Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Which tunnel?

You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach?

Victoria's biggest public transport project has been sidelined, with just $10 million committed in the 2013-14 state budget for the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel.
The funds will go towards further planning for the multibillion-dollar project, a nine-kilometre tunnel beneath the city centre which has been identified by the state's rail planners as the only effective way to create significant new capacity on Melbourne's urban rail network...
...By contrast Victoria's other major transport project, the east-west link, has had a major breakthrough with $294 million allocated over the next two years towards starting construction. The government says the eastern section, between the Eastern Freeway and CityLink, will be built first at a cost of $6 to $8 billion and that the road will be tolled. Federal and private funding will still be required to help pay for the new road, it says.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/metro-rail-tunnel-in-mothballs-20130507-2j573.html#ixzz2SaLAqshI