Today, I am suggesting Metro Trains Melbourne for TSW 2. More information can be found in this video. Specifically, today, I will be suggesting the Cross-City Group. The Cross-City Group includes 3 lines: the Frankston Line, Werribee Line, and Williamstown Line. These three lines all have their respective termini, however, some services from those lines feed into the other lines. Like the Frankston Line traveling past it’s terminal to terminate at the Williamstown Line’s terminal. The 3 Lines run for a total of about 90 Kilometers and have 47 Stations. The lines run with some other lines in the Metro System, such as the Sandringham Line, which runs with the Frankston Line for a small portion of track. The 3 Lines have some interesting service patterns, with some trains running Express, skipping stations along the lines. Some trains also run shuttle services, like the ones on the Williamstown Line, which run as a shuttle between Williamstown and Newport. The lines run pretty frequently (Between 8-20 Mins - Depending on the time of day), especially in the city center, where all of the lines connect, leading to a very busy timetable, and frequent service at some stations. I think this route would fit the ‘Rush Hour’ theme which DTG is trying to go for. Rolling Stock The Lines would run a variety of rolling stock. I’m only going to be focusing on the most important trains here though. (Only the Trains that run on the Frankston, Werribee, and Williamstown Lines) Comeng Siemens Nexas X'Trapolis 100 What are your thoughts on this suggestion?
Really excellent idea and it uses aws signaling system however Track Gauge is different which is 1.6m Irish Gauge vs 1m Arosa Line 1.435m standard Gauge us Germany and UK. Also make the New Xtrapolis as DLC.
The track gauge honestly shouldn't matter. Arosa Linie's track gauge didn't really affect anything with the route. But I never knew they used AWS. It would be interesting to see how that works on those trains.
Excellently put together proposal! It would definitely be worth seeing in TSW2! It would be amazing to start on one of the very edges of Melbourne, cross right through the heart of it, then out to the other furthest edge. A cool feature of this route is that it runs around the shape of Port Phillip Bay which means you can see the bay from one side at Williamstown station, then travel around and see the bay from the other side when approaching Frankston. There is a portion that runs parallel with Melbourne's long beaches and its very iconic. I wouldn't recommend the entire Cross City Group as a first route for Melbourne or Victoria though. It would likely be too ambitious of an ask for it to be the first. Second or third is possible. (I'll just say this in advance; as a Melbournian, we rarely think about the line groups, most of us just think about just the lines. So it wouldn't be seen as weird or unusual to just develop routes based on lines rather than groups) As you said the Cross City Group is 90km in length, which requires both the major terminus stations of Melbourne (Flinders Street and Southern Cross) to be made (like almost all Melbourne routes would), on top of that the amount of yard trackage needing to be placed down is vast. Beyond Southern Cross Station, towards and up until Footscray Station, the line runs parallel to the Port of Melbourne's rail yards which is the largest port in Australia. Most of it is visible from the track and the stations in that section. There's Broad gauge, standard gauge, and dual gauge portions of those yards and tracks around Southern Cross which makes things even more complex. Having both standard and broad gauge trackage is a feature unique to Melbourne's west. Dashed line is standard gauge. Solid is broad gauge. Almost overlapping dashed and solid is dual gauge. And this is just one of the yards (mostly the standard gauge one). Equally as visible at Newport station is the Newport workshops at the point the Werribee & Williamstown lines split to either side of. If this were to be the first Melbourne/Victoria route developed I could see it just keeping to the Frankston Line or just the Werribee & Williamstown Lines, with both stopping at Flinders Street station (maybe Frankston going one more to Southern Cross). Which be ok. Both of those options have freight movements so it would feel odd to skip out on them especially in the case of any route that include the Port of Melbourne's yards. If another Melbourne route were to develop some significant parts of their lines first, it would make things a lot easier for an entire Cross City Group. Perhaps the Upfield, Craigieburn, or Sandringham lines? Most lines that go to the eastern suburbs manages to doge the Port of Melbourne rail yards by ducking into the City Loop tunnels that send them back out east. In fact I think the Sandringham line would be the best first Melbourne route because it terminates at Flinders Street station. Meaning they can develop a Melbourne suburban train on a mostly singular line, and then be able to include that in future lines in out of Melbourne while developing other stock like freight or V/Line or a different suburban train. That also means the westward approach to Flinders Street Station doesn't have to doesn't have to be developed new for a future Cross City Group line or any other Melbourne line. At any rate its a brilliant proposal! I've added it to the list of Australian proposals found here: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/threads/australian-proposal-suggestion-master-list.41526/
Yes! This would be an excellent route for TSW2 as I am a local. I've sent an email to dovetail games and they said they had forwarded my idea to the dev team. Haven't heard from them since, and that was December 2020. I'm currently working on a proposal video for Metro Trains Melbourne to send to them. Any help is appreciated if you wish. By the way, if DTG are to make a route in Melbourne, it would have to include the entire city loop. Although there would be a significant amount of light baking, the loop is the busiest portion of the entire melbourne network. It sees many people commuting to and from work every day (at least, it used to). Now COVID has ruined it all
We don't have AWS on any Metro track. We do have TPWS on tracks shared with V/Line(which V/Line uses) and soon CBTC on the Pakenham/Cranbourne-Sunbury lines via Metro tunnel.