There have been repeated claims, from apparently authoritative sources, that Melbourne's rail system is at capacity in peak period, and could not accommodate more train services without the expenditure of perhaps billions of dollars. The alleged capacity crisis has been widely reported in the media, and offered as a justification for the deteriorating reliability of Melbourne's rail system. In addition to the city loop, the Dandenong rail line, which serves one of Melbourne's designated growth corridors, has been identified as a major capacity bottleneck. The Victorian Government's 2006 Meeting Our Transport Challenges statement accepted these claims and proposed substantial investment in new capacity on both the city loop and the Dandenong corridor. At no point in this process, however, has anyone publicly released any studies or other evidence to show that there really is a capacity crisis. This paper seeks to establish that alternative approaches exist which would enable a more efficient use of the track infrastructure on Melbourne's city loop and Dandenong line. To illustrate one possible option for the Dandenong line, a sample of a possible timetable is also produced. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E216058.
Abstract