Ashworth Improvement Plan

Last updated December 08, 2023

The Ashworth Improvement Plan was a report that recommended a number of improvements to be made to the electrified suburban railways of inner city Melbourne, Australia. It was produced in 1940 by a committee headed by John Marmaduke Ashworth, the Victorian Railways Chief Engineer for Way and Works.^[1] In order to meet projected future needs, the report recommended duplication of lines, terminal improvements and underground railway connections.

Background

Melbourne had been a city dominated early on by suburban railways, with the system reaching its peak early in 1891 on the back of a number of speculative lines. In the early twentieth century, Melbourne easily had the best public transport in Australia. In 1907 both trams and trains carried about 62 million passengers per year. Electric operation of the suburban railways began in 1919, and patronage grew by 63.4% over just six years, from 96,797,783 in 1917–18 to 158,194,558 in 1923–24. What was not apparent to the public was that the electrification project had not been accompanied by any other works, cutting costs by putting limitations on growth.^[2]

By 1937-38 patronage had grown to 135,329,598 but the pattern of suburban rail travel was changing. People were living further from the inner city, and the average distance travelled by commuters changed from 9.0 kilometres (5.6 mi) in the early 1930s to 10.4 kilometres (6.5 mi) by the end of the decade.^[3] The Victorian Railways Commissioners established a committee in 1938 to study the impact of the increase of long distance suburban traffic. It consisted of three officers headed by Ashworth.

At the time the report was commissioned, Melbourne consisted of 173 route miles (278 km) of railways (owned by the Government of Victoria), 140 route miles (225 km) of tramways (vested in the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board) and 57 route miles (92 km) of bus routes, whilst private individuals or companies operated approximately 350 bus route miles (563 km) over 105 routes.^[4]

The report

The report was released in 1940.^[5] The Commissioners wrote that the report covered works that would provide transport facilities for years to come, but at a cost of several million pounds. The works would need to be spread over several years, not just for funding reasons, but to avoid disruption of existing services.^[3]

Recommendations included:^[1]^[3]

additional platforms at the Flinders Street/Princes Bridge station complex, involving tracks on two levels and a connection to an underground City Railway to distribute passengers closer to their places of work.
extensive roofing over of Jolimont Yard, permitting rental income to fund the program.
track duplication on the single track Glen Waverley line between Heyington and Eastmalvern.
track duplication on the Ashburton line between Camberwell and Ashburton.
track duplication on the Hurstbridge line between Alphington and Heidelberg.
the addition of a new track pair from Flinders Street to South Yarra, including a new Cremorne Bridge over the Yarra River.
track quadruplication from Flinders Street to Hawthorn.
rebuild Richmond railway station.
construct a line to Doncaster as an extension to the line from Hawthorn to Kew.
Connection of the Ashburton line to the Glen Waverley line at East Malvern, via the 1895 Outer Circle route.

The report also recommended that there was an urgent need for effective co-ordination of all transport facilities to reduce the anomalies with wasteful competition in some localities.^[4]

Actions

Very few of the recommendations were able to be carried out immediately due to the ongoing war effort. Only one of the elements was undertaken during this period - the flyover at Burnley station that permitted down Glen Waverley line trains to cross those headed towards Hawthorn. It was completed in August 1943.^[6] In 1944 work began on rebuilding the Cremorne Bridge across the Yarra River at South Yarra, which was completed in 1947 with only four tracks, with the provision for two more to be added later.^[1]

The rest of the works were not carried out, but some were revisited later. Much of the track amplification was carried out as part of the 1950s Operation Phoenix and a variant of the City Railway was built as the City Loop that started in 1970 and was completed in 1985.

Related Research Articles

The City Loop is a piece of underground commuter rail infrastructure in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond railway station, Melbourne</span> Railway station in Melbourne, Australia

Richmond railway station is a commuter railway station and the junction point for the Alamein, Belgrave, Cranbourne, Frankston, Glen Waverley, Lilydale, Pakenham and Sandringham lines, serving the south-eastern inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Australia. Richmond is a premium status elevated structure station featuring ten platforms, with five island platforms. The stations opened on 8 February 1859 as Punt Road before being renamed Swan Street on 12 December of the same year, it was renamed Richmond on 1 January 1867.

