Executive summary: Today marks 15 years since the first every 10 minute off-peak Metro train line started in Melbourne. We've only added one more all week turn-up-and-go line since. But with the Metro Tunnel starting soon, there's prospects for the next decade to have more in store.
There's been a lot of Metro Tunnel discussion this week.
But today I want to talk about the transformative timetable that arguably started it all. Commencing 15 years ago today, it introduced passengers to the idea that you could rock up at a station in the middle of the day and have a train within 10 minutes.
Every 10 minutes is the sort of frequency that would induce people to 'turn up and go' and not worry too much about timetables. And for Melbourne, where 15, 20, 30 and even 40 minute midday metropolitan train frequencies were (and still are) the norm, it marked a big break from the past in the traditionally slow-moving world of rail network planning.
Faster change was driven by surging patronage taxing a fragile and unreliable metropolitan rail network that frequently made headlines for the wrong reasons. Off-peak train timetables were last significantly upgraded in the 1990s with particular gains for Sandringham, Frankston, Pakenham/Cranbourne, Alamein and Upfield on weekdays and network-wide on Sundays (in 1999). They had been stagnant for nearly a decade since.
That drought ended, firstly with shoe-horning extra peak trips into existing timetables and then some wider rethinking that addressed root issues. Here's a look at what happened when.
2009
It was thought that operationally grouping lines to isolate disruptions would improve reliability. An early example was the 2009 Werribee timetable that took their trains out of a crowded City Loop portal that was shared with the then Sydenham, Craigieburn and Upfield lines.
As this was viewed as potentially controversial some extra off-peak trips (running express) were added as sweeteners. That proved successful - Werribee trains were removed from the loop with minimal controversy and ultimately improved reliability. While the extra trips resulted in Werribee (for a time) having 6 trains per hour interpeak on weekdays the intervals were irregular so it never qualified as a true 10 minute service.
2010
The honour of being the first instead went to Frankston with the timetable for that starting 15 years ago today. Frankston was neither then nor now the busiest line on the network. If you were going to introduce a 10 minute service on any one corridor then picking Ringwood or Dandenong would have benefited more passengers. However the Frankston line was unreliable and politically sensitive. And if you were planning wider network reforms then, like succeeded with Werribee, some increased frequency could be a sweetener.
So it came to be that on October 10, 2010 the Frankston line gained increased weekday off-peak frequencies. Services improved from every 15 to every 10 minutes between the peaks and from every 30 to every 20 minutes for much of the evening.
For more background on this see the 2019 retrospective that I wrote on this timetable's 9th birthday.
2011
While trains ran a regular every 10 minutes between Frankston and Richmond, they had a messy alternating pattern beyond there. Half ran via the City Loop (as all previously did when service was every 15 minutes) and the other half went direct to Flinders Street. So if you were coming from the CBD end you did not have the benefit of a consistent 10 minute timetable.
That required another timetable to fix. This happened on May 9, 2011 with my 8th anniversary item on that here. This effectively created the cross-city group with trains every 10 minutes between Frankston and Newport (before fanning out).
In theory you could jump on a train at a station like South Yarra or Richmond and have a one-seat ride through the CBD to North Melbourne, Footscray, Newport or beyond. Not only that but it would be a turn-up-and-go service thanks to the 10 minute frequency. This would provide the sort of cross-city access that passengers in cities such as Sydney, Perth and Brisbane routinely enjoyed (as did Melbourne though at lower frequencies before the City Loop).
It's a great idea but the doctrine that 'every train terminates at Flinders Street' remains embedded in operating culture and passenger information so transposals and inconsistencies in information remain common.
Credit however should be given as the timetable changes above reduced interactions and knock-on delays. They contributed to a huge rebound in metropolitan rail reliability. An almost continuous 8 year fall between 2003 and 2011 was arrested with vastly better reliability by 2013.
2012
The next frequency upgrade was not (as you might expect) weekdays on busy corridors like Ringwood and Dandenong but weekends on those lines plus Frankston. Introduced in April 2012, new timetables upgraded weekend service from every 20 to every 10 minutes to the above between 10am and 7pm. That 10am - 7pm slot actually originated with the 1999 Kennett era Sunday upgrades which boosted service in that 9 hour span but not outside it.
Weekend evening services remained at every 30 minutes, with a sharp fall-off after 7pm. 30 minute gaps also remained on Sunday mornings with sleepy ~8am starts not addressed until Night Network started in 2016 (though they remain an issue on Good Friday and most Christmas mornings when Night Network doesn't run).
After this change Frankston became the first line to enjoy a 10 minute daytime frequency on all days of the week. Dandenong and Ringwood also had this but only on weekends.
