
and they haven't actually updated schedule time to reflect faster trains
They've been building freeways for 40 years and neglecting the railways and they're determined to now repeat this pattern even as patronage surges

>>1080462

You miss out the train driver union (and other unions) are holding the service up as a ransom.

lol@ batman station.
>bucket list of places to visit.

>>1080462

And the fact the local government wasted a lot of cash (including a fuck-ton of cash just for promotion) on brand new ticketing system that it could have got off the shelf for about a tenth of the price.

All that for something that getting replace because the spare parts for the old system are no longer getting manufactured.

>>1080503
So its the train drivers union (and other unions) that made every state government over the past 40 years build 10 freeways? And now want to build even more?
Its the train drivers union (and every other union) that made every state government over the past 40 years neglect funding for the railways maintenance and upkeep?
Its the train drivers union (and other unions) that is responsible for the governments Lonie Report in 1981 that quite literally tried to kill public transportation in Victoria by advocating shutting down ALL regional railways, 5 commuter railways, and half the trams routes?
This "one problem fixes all: blame unions" meme is like a broken record.

In 2007 the 39km EastLink toll freeway built in Melbourne cost 2.5 billion
In 2007 the 70km Mandurah inter-urban railway line built in Perth in Western Australia cost 1.5 billion
Rail makes economic sense.

this thread is now about how op is too poor to drive.

>>1080528
named for John Batman, founded Melbourne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Batman
Its just an island platform and weatherboard building, dont bother

>Scale 5km
>5km=3.106855961185 miles

That only works when Ausfalia has few large cities

>>1080569
yes, Myki cost over a billion and was 3 years late
Metcard works fine. That money could have completely modernized one of the existing railway lines or built one of the needed
>>1080645
A bus through my suburban neighbourhood will take me to the train station in about 5 minutes or I can walk via mainstreet in half an hour or a bike trail in ~20 minutes.
Once there other buses can take me to many other places in the area or I can get a train and go nearly anywhere in Melbourne.
Why would I go to the bother of getting a car and everything that entails?

>>1080672
this is not about inter-city or high-speed rail
this is about transportation INSIDE a city and its surrounding suburbia and rural fringe, it doesn't matter if you have 1 city or 100 cities
And their lengths are listed in miles so why did you need to point out the scales?

>complaining about suburban sprawl
>privatise trains. twice
>buses run every 40minutes
>no public transport after 1am on weekends
>night riders every 2 hours (oi mayte want to get stabbed cunt?)

>>1080630

You right the train drivers union (and other unions) did none of that stuff.
But they are responsible for not making the trains run of time, by sending too many train to be "repaired" (eg internal stickers are loose) so there is not enough unit for the system to use which leaded to train delayed.

>>1080796
There aren't enough trains full stop.
They're running with something like 6.4% spare capacity during the peak times when you should have at least 10%
The Comeng trains do not cope well in sustained temperatures above 35 degrees celsius
The Siemen trains have brakes that tend to not work, at all.
These are not the fault of the train drivers union (or other unions) - their threat to blackban Siemens trains if their problems persist is in the interest of public safety, not securing some perks.
The Comeng fault is because of design limitations in the late 1970s that have not since bee modernized
The Siemens fault is because they are lemons and should never have been bought.
The lack of enough trains is the fault of the government and private operator not taking action when patronage began to rise in 2004/2005

>>1080790
Transport Minister Lynne Kosky admitted in 2009 that privatization had not saved one cent, and then went on to spruke for renewed privatization!
So deregulation privatization free market fags why would you persist with something that has not generated results?

Does the train network allow you to quickly leave Melbourne?

If so, I endorse it.

Jesus, it's a whole city with no reason to exist.

>>1080912
what reason does any city have to exist?

>>1080912
remember, this is the same kid that thinks we should build rail to places like detroit

>>1080948

Bleak City fag detected.

>>1080728
Thats still a lot of land area to cover if you want to talk about individual cities

THIS THREAD AGAIN
hey op I see you are using miles instead of KM that's a step forward...

