Doncaster Rail, wherefore art thou? Successive Victorian governments have neglected Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs at the expense of their residents. And now the rest of us

Message from Artists for Trains Not Tolls:

We are planning an event/happening to highlight the fact that the planned Doncaster railway has been a long time coming.

This Saturday we will be reminding shoppers at the Westfield Doncaster centre that the railway was first proposed in 1880. Dressed in Victorian costumes, we’ll be milling around and queuing in unlikely places. Why? We’re waiting for the train! It has had 127 years to get here, so we know it must be arriving soon!

Manningham is the only Melbourne municipality without a train or a tram service. A 2012 study led by Curtin University’s Peter Newman found that, if it were connected to the planned Melbourne Metro rail tunnel, the Doncaster train should attract around 100,000 passengers per day. This is all that the east-west tunnel is planned to take in passenger cars, at a cost of between $5 and $9 billion. By contrast, the cost of the Doncaster rail and its connection to the Melbourne Metro tunnel has been estimated at $1140 million.

‘An Ode to Inaction’

This Saturday, 23 November, around lunchtime (11.30am-2pm), a group of 15 ghosts from 1888 will be shopping at Westfield Doncaster Shopping Centre. And after they’ve shopped, they are going to politely queue up and wait for their train – and wait – and wait – and wait. Continue Reading…