The Victorian Government’s plan for an underground railway has been attacked in a Melbourne University report which warns that to go ahead at present would be a serious mistake. It accuses the Government of recommending the expenditure of $80 million without competent planning or research. It says the Government has based its limited planning on two assumptions: that the city workforce will increase 40 per cent by 1985 and that patronage of rail transport to the city will increase. Construction of the City Loop Credit:Fairfax Media In