Box Hill's public transport interchange upgrade a step closer

Box Hill's public transport interchange upgrade a step closer
Alastair TaylorMay 20, 2018

The Victorian Government has announced an independent chair has been appointed to a committee of local representatives that will deliver a plan for the redevelopment of the Box Hill interchange.

The Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Allan, announced Knowles Tivendale as chair of the Box Hill Transit Interchange Steering Committee.

According to a Spring Street media release, the committee will build on the work the Ministerial Advisory Group has already completed which reported to the Minister in February 2017.

In the 2017 report, the Public Transport Victoria was consulted and found the bus interchange itself, which sees 202 buses per hour in peak, or the equivalent of 1.6 buses every minute use the interchange, has a capacity for up to 312 buses an hour in the morning peak.

The primary capacity constraint at Box Hill is the surrounding road network and access points to the interchange.

In 2016, PTV conducted an accessibility assessment at Box Hill and found that after-hours access to the bus interchange is not considered 'equitable and dignified' and other issues such as no obvious wayfinding signs to direct people to the lifts and the distance for lift users from the bus interchange to the train interchange is longer for non-list users.

The new committee is set to meet monthly and is expected to provide a business case for redevelopment by mid-2019.

Box Hill's public transport interchange upgrade a step closer
Wires are going up on the new track in Carnegie. Image: LXRA

Final section of Dandenong corridor level crossing gets its new wires

The Level Crossing Removal Authority has been busy posting images on its Facebook page updating the progress of the catenary installation in the final section of the level crossing removal programme between Caulfield and Dandenong.

The Caulfield to Oakleigh segment is the longest and final section with the new Carnegie and Murrumbeena stations set to open on June 17th.

The last major shutdown will commence on the 29th of May and run to the 17th of June. Trains will continue to express through Hughesdale Station until it is re-opened later on this year.

All level crossings included on the master list of 50 on the Pakenham/Cranbourne lines now have a design, are under construction or have been removed – except for three.

Those last three crossings yet to receive a public launch of the design & engineering solution are the South Gippsland Highway, Hallam South Road and Clyde Road. All three are contained within the Pakenham branch.

Melbourne to host UITP Global Public Transport summit

Diary date: between the 6th and 9th of June 2021, Melbourne will be the host of UITP's Global Public Transport summit at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Union International des Transports Publics (UITP) summit is held every two years with the first such summit held over 130 years ago. The Melbourne summit will be the first time the summit has been held in the Southern Hemisphere in 25 years.

In 2017, Montréal played host and the next summit will be held in Stockholm in 2019.

Lead image credit: Marcus Wong.

Alastair Taylor

Alastair Taylor is a co-founder of Urban.com.au. Now a freelance writer, Alastair focuses on the intersection of public transport, public policy and related impacts on medium and high-density development.

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