Rail Line
What are your ideas and views on the full grade separation that can be achieved by undergrounding the rail line? The underground rail line provides multiple opportunities to increase densities and uses while improving connections to the centre of Coburg from the western neighbourhoods.
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Coburger Comment 1 24 Jun 2009, 12:13 PM
The grade separation is obviously a very expensive project - but the traffic bottle neck around Sydney Rd/Bell St is just shocking - and not just for locals. For Coburg's - and Melbourne's - future a solution should be seriously considered.
Chris Comment 2 30 Jun 2009, 2:53 PM
I may be on my own on this question but I am against grade seperation of the railway line for two major reasons.
One, the cost of the seperation is prohibitive and as someone who believes in public transport and excpanding public transport options this money would be much better spent in delivering transport options to those who currently have none.
Second, grade seperation would have a negative impact on Sydney Road and the operation of the number 19 tram. By providing a grade seperation you will be encouraging more people to travel by car on Bell Street. This will mean that more time must be allocated to cars travelling east west along Bell St and less for Sydney Road traffic. This will necessarily reduce the frequency of our tram service which owuld be the worst possible outcome in my mind.
Making the concept plan contingent on grade seperation would be in my view, lazy. it should be rethought.
I may be on my own on this question but I am against grade seperation of the railway line for two major reasons.One, the cost of the seperation is prohibitive and as someone who believes in public transport and excpanding public transport options this money would be much better spent in delivering transport
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coburgnetwork Comment 3 2 Jul 2009, 2:02 PM
Why hasn't the option of putting Bell St underground being considered instead of the rail line? If you look at the general topography of the intersection it is at the plateau of a hill. If a tunnel were put in to bypass Sydney Rd from Drummond St to somewhere past the train line (close to the freeway entrance?) then Bell St traffic would reduce greatly. There would be only local traffic, connection from North to South of Bell St would be greatly enhanced, health and safety of school, municipal offices, childcare, traders, shop-goers and residents would be improved by reducing traffic risks and pollution. It seems to be a pretty clear land grab by developers with no real basis in overall impact to the community. Also, quite importantly, would an underground train station feel safer to public transport users? Not to me. I encourage the reduction of road traffic, but the cars underground and keep the wide open spaces for people, pedestrians, public trans and bicycles.
Why hasn't the option of putting Bell St underground being considered instead of the rail line? If you look at the general topography of the intersection it is at the plateau of a hill. If a tunnel were put in to bypass Sydney Rd from Drummond St to somewhere past the train line (close to the freeway
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randall Comment 4 2 Jul 2009, 2:29 PM
To further the comment from coburgnetwork.....Why isnt the option of diverting bell street as an underpass being provided as a seperate question in THIS survey. Clearly level crossings are an issue for both safety and traffic. However as there are more cars/trucks etc than trains (ie traffic), to achieve the pedestrian utpoia that the coburb 2020 watercolour renderings suggest, it would seem appropriate to have a bell st underpass up for consideration.
Queenotisblue Comment 5 7 Jul 2009, 2:30 PM
This proposal is a furphy. I wonder if the developers and Moreland Council have had discussions with Vic Roads and the Department of Transport about this proposal? And if they have, what was the answer? Given that the State Government has only just agreed to and funded the rail seperation for Springvale Road, the Bell Street one is not going to happen for a long, long time. It's not on the state government's horizon, it doesn't appear in any current policy documents.
Angry of Coburg Comment 5.1 7 Jul 2009, 3:44 PM
Removed by moderator - duplicate comment
Angry of Coburg Comment 6 7 Jul 2009, 3:45 PM
Undergrounding the Upfield line is a lazy policy response thought up by people with no ideas beyond maximising their profits. The real blight to the Coburg activity area is the traffic sewer along Bell Street, especially the heavy vehicles. A better response for grade separation would be to underground Bell Street between Merri Creek and the Tullamarine/Citylink on-ramp. Undergrounding Bell Street would allow greatly expanded rail operations on the Upfield line and remove the major pedestrian barrier of crossing Bell Street.
I bet most people don't know the traffic light cycle at Sydney Road/Bell Street is 4 minutes. That means if you miss the green man, you've got 4 minutes to wait for a safe chance to cross. Not very good if you're trying to catch a bus, train or tram.
Undergrounding the Upfield line is pure aspirational thinking from Moreland Council. It'll never happen. But if VicRoads could be interested in a faster run for trucks along Bell Street to the freeways/tollways, then that is within the realm of the possible. Are you listening Peter Brown?...
Undergrounding the Upfield line is a lazy policy response thought up by people with no ideas beyond maximising their profits. The real blight to the Coburg activity area is the traffic sewer along Bell Street, especially the heavy vehicles. A better response for grade separation would be to underground
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Bruny boy Comment 7 10 Jul 2009, 7:43 AM
This is such a stupid idea - where do you start? This is so anti-public transport and pro roads that it is hard to believe it is coming from a progressive council.
Council wants to put all the cost and effort on the public transport system so that car drives are not inconvenienced. How progressive is that?
Whp pays for it? We are talking about a project that will cost 100s of Millions and inconvenience train travelers with no benefit to public transport.
Since trains can't tolerate a steep gradient you need to dig 1.5 km each side of Coburg station. It will be a cut and cover project - three kilometres long.
Where is the cost benefit analysis? What about a local community impact assessment?
It will inconvenience commuters for the 18 months of construction. It will not increase the number of train users. This is a fantasy and detracts from the real issues around public transport. The Upfield line is one of the smallest lines in terms of passengers while the Sydney Road tram is one of the busiest. Put more money and effort into Sydney Rd and the tram line.
It would be cheaper to build a road underpass or even underground a part of Bell St. It will solve the problem of the Bell St bottleneck and leave public transport users alone.
This is such a stupid idea - where do you start? This is so anti-public transport and pro roads that it is hard to believe it is coming from a progressive council. Council wants to put all the cost and effort on the public transport system so that car drives are not inconvenienced. How progressive is
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Zwicky Comment 8 11 Jul 2009, 11:32 AM
I don't think a grade separation is needed and would prefer the train to stay above ground. I think Sydney Rd is more of a traffic problem than Bell St and if you're going to spend the money putting anything underground then make it the cars along Sydney rd between Bell St and Harding St.
Smarter traffic flows can be achieved without grade separation. For example, trying to get from the supermarket car parks to northbound along Sydney Rd shouldn't require either crossing the train line on Bell St or doing the Harding St to Bell St stretch of Sydney Rd.
