Melbourne vs Sydney | Are they really metros? | Transit Analysis

History of the introduction of metros. Includes a detailed analysis both metro projects in Australia (Melbourne Metro and Sydney Metro).
Any criticism/feedback is appreciated. Thanks for watching.

CREDITS:
Various of websites used to conduct the research
Various sources for the images and footages used
Metro Tunnel authority - Metro Tunnel Images

UPDATES:
It was reuploaded due to copyright issues for using a small piece of footage. There was a strike on my channel, the strike is now gone, but this video was remade because of that strike.

TRUE BELIEVERS SOCIAL LINKS

[Voyagerthend]

Sydney Metro is a separate system to Sydney Trains. Sydney Trains is Gov't subsidized while the Metro will be run by a private company. Also, the suburban trains cannot run on the Sydney Metro lines

[inodesnet]

SBS has released the documentary "Sydney's Super Tunnel" on demand. So far the progress on the Sydney Metro is incredibly quick. They've just finalised the lines and stations for the west metro. I suspect there will more lines added over time. The current project already has slightly more tunnelling than the London Crossrail. Both projects though are roughly the same budget.

There is certainly room for more stations on the Sydney Metro. But with the current times from suburbs such as North Strathfield to the CBD, the times save compared to the current train system are incredible.

Sydney was the first city to have double decker trains. But I am glad they decided against them in the case of the metro. Sydney's major issue has always been capacity per train over frequency. Furthermore, double decker trains are very difficult to empty leading to massive delays during peak hours. Spending a lot of my time in Tokyo (a city that dwarfs all others for train system size and usage), I know even the most full single deck train in Tokyo does not have these issues.

[connorburke]

Sydney's Metro Line is much better with planning, along with future growth and capacity needs. With the first stage open now (Northwest), the capacity for 6 car sets running every 4 minutes is already overcapitalizing the proposed patronage. Sydney Metro also allows for future capacity with the line providing a true 2-minute headway (being driverless) when the future capacity is needed, particularly within the CBD (Also remember that Sydney has trains running through to the CBD already). Being Australia's biggest public transport project, there are already another 3 lines being planned to help serve the booming population within the West and the new International Airport (not stage 1, 2's etc.)

Before the Coalition had taken the reigns, many projects were planned but never happened - the fact of a Government who can't commit.
All other lines within Sydney are running under State Ownership. Sydney Metro is a privately ran line, but all of the assets (stations, trains etc.) are owned by the state. The NSW Government also has the ability to terminate the contract if they do not provide adequate services, or when the contract is up - the line can be back to being run by the state.
Sydney Metro is also a true Metro System, completely away from the existing network and Intercity network (Also, have a look at the Regional Network? Covers a much larger area).
Great video though :)

[blakedunston]

Hi True Belivers just saying you can use my footage if you want

[gabriel.]

Best train video on Australian trains - ever. Make more.

[HMTMelbournePTGal]

Marvellous video. Professionally put together and very informative. Keep up the good work, this channel is going places.

[inodesnet]

With regards to whether Sydney's system is a metro, it only lacks on common feature of metros; close stations. The Sydney metro is an independent system in ownership, track and rolling stock. The argument that metros are primarily CBD based isn't really true. All the large metro systems of the world are metropolitan systems that run into the "suburbs". Sydney is comparable in land area to metro London, Tokyo and Paris. The population of each cities really lends itself to how complex and inter connected each metro is. Additionally Sydney's Metro is completely automated and driverless, which is not common with a couple of examples for example in Tokyo.
Another important feature of Sydney's Metro is the requirement of straight platforms. Sydney's train stations are commonly curved, following the terrain. This leads to large gaps between the platform. The Sydney Metro requires every platform to be a straight line allowing for no gaps and perfect alignment with the platform gates (a concept borrowed from metro systems such as Hong Kong). This led to having to rework original stations on the Bankstown line. At Sydenham (a curved station), a metro platform had to be built to one side away from other platforms to ensure it could be built straight.

With regards to other train systems, Tokyo really needs its own study as it's the only one of these cities that makes the others look simplistic. There is no one complete map for Tokyo's train system. But the best estimate is that all train services combined, Tokyo has nearly 50 lines, many different companies and over 4000 stations. This means that Tokyo is larger than London, New York and Paris combined.

The other benefit of the Tokyo system is that it is not hub and spoke like Sydney. But this is mainly the case because Sydney has 3 to 4 CBD's (Sydney, Chatswood, Parramatta, Maquarie Park) whereas Tokyo has many more dense CBD's throughout Tokyo (the Yamanote line for example is a real city loop taking 59 minutes around the city).

[TrueBelievers]

If your wondering that recording at the end, was because I had to replace content, since the footage I used got copyright strike since the user didn't want to use the footage for any purpose even though that footage took up 0.05% of the video. But apparently I am wrong for using footage without their permission. Any feedback is welcome. I had so much problems getting this video, without making it terrible or getting it copyright by someone else.

[fanrichard]

I consider I used. MY footage to the metro and consider the metro in Melbourne is good more than Sydney

[inodesnet]

Not sure why the Sydney Metro was completed more quickly. But with regards to tunnelling, the majority of tunnelling in Sydney is through sandstone rather than clay.

[danceingdave]

To have trains leaving a platform every 3-4 mins, I think both metros took a look at London’s Crossrail. There they decided against having double-decker carriages in favour of longer trains. I think it all comes down to the time taken to empty and fill a carriage at a station. It’s hard to do when commuters leave their seats from upstairs or downstairs to de-train.

[rodericksmith]

That was a better analysis than most/all. You picked up on the link between metros and urban geography and history, and saw through a lot of management spin & propaganda (but not all).
Some of the figures were shonky. Melbourne is signalling for the bizarre figure of 23 tph (the same as the 1980s loop). Anyone can run double deck at 24 tph, and that provides greater capacity than single deck at 30 tph. The ultimate is double deck at 30 tph (Paris does it). The huge difference between Australia and the rest of the world is the nature of the traffic: typically tidal flow commuting from 70 min out, a result of railways shaping suburban development. Real metros have lots of short travel, with constant on and off. Management and politicians are obsessed with metro as a magic word (like monorail, natural, flooded with natural light, ecotourism, world-class and heaps of other buzz terms). Melbourne isn't building a metro. The outer ends are limited to 20-40 min headways: not even good suburban service, let alone metro. The transport minister was groomed by PTV to use the buzzword phrase 'turn up and go'; it won't be and can't be.

[gnhansen]

In some ways I prefer the Australian setup of having hybrid commuter and underground lines rather than having a separate metro network.

[liamnugget]

Australia’s greatest rivalry? Are you forgetting a certain northern state?