Six million people a year would use train to Melbourne Airport

[dajop]

Maybe the train line should go MEL to Arden which continues direct to central CBD / Flinders, much more central that southernX.

That has been mentioned as a (the?) pathway into the CBD for the Airport train. Either way, a change at Sunshine or Footscray would allow access to the metro tunnel if the airport train is destined for loop/SX or vice versa.

Apparently there's a Sunshine Station Skybus, which achieves the same thing

Yes true. Although an Arden stop would/should be quicker for those not on the Sunbury, Geelong or Ballarat lines.

 

[elanshin]

Juat landed into MEL. Midnight, 1 skybus every 7 mins. They can't take all the waiting passengers- you're probably waiting for 3-4 skybus before you get on. Uber rank queues at T2 are almost at the Skybus area.

This is when you appreciate having train links.

 

[serfty]

Apparently there's a Sunshine Station Skybus, which achieves the same thing

Between 6am and midnight, every thirty minutes.

 

[dajop]

Juat landed into MEL. Midnight, 1 skybus every 7 mins. They can't take all the waiting passengers- you're probably waiting for 3-4 skybus before you get on. Uber rank queues at T2 are almost at the Skybus area.

This is when you appreciate having train links.

Dunno about skybus but when heavily congested late at night, I’ve found with ride share schlepping over to the T4 pickup area can actually work well.

 

[jrfsp]

Juat landed into MEL. Midnight, 1 skybus every 7 mins. They can't take all the waiting passengers- you're probably waiting for 3-4 skybus before you get on. Uber rank queues at T2 are almost at the Skybus area.

This is when you appreciate having train links.

Or when there’s a crash on the tulla.

It’s a national embarrassment that MEL doesn’t have a rail link, our second busiest airport and the furthest out of town should have been built decades ago.

 

[jb747]

They will build the rail line to Tullamarine, about six months after completion of the replacement airport. Which will be 50km in another direction.

 

[clifford]

Juat landed into MEL. Midnight, 1 skybus every 7 mins. They can't take all the waiting passengers- you're probably waiting for 3-4 skybus before you get on. Uber rank queues at T2 are almost at the Skybus area.

This is when you appreciate having train links.

The answer is simple. Just don't fly into MEL at stupid time (and yes, I have lived there, but not now thankfully).

 

[anat0l]

This is when you appreciate having train links.

Depends on the capacity of a train and how often it will be going.

I'd be curious if the rail link uses standard rolling stock or dedicated ones that might be tailored for airport use, i.e. baggage racks and/or baggage nooks, perhaps seating along the wall rather than rows of seats in order to maximise standing space. If they use standard rolling stock with rows of seats, that'll start to get awkward with all the bags, let alone when it gets full (I foresee a lot of selfish people claiming a pair of seats - one for them and the other for their bags).

 

[clifford]

Depends on the capacity of a train and how often it will be going.

I'd be curious if the rail link uses standard rolling stock or dedicated ones that might be tailored for airport use, i.e. baggage racks and/or baggage nooks, perhaps seating along the wall rather than rows of seats in order to maximise standing space. If they use standard rolling stock with rows of seats, that'll start to get awkward with all the bags, let alone when it gets full (I foresee a lot of selfish people claiming a pair of seats - one for them and the other for their bags).

I think we'll worry about all that after the rail line has been built and trains are running . Not in my lifetime, I think.

 

[anat0l]

I think we'll worry about all that after the rail line has been built and trains are running . Not in my lifetime, I think.

Let's play a game: which city will get a proper airport to city centre rail link first:

• Melbourne (Tullamarine)
• Los Angeles
• Manila (NAIA or any of the two new airport sites)

I'd add Western Sydney to that list too, but that's not fair - the WSI planners (I believe, or probably) got their manure together and their rail is definitely on the cards, not in a wishy-washy maybe-maybe not situation.