Hi all,

I found a section of heritage permits that the Melbourne Metro Authority has applied for in order to make changes to the St Kilda Rd environs from Toorak Rd - past the current Domain interchange.  The realignment of tramway tracks is central to this in order to provide room to construct the station along with the new Toorak Rd west line and the decommissioning of Domain Interchange in its current form.  I've linked through the PDF file of the 5 constuction stages to construct the temporary tracks in St Kilda Rd.  I would assume that once Domain Station is finished then the tram lines will resume running down the centre alignment.  The changes are quite extensive and I can't adequately describe them here - you'd be best looking at the maps to see the scale of works.  I can't recall a similar project that involves a temporary alignment of tram lines to this extent.

http://www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/303880/P25649-Construction-Stages.pdf

Temporary means permanent.

As someone who knows the intersection at Toorak Road West and St Kilda Road well I am assure you this will be a disaster.  Park Street is nice and wide where the tram runs now and the idea of another superstop in an area with hardly any space will cause a traffic disaster.  This city is just becoming slower and slower to get around.

As someone who knows the intersection at Toorak Road West and St Kilda Road well I am assure you this will be a disaster.  Park Street is nice and wide where the tram runs now and the idea of another superstop in an area with hardly any space will cause a traffic disaster.  This city is just becoming slower and slower to get around.

How else are they supposed to construct Domain Station without temporarily moving the tram services out of the way? Although indications are that the Toorak West option might become permanent due to the proposed linking of Routes 55 & 8 to become Route 58. It may not be the best solution ever thought of but it's a good way to keep trams running.  If you see page 5 of the construction stages it indicates the underground footprint of Domain Station. I believe it's been said that the Toorak West diversion might be in place by April next year.

I don't think anyone has said this location is going to be easy to build in given that it's a complex intersection with a large volume of trams and traffic.

Temporary means permanent.

They're going to leave it like this are they?

Temporary means permanent.

They're going to leave it like this are they?

I think that's the Stage 4 picture. The Stage 5 where the tracks are Green (temporary) is the next page. I doubt they are going to leave the tracks in this alignment when the station is finished. I believe what it will allow is direct interchange between the station and the tram stop above it.  Of interest is the new island platform stop that's shown in Park St where there isn't one in this location at the moment.

This city is just becoming slower and slower to get around.

Don't blame the trams, you only have to think about the name Toorak to see where the real road trouble is.

Don't blame the trams, you only have to think about the name Toorak to see where the real road trouble is.

The changes to the tram system around the intersection I believe will cause just gridlock and cost huge amounts to move so why are they doing it and why can't another solution be found?  It just might be that they have always wanted an excuse to clog Toorak Road West and if Vicroads is involved it will have 30 right turn arrows and other measures to bring traffic to a standstill.

Don't blame the trams, you only have to think about the name Toorak to see where the real road trouble is.
The changes to the tram system around the intersection I believe will cause just gridlock and cost huge amounts to move so why are they doing it and why can't another solution be found?  It just might be that they have always wanted an excuse to clog Toorak Road West and if Vicroads is involved it will have 30 right turn arrows and other measures to bring traffic to a standstill.

They're moving the tramline to facilitate construction of Domain Station. Trams will be unable to use Park St as the main staging area and construction depot for Domain Station is the Edmund Rice Oval - I believe Park St will be blocked at this point. Yes it will be pain in the rear end but the end results will be worth it when Melbourne Metro is up and running and the tram system reinstated down the middle of St Kilda Rd. All the Heritage applications are referring to are temporary realignments of the tram network although I suspect Toorak Rd West will become permanent due to the imminent introduction of Route 58.

They're moving the tramline to facilitate construction of Domain Station. Trams will be unable to use Park St as the main staging area and construction depot for Domain Station is the Edmund Rice Oval - I believe Park St will be blocked at this point. Yes it will be pain in the rear end but the end results will be worth it when Melbourne Metro is up and running and the tram system reinstated down the middle of St Kilda Rd. All the Heritage applications are referring to are temporary realignments of the tram network although I suspect Toorak Rd West will become permanent due to the imminent introduction of Route 58.

Looking on the Melway the Toorak Road West connection will be much quicker than via Domain Road and Park Street.

Question would be will the two connections remain after the Domain Station works are complete ?

Could Route 8 be reincarnated from a turnback at ST Kilda Road (Domain) to the current terminus or the Park Street (South Melbourne) link completed to a tram route could go from Toorak to South Melbourne Beach via Domain Road)

Or will effort be made to trash the Domain Road and Park Street route by removal of the curve at Toorak Road West / Park Street, or even dewire the route.

They're moving the tramline to facilitate construction of Domain Station. Trams will be unable to use Park St as the main staging area and construction depot for Domain Station is the Edmund Rice Oval - I believe Park St will be blocked at this point. Yes it will be pain in the rear end but the end results will be worth it when Melbourne Metro is up and running and the tram system reinstated down the middle of St Kilda Rd. All the Heritage applications are referring to are temporary realignments of the tram network although I suspect Toorak Rd West will become permanent due to the imminent introduction of Route 58.Looking on the Melway the Toorak Road West connection will be much quicker than via Domain Road and Park Street.

Question would be will the two connections remain after the Domain Station works are complete ?

Could Route 8 be reincarnated from a turnback at ST Kilda Road (Domain) to the current terminus  

Or will effort be made to trash the Domain Road and Park Street route by removal of the curve at Toorak Road West / Park Street, or even dewire the route.

No, I strongly believe that once the Toorak West connection is built, Park St/Domain road tracks will be completely removed, wires and all. I know that Route 58 is a strong possibility so they will want to link Route 8 to Route 55 - so no truncation. They are wanting to use the Edmund Rice oval as a staging area so Domain Rd will be basically unusable for quite a few years while Domain station is built.