>>1080951
well one problem America has is that the rolling stock for what public transportation it does have is built overseas in Japan, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, or Czech Republic.
Why is this so? The workers there aren't paid & living at the level of a Bangladeshi textile worker, those factories aren't sweatshops, so it should cost the same or be cheaper to manufacture locally.
And why should all those closed auto plants be left to rot and their workers left unemployed? Retool them to build the trains America needs.

And a lot of them are where?

If America didnt have niggers I would completely support commuter trains. I dont want to be on some train where a poor ass fucker was sleeping and pissed himself.

>>1080969
20-40 miles from city centre terminal to suburban/rural fringe
numerous railways radiating out

>>1080981
well as it says he wanted to explain it for the Americans
but using miles instead of kilometers is a step backwards

>>1080992
.......

kid, just go to bed, really. you really don't understand the composition of the american rust belt, or even america in general

at which stations can you pick up a dime bag?

>>1081001
How will people commute to work after the left the train?

>>1081017
those auto plants were retooled in the 1940s to build military equipment
no reason they cant be retooled again for civil purposes this time

>>1081017
Few understand the complexity and size of America

>>1081020
Frankston is the junkies connection

>>1081031
yes, but his ignorance is astounding

>>1081030
Do you honestly believe profit can be made for rail systems in America? A die hard country for individual wealth? Does it sound like they are ready to share transportation?

>>1080462
>>1080503
Sounds like what happened in the US 50 years ago with the interstate highway system. Amtrak was made to make up for this but it still seems to have the baffling ability to be completely shitty.

>>1081031
since this is not about inter-city or high-speed rail, as I believe it has already been stated, size is not an issue
Also its not exactly a short distance between Australias cities - the XPT train takes 12 hours from Melbourne to Sydney. We mostly fly it.

A city will never have trains if it isnt planned for ahead of time. Using eminent domain in America is already hard enough for roads to do. Couldnt imagine if they tried doing it for trains, even if the end result would actually be profitable.

Hell look at Detroit's "people mover" (shitty monorail), it was suppose to allow for outer residential access to the inner city jobs. All it did was allow for out of city visitors to park in the outskirts of the city for cheap and use this dirty thing to go to Joe Louis Arena (which is going to be closed down in the coming years) , Greek Town Casino or Cobo Hall.

>>1080992
all those countries you've mentioned are the size of individual states... Some might be slightly bigger but the vast majority aren't. America is xbox huge. I hope you begin to comprehend this notion.

>>1081030
there is literally zero incentive to do that. the rust belt is the rust belt for a reason.

>>1081045
Oh yes, the 1969 Melbourne Transportation Plan which is the source of those 10 freeways over the past 40 years was a dream for the auto industry, I forget the name but the consulting firm that drew it up was American.
And that Lonie Report that tried to kill public transportation in Victoria, headed by Murray Lonie - a former General Motors executive.
The one silver lining is that Melbourne kept its trams when every other city in the country shut them down in through the 1950s & 1960s, at the urging of you-know-who.

>>1081048
You understand that the U.S has a variety of geophysical makeup?

>>1081051
grow with the city, you cant really know in advance how its going to develop

>>1081054
What has that got to do with it? They build trains and streetcars/lightrail for America, America does not build its own - what does what you point out have to do with anything at all?

>>1081094
That is the point. People also forget, that the very connection of the west coast and east coast with a rail system wasnt about getting people from one side to another it was to move goods. What happened in other countries is they utilized their rails for more than just goods, America did not. And most likely it wont ever happen.

>>1081109
Lots of taxpayer money goes into the projects

>>1081119
Why the u.s does air transportation

>>1081051
could put some on freeways, a railway on a freeway lane will be carrying a lot more people per hour than the cars would be
then flyovers up to a causeway or down to a tunnel to get on/off
>>1081093
most land on this planet is, whats your point?

>>1081123
and lots more tax payers would be employed building locally!

guess what trainfag, the us is broke. in fact, we're heading towards financial apocalypse. if you ever want to see trains, it won't be for decades

cry more.

