COM: Glenelg Tramline Upgrade

[frank1]

That's better. Cool idea Phil i like it

[Bulldozer]

It is humbling to cop personal attacks from those espousing informed opinion and research!

I especially like the one that went on to say the Tram track ends at a point for future extensions. Doh!

You say tram to nowhere, I say tram to Railway Station eliminating an intermediate bus service. Research shows that there's a relationship between the attractiveness of public transport to people and the number of transfers they have to make on a route. It's why cars are so popular - one thing takes you from A to B.

People can piss and moan about the fact it's only a short distance that it's been extended, that the trams are overcrowded, that the money should have been spent on water or hospitals, etc. but the stone cold truth is that it's built now and there's no going back and patronage is UP by what was an unthinkable amount 12 months ago.

Now we can see that it was a small and necessary step to get people used to the idea of trams again after a 50-odd year absence. Now that we have seen it is a success we can be confident that if we throw a billion at a rebuild of the tram network that it won't be a white elephant. The trams are more frequent and run for longer hours than the bus service they replace. I rode on them for the first time the Saturday before christmas and couldn't believe how many people were using them - on a Saturday! The Rundle Mall stop was chaos with two trams loading/unloading.

[skyliner]

Traced the thread a few pages back and could not find this.

Dec. 2007 - first issue of the Glenelg Tram Overpass Community Update - why a tramline? Progress So Far.
Your Views. Key Urban Design Principles. Next Stages of The Project. Keeping Informed. (www. southroad.sa.gov.au.
Ph. 1800 733 954)

Static info display at Home Ideas centre Anzac Hwy, Ashford. (Also there is a comprehensive map and outline of the Anzac underpass) Found on visit there in Jan 2008)

Be good to see this done

Also on visit to Adelaide (Jan.2008) found the trams heavily patronised and planning for this insufficient. Compared to before the opening of the extension, a much bigger support shown. Rundle mall stop ondersized. Had Brisbane people with me - not impressed with this stop but liked the tram idea. Also ALL city stops should have canopy covers as well.

'Trams to no-where' as a statement does not measure up with what we saw. At least someone 'bit the bullet' and
had the line built - not like in Brisbane where talk, red tape etc etc killed such an idea - now they are building bus tunnels at massive cost instead.(more than the Alice Springs to Darwin line, not $31m like the tram ext).

NOW is the time to strike for an extension 'while the iron is hot'.

ADELAIDE - CITY ON THE MOVE

[Shuz]

The City South stop needs to be upgraded and expanded as a dual-service platform on the north side of Sturt/Halifax streets, complete with canopy cover. The recent spur of development in the City's South warrants the need to do this, and I beleive that the goverment should adress this now, so that it is ready when the 400KWS, Hills and Edge/Wave developments are finished, not after they have been finished and faced with over-crowding troubles for commuters accessing these sites. The two Coglin Street developments is around the same walking distance from City South as it is to Victoria Square, so they too could be a catalyst for the need to upgrade City South.

Rundle Mall definetly has some over-crowding problems, I'm not too sure about the Railway Station (I thought it was supposed to act as a transfer point between tram/train services) but they could both use an expansion to handle two trams at once, max. 4 capacity. The trams themselves are low-capacity, and should all be upgraded to a 4-section set, where they would make full use of all stops platform lengths, and there needs to be an order for at least 2 or 3 more to handle peak loads, as well as adding at least another service per hour in off peak. With another extension in mind, say a city loop servicing West Tce/Currie St, another 2-3 trams would be enough to cover the capacity increase servicing these localities.

[skyliner]

The City South stop needs to be upgraded and expanded as a dual-service platform on the north side of Sturt/Halifax streets, complete with canopy cover. The recent spur of development in the City's South warrants the need to do this, and I beleive that the goverment should adress this now, so that it is ready when the 400KWS, Hills and Edge/Wave developments are finished, not after they have been finished and faced with over-crowding troubles for commuters accessing these sites. The two Coglin Street developments is around the same walking distance from City South as it is to Victoria Square, so they too could be a catalyst for the need to upgrade City South.