East Richmond railway station is located on the Lilydale, Belgrave, Alamein and Glen Waverley lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the inner eastern Melbourne suburb of Cremorne, and it opened on 24 September 1860 as Church Street. It was renamed East Richmond on 1 January 1867.

Burnley railway station is the junction for the Lilydale, Belgrave, Alamein and Glen Waverley lines in Victoria, Australia. It serves the inner eastern Melbourne suburb of Burnley, and it opened on 1 May 1880 as Burnley Street. It was renamed Burnley on 1 September 1882.

Oakleigh railway station is a commuter railway station in the suburb of Oakleigh in the south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The station opened in 1877 as the up end of the Gippsland line, with the station being electrified in 1922. The station consists of two sides that are connected to each other via the adjacent roads, and both platforms are connected to each other via a pedestrian subway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elsternwick railway station</span> Railway station in Melbourne, Australia

Elsternwick railway station is located on the Sandringham line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick, and it opened on 19 December 1859.

East Malvern railway station is a commuter railway station on the Glen Waverley line, serving Malvern East, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The station, originally called Karnak, opened as Eastmalvern on 3 February 1929. It was renamed East Malvern on 29 February 1972.

Mount Waverley railway station is a commuter railway station in the suburb of Mount Waverley in the south east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is part of the Glen Waverley line on Melbourne's suburban rail network. The station opened in 1930 as a part of the extension from East Malvern to Glen Waverley. The station consists of two side which are connected to each other via the adjacent roads, additionally both platforms are connected to each other via a pedestrian subway. Additionally the station is served by bus routes 623 and 733. The station is appromixately 18 kilometres (11 mi) or around a 30-minute train ride away from Flinders Street.

Glen Waverley railway station is a commuter railway station located in the suburb of Glen Waverley in the south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The station originally opened in 1930 as part of the line's extension from East Malvern. The station consists of a single island platform that is connected to Kingsway via a ramp on the station's eastern end.

Essendon railway station is located on the Craigieburn line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Essendon, and it opened on 1 November 1860.

Epping railway station is located on the Mernda line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the northern Melbourne suburb of Epping, and it opened on 23 December 1889.

The Alamein line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's second shortest metropolitan railway line at 14.9 kilometres (9.3 mi). The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Alamein station in the east, serving 18 stations via Burnley, Camberwell, Riversdale, and Ashburton. The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. During peak hours, headways of up to 15 minutes are operated with services every 10–30 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains on the Alamein line run with one or two three-car formations of X'Trapolis 100 trainsets.

The Outer Circle Railway was opened in stages in 1890 and 1891, as a steam-era suburban railway line, in Melbourne, Australia. It traversed much of the modern City of Boroondara, including the suburbs of Kew East, Camberwell, Burwood, Ashburton, and Malvern East. At its longest, it ran from Fairfield station, on what is today the Hurstbridge line, to Oakleigh station, on the current Pakenham and Cranbourne lines.

Proposals for expansion of the Melbourne rail network are commonly presented by political parties, government agencies, industry organisations and public transport advocacy groups. The extensions proposed take a variety of forms: electrification of existing routes to incorporate them into the suburban rail system; reconstruction of former passenger rail lines along pre-existing easements; entirely new routes intended to serve new areas with heavy rail or provide alternative routes in congested areas; or track amplification along existing routes to provide segregation of services. Other proposals are for the construction of new or relocated stations on existing lines, to provide improved access to public transport services.

The Glen Waverley line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fifth shortest metropolitan railway line at 21.3 kilometres (13.2 mi). The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Glen Waverley station in the east, serving 20 stations including Burnley, Kooyong, East Malvern, and Jordanville. The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. The line operates with headways of up to 10 minutes during peak hours and as long as 30 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains on the Glen Waverley line run with two three-car formations of X'Trapolis 100 trainsets.