>>1081162
out of control military spending & lack of universal healthcare
also want to rejuvenate your economy, build the public transportation networks & rolling stock the country desperately needs - millions would be employed

>>1081151
immigrants are the ones who take the jobs

>>1081176
1. i'm canadian. don't want universal health care again
2. it's going away. all of it. the military. social security. medicare. all of it.

that's right, we're out of money, and we're trillions in the hole, it's one big facade that the most heavily armed populace on the face of the planet is starting to wake up to

not to mention that australians (and canadians) are a bunch of poorfags anyay, i came to the us for a reason

>>1081189
Really?
Some Mexican farm hand is going to know how to work at a heavy industrial assembly line?

>>1081199
you're a liar

>>1081146
After the train ride then what?They going get taxi or what?

>>1081199
>>1081199

trolling is a art

>>1081214
trois rivieres qc.

been to queensland btw. wages low, taxes high, living example. kind of like three rivers, except everyone spoke english

>>1081208
Well of course they will at below the minimum wage

>>1081217
sure have a few hundred car spaces at the commuter railway station
but more importantly a bus depot with numerous buses going through the surrounding suburban neighbourhoods, malls, business parks, between stations, university campuses, anything else in the area, etc

>>1081234
>Queensland
well see thats the problem, we call it the "Deep North" for a reason.

LOL
ACROBAT AIDS
LOL

love this guy. love him.

>>1081199

How are they 'poor'? Both countries have a standard of living on par or better when compared to the US. I don't even have to mention how much better off Australia is economically.

>>1081247
>A bus through my suburban neighbourhood will take me to the train station in about 5 minutes or I can walk via mainstreet in half an hour or a bike trail in ~20 minutes.
>Once there other buses can take me to many other places in the area or I can get a train and go nearly anywhere in Melbourne.

>>1081267
>>1081278
Shouldn't you be posting Holdens or Fords?
And preferably Utes?

>>1081247
The problem is that nobody wants to pay 20$ U.S a day for transportation by taxi.

>my face when australia doesn't have a free market to help fix their train problems

>>1081292
Pretty sure Mustangs are Fords.
Utes are horrid, anyway. Too small, and the frames and drivetrains are junk.

>>1081303
>the free market will fix everything

Funny how the train services have been in decline here ever since they were privatised.

>>1081247

In Melbourne, I can do everything by train.

America is in the shitter because they don't have Melbourne trains.

>>1081303
>my face when it was privatized in 1999 and again in 2010 and it was worse than before

>>1081303
sounds like a flowergirl response

>>1081328

You come ride trains in Melbourne.

>>1081331

Not a Melbourne train.

>>1081305
>Utes are horrid, anyway. Too small, and the frames and drivetrains are junk.
thats just un-Australian

>>1081334
Who wants to visit a country worse than Canada?

>>1081330
Generally trains are one of those things governments do well. Look at the US, after they denationalised the trains after WW1 there was an uproar becasue it was better than under the rail bosses.

you could at least post the V8 Interceptor

Sweet, time to crank some hilltop hoods and tag me some trains

>>1081352
Or look at Melbournes trains, under government control they were pretty shit at times as has been explained here.
But with enough effort the people of Melbourne could render change - agitate for improvements, elect representatives to carry out their policies, etc. Too bad we didn't.
Privatized? No such luck. It is the status quo wrought in stone.

so all the haters can do is insist it cant be done, or display their own ignorance

>>1081556
No, just Australians being naive

>>1081927
what is there to be naive about regarding the practical reality of public transportation?

Met an unbelievably hot chick from Melbourne once, coulda tapped, didn't because of time constraints. Still talk to her online, actually really cool chick.

>>1082500
You didn't have two minutes to spare?

two American girls got on the train at Glenferrie a few months back (Swinburne university is right next to it) and sat cross from me
one was a Spic with a good body but terrible acne, the other a terribly obese Nigger who had to sit side ways to get into the seats and still managed to take up two seats
They spent the train ride talking about working as interns for Congressmen - wut?

You're all just jealous we got the worlds largest Tram network and you got the Great American Streetcar Scandal