TransitTube Blog

Few infrastructure programs in Victoria's recent history have generated as much debate about value for money as the Level Crossing Removal Project. Since the Andrews government launched it in 2014 with a promise to remove 50 level crossings, the program has grown — first to 75, then to 85, then to 110 — and the cost has grown along with it. We are now talking about a program worth well over $20 billion in total. So: is it worth it? The instinctive criticism from some quarters is that the money could be better spent on new rail lines or more frequent services. But I think this critique, while not entirely wrong, misses a lot of what the LXRP is actually delivering. Let me try to make an honest assessment. What the Program Actually Does The first thing to understand is that "level crossing removal" is a bit of a misnomer in terms of what the project actually delivers. Yes, it removes dangerous intersections where cars and trains meet. But a lot of the value is in what ...

The Metro Tunnel is finally open, after years of construction upheaval across the CBD, and by most accounts the early signs are promising. A new spine through the city, five new stations, and genuine capacity relief for the overcrowded Sunbury and Cranbourne/Pakenham lines. It is, by any measure, one of the most significant pieces of transport infrastructure Melbourne has built in a generation. But even just after trains have started rolling through the new tunnel, the conversation has already shifted. What comes next? And more specifically: when does Melbourne need Metro Tunnel 2? It's a question worth taking seriously, because the answer has major implications for how we plan, fund, and sequence the city's rail network over the next few decades. What Is Metro Tunnel 2, Actually? Before we can answer the "when" question, we need to be clear about what Metro Tunnel 2 actually means, because it gets used loosely to refer to a few different things. The version tha...

  March 2026 | Melbourne Rail, Politics, Western Suburbs There's a particular kind of frustration that Melton commuters know better than almost anyone else in Melbourne. It's the frustration of watching a city pour billions into infrastructure — tunnels, superhubs, orbital rail loops, while your line still runs diesel trains that share tracks with Ballarat-bound regional services, fighting for space on a corridor that was never really designed to carry the weight it now does. Every morning, thousands of people squeeze into a V/Line train at Melton station and hope for the best. Meanwhile, the electrification that was promised to them in 2018 keeps drifting further into the future like a mirage that retreats every time you get close. I'm going to be direct: the Melton line electrification needs to happen, it needs to happen soon, and the excuses for why it hasn't are wearing thin. This isn't a fringe opinion from a transit obsessive screaming into the void, it's ...

 Back in 2018, when the Andrews Government opened the Mernda line extension, there was a real sense of occasion up in Melbourne's north. After years of watching the rest of the city get train upgrades, the communities around Doreen, Mernda and South Morang finally had proper rail access. Politicians were photographed grinning on platforms. Locals were — rightly — relieved. But here we are, several years later. The new stations have been open long enough for the novelty to wear off, and it's worth asking the slightly awkward follow-up question: did the extension actually fix the problem it set out to solve? The short answer is yes — partly. The more interesting answer is complicated. What was actually built Trains began running on the 8km extension from South Morang to Mernda in August 2018, with three new state-of-the-art stations opened at Middle Gorge, Hawkstowe and Mernda. The $600 million project was delivered six months ahead of schedule, which, in the grand tradition ...

 Every Melbourne train nerd has a soft spot for the Alamein line. It's short, it's a little weird, and it has this slightly forlorn energy — like that one colleague who keeps getting passed over for promotion despite clearly being capable. Riding it feels a bit like discovering a hidden level in a video game. You board at Flinders Street, blink, and somehow you're in quiet leafy suburbia and the train has run out of track. But here's the thing: the Alamein line's smallness isn't an accident. It's not a quirk. It's the result of over a century of bad luck, cancelled plans, political indifference and infrastructure decisions that made sense at the time and look absolutely baffling now. Let me explain.

Okay, I'll be honest — for years I was one of those people rolling their eyes every time the Metro Tunnel came up in conversation. Another multi-billion dollar infrastructure project, years of Swanston Street looking like a post-apocalyptic wasteland, trams diverted, detours everywhere. Was it really going to be worth it?