Rundle Mall definetly has some over-crowding problems, I'm not too sure about the Railway Station (I thought it was supposed to act as a transfer point between tram/train services) but they could both use an expansion to handle two trams at once, max. 4 capacity. The trams themselves are low-capacity, and should all be upgraded to a 4-section set, where they would make full use of all stops platform lengths, and there needs to be an order for at least 2 or 3 more to handle peak loads, as well as adding at least another service per hour in off peak. With another extension in mind, say a city loop servicing West Tce/Currie St, another 2-3 trams would be enough to cover the capacity increase servicing these localities.

TOTALLY agree

To add weight to the further extension of the tramline
A. Have a look at the DVD called 'A Crude Awakening".
B. Executives of GM have announced the end of the petrol engine. (ABC 7.30 report 17/1/08) This means buses and all road vehicles are up for extensive reduction in numbers AND the railways electrification is more relevant.
C. Ethanol production cannot keep up and will use up most of our wheat - hence food shortage. (On ABC report)
D. Coal fired power stations for increased reliance on power for public transport will lead to massive atmospheric warming. (Also on the ABC report)
E. Result - get on with public transport, powered by ...wait for it....nuclear power.
F. Thus, from all the above, I believe the tramline extension was visionary and has an extra strong reasn to extend
to such places as Norwood Parade, Pt. Adelaide, The city loop, Nth Adelaide, The airport, West Lakes..

A very heavy message indeed from GM. I had my doubts till I saw GM executives actually announcing the end of the petrol motor.

ADELAIDE - CITY ON THE MOVE

[sam]

One thing I'd like to see them do is axe the city shuttle services and then use those flexitys to run the full length of the line.

Potentially it would increase efficiency of the line overall, as there is no need to turn around at South Terrace, it will reduce bunching where a shuttle tram and a glenelg tram end up really close in the city, help ease congestion on glenelg bound trams during the day, whilst only adding a few minutes to a maximum wait for a tram in the city. All trams will also then be earning revenue.

[Norman]

One thing I'd like to see them do is axe the city shuttle services and then use those flexitys to run the full length of the line.

Potentially it would increase efficiency of the line overall, as there is no need to turn around at South Terrace, it will reduce bunching where a shuttle tram and a glenelg tram end up really close in the city, help ease congestion on glenelg bound trams during the day, whilst only adding a few minutes to a maximum wait for a tram in the city. All trams will also then be earning revenue.

Thing is, they only have enough trams to make that short City Shuttle Journey to keep the current frequency going. It's either more trams or less frequency if we were to do the above.

[BillD]

New rail is being delivered just to the west of Sturt Creek. Preparations are also underway at Stops 4 & 7 for the awaited replacement of re-used rail layed during the works of 2005.

Bill.

[Norman]

Hopefully this will make runs a lot smoother for all of us.

[Will409]

When rails are delivered, you can that the work is imminent (obviously) but as yet, the AdelaideMetro website hasn't been updated.

[Xaragmata]

The Weekly Times Messenger notes that West Torrens Council has seen artists impressions of the South Road tram overpass;
public won't see any images for a month, but o/p may be 12 metre high, 7 metre wide, with lifts to elevated tram stop, bike/walk path
& forest-themed protective screens, connecting bus stops at base of platform, & maybe a cafe in the future. Completion mid 2009,
cost $28mill.

[frank1]

I like this overpass project sounds good. However, i see this not going down well with the public.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh High Rise Poster!

[AtD]

The Weekly Times Messenger notes that West Torrens Council has seen artists impressions of the South Road tram overpass;
public won't see any images for a month, but o/p may be 12 metre high, 7 metre wide, with lifts to elevated tram stop, bike/walk path
& forest-themed protective screens, connecting bus stops at base of platform, & maybe a cafe in the future. Completion mid 2009,
cost $28mill.

Sounds fantastic! Care to scan the article?

Frank, anything to improve South Road would go down well.

[AG]

7 metres wide sounds a little narrow to me if there's platforms going up there as well, unless that is just the width of the two tracks crossing and the elevated platforms off to one side of South Road

[Will409]

Considering that the platforms at both Pirie Street and Rundle Mall stops are 3.5m wide, an island platform arrangement on the overpass with a total width of 7m (including both tracks) will be a bit of a tight squeeze but none the less doable.