The Melbourne rail network is a metropolitan suburban and freight rail system serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan rail network is centred around the Melbourne central business district (CBD) and consists of 222 railway stations across 16 lines, which served a patronage of 99.5 million over the year 2021–2022. It is the core of the larger Victorian railway network, with regional links to both intrastate and interstate rail systems.

Melbourne tram route 75 is operated by Yarra Trams on the Melbourne tram network from Vermont South to Central Pier. The 22.8 kilometre route is operated out of Camberwell depot with A and B class trams. It is the longest route on the network.

Princes Bridge was a Melbourne railway station built in 1859 and was the terminus for all Epping line and Hurstbridge line trains. The station was named after the adjacent Princes Bridge, which crosses the Yarra River. Originally Princes Bridge station was isolated from Flinders Street station, even though it was adjacent to it, sited just on the opposite side of Swanston Street. Some years later the railway tracks were extended under the street to join the two stations, and Princes Bridge slowly became amalgamated into the larger Flinders Street station. This process was completed in May 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flinders Street Viaduct</span> Bridge in Victoria, Australia

The Flinders Street Viaduct is a railway bridge in Melbourne, Australia. Made up of six tracks built at different times, it links Flinders Street station to Southern Cross station, forming the main connection between the eastern and western parts of the Victorian rail network.

Jolimont Yard was an array of railway lines and carriage sidings on the edge of the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. Located between Flinders Street station, Richmond Junction, the Yarra River and Flinders Street they were often criticised for cutting off the city from the river, being the site of many redevelopment proposals. The Princes Gate Towers were built over part of the yard in the 1960s, which themselves were replaced by Federation Square in the 2000s. The rail sidings themselves were progressively removed from the 1980s to the 1990s with only running lines today, but the area continues to be referred to as the 'Jolimont railyards' by Melburnians.

References

1 2 3 Lee, Robert (2007). The Railways of Victoria 1854-2004. Melbourne University Publishing Ltd. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-522-85134-2.
↑ Lee, R. (2003). "Chapter 6: Transport and the Making of Cities, 1850-1970". Linking a Nation: Australia's transport and communications 1788-1970. Australian Heritage Council. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
1 2 3 S.E. Dornan and R.G. Henderson (1979). Electric Railways of Victoria. Australian Electric Traction Society. p. 32. ISBN 0-909459-06-1.
1 2 Transactions of the Institute. Vol. 29. September 1940. p. 247.
↑ C L Fouvy. "The Melbourne Region's Opportunity and need for Rapid Transit" (PDF). Railway Technical Society of Australasia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
↑ S.E. Dornan and R.G. Henderson (1979). Electric Railways of Victoria. Australian Electric Traction Society. p. 33. ISBN 0-909459-06-1.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[lee185-1] 1 2 3 Lee, Robert (2007). The Railways of Victoria 1854-2004. Melbourne University Publishing Ltd. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-522-85134-2.

[Lee-2] Lee, R. (2003). "Chapter 6: Transport and the Making of Cities, 1850-1970". Linking a Nation: Australia's transport and communications 1788-1970. Australian Heritage Council. Retrieved 5 March 2016.

[elect32-3] 1 2 3 S.E. Dornan and R.G. Henderson (1979). Electric Railways of Victoria. Australian Electric Traction Society. p. 32. ISBN 0-909459-06-1.

[Institute_1940,_Page_247-4] 1 2 Transactions of the Institute. Vol. 29. September 1940. p. 247.

[5] C L Fouvy. "The Melbourne Region's Opportunity and need for Rapid Transit" (PDF). Railway Technical Society of Australasia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-20.

[elect33-6] S.E. Dornan and R.G. Henderson (1979). Electric Railways of Victoria. Australian Electric Traction Society. p. 33. ISBN 0-909459-06-1.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]