Melbourne will have more trains, more often, with the introduction of new world-class signalling equipment being designed on Victoria's 65 new high capacity trains.
In Japan today, Premier Daniel Andrews announced an additional $35 million in funding for on-board high capacity signalling equipment which incorporates key lessons from Tokyo’s subway.
The advanced technology uses telecommunications between trains and track equipment to enable trains to run closer together – allowing up to 30 trains to run on the same tracks per hour, with services arriving every two minutes.
The equipment will be installed on the new high capacity trains announced earlier this month that will be built in Victoria by Victorians. They will be rolled out on the Cranbourne Pakenham line from 2019.
The Metro Tunnel will allow more trains to run in and out of the city by giving the Cranbourne, Pakenham and Sunbury lines their own tunnel through the CBD.
It will provide for an extra 39,000 passengers in each two hour peak.
The tender process is currently underway for the delivery of high capacity signalling as part of the $1 billion Rail Systems Alliance tender for the Metro Tunnel.
Quotes attributable to Premier Daniel Andrews
"Tokyo's public transport is reliable, clean and efficient – it's exactly the kind of world class system we're building for Melbourne."
"The high capacity signaling technology will go on board our new locally built trains so we can run more trains, more often – and passengers can just turn up and go."
Reviewed 19 August 2020