After this change Frankston became the first line to enjoy a 10 minute daytime frequency on all days of the week. Dandenong and Ringwood also had this but only on weekends.
NDP
The Network Development Plan (Metropolitan Rail) of December 2012 proposed a program to spread 10 minute Frankston-style frequent all day timetables across the network. Had it been followed the busiest lines would have got frequent service by 2016 with most of the rest done by 2021. The Metro Tunnel would thus have commenced in a context where lines feeding to it were already running frequently all week.
2014
The very large bus, train and tram timetable upgrade of 27 July 2014 also included the Dandenong line going from every 15 to 10 minutes on weekdays interpeak with Pakenham and Cranbourne going from 30 to 20 minutes. By that time Dandenong had become the busiest line, overtaking Ringwood. This was a well-received upgrade with Dandenong joining Frankston as being being one of Melbourne's two long rail corridors with seven day frequent service (though weekend evenings and Sunday morning service remained limited at every 30 minutes).
2015 - 2025 (a lost decade for service)
There was a change of government late in 2014.
The Network Development Plan (Metropolitan Rail) of December 2012 proposed a program to spread 10 minute Frankston-style frequent all day timetables across the network. Had it been followed the busiest lines would have got frequent service by 2016 with most of the rest done by 2021. The Metro Tunnel would thus have commenced in a context where lines feeding to it were already running frequently all week.
2014
The very large bus, train and tram timetable upgrade of 27 July 2014 also included the Dandenong line going from every 15 to 10 minutes on weekdays interpeak with Pakenham and Cranbourne going from 30 to 20 minutes. By that time Dandenong had become the busiest line, overtaking Ringwood. This was a well-received upgrade with Dandenong joining Frankston as being being one of Melbourne's two long rail corridors with seven day frequent service (though weekend evenings and Sunday morning service remained limited at every 30 minutes).
2015 - 2025 (a lost decade for service)
There was a change of government late in 2014.
Political interest swung from service to infrastructure builds, unlike Sydney which managed to do both.
No major rail corridors gained 10 minute 7 day service.
This made 2015 - 2025 virtually a lost decade for service, with large scale frequency upgrades for metropolitan rail, metropolitan tram and bus reform all basically stalling, particularly after 2016 (V/Line trains and regional buses got a lot though).
2026 -
The next year is already looking more promising than the last decade.
At least one more line will get frequent 7 day service. This will be the Sunbury line (as far as Watergardens) in February 2026 when full service on the Metro Tunnel starts.
This will be followed (in mid 2026) when the Sandringham line goes to every 10 minutes on weekdays. This upgrade will be integrated with a restored cross-city line to Newport and beyond. Craigieburn and Upfield will have maximum waits cut from 40 to 20 minutes while Werribee will gain some peak upgrades.
Much more roll-out of 10 minute 7 day service is needed just to catch up on the previous lost decade.
There's been no announcements or even promises. I would suggest these as the top five front-runners (in about this order):
* Ringwood: busy line, marginal seats, needs peak stopping pattern reform, very poor Belgrave and Lilydale frequencies, cheap to do as weekends mostly already done.
No major rail corridors gained 10 minute 7 day service.
This made 2015 - 2025 virtually a lost decade for service, with large scale frequency upgrades for metropolitan rail, metropolitan tram and bus reform all basically stalling, particularly after 2016 (V/Line trains and regional buses got a lot though).
2026 -
The next year is already looking more promising than the last decade.
At least one more line will get frequent 7 day service. This will be the Sunbury line (as far as Watergardens) in February 2026 when full service on the Metro Tunnel starts.
This will be followed (in mid 2026) when the Sandringham line goes to every 10 minutes on weekdays. This upgrade will be integrated with a restored cross-city line to Newport and beyond. Craigieburn and Upfield will have maximum waits cut from 40 to 20 minutes while Werribee will gain some peak upgrades.
Much more roll-out of 10 minute 7 day service is needed just to catch up on the previous lost decade.
There's been no announcements or even promises. I would suggest these as the top five front-runners (in about this order):
* Ringwood: busy line, marginal seats, needs peak stopping pattern reform, very poor Belgrave and Lilydale frequencies, cheap to do as weekends mostly already done.
* Craigieburn: busy but currently infrequent, outstanding from Metro Tunnel business case, growth area pressures.
* Mernda: high usage potential but currently infrequent, large densifying catchment, growth area pressures.
* Werribee: good usage, potential to relieve busy Geelong line, potential speed boosts, growth area pressures.
* Sandringham: requires finishing off with frequent weekend service and Sunday am boost.
Let's hope they happen!
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