this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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Melbourne Trains
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I believe ART-PTL is still used by the occasional freighter, but I actually think it would be a good line to run mixed trains on. I don't really understand why we didn't keep mixed trains. A couple of passenger cars tacked onto the front of a freight train could work decently well on some now freight only lines. I'm sure the freight companies wouldn't be particularly happy, but since we own the tracks, it still feels like a worthwhile tradeoff for them
@Baku Another limiting factor for Portland and Horsham trains is that they're both on standard gauge lines. Meanwhile, the train line through Ballarat (from Southern Cross to Ararat) is broad gauge.
So any passenger train services to those cities would either need to travel along the standard gauge line from Ararat to Geelong (quite a detour), or passengers would need to change trains at Ararat (a pain).
Converting the train line through Ballarat to standard- or dual-gauge would make train services to Western Victoria a lot more viable.
You could run a single-seat standard gauge passenger services to Horsham (or beyond), and Portland via Ballarat.
An added bonus is that it would also mean a faster Overland service to Adelaide.
Convert the Maryborough line to dual gauge at the same time, and suddenly a Mildura via Maryborough and Ballarat standard gauge passenger service becomes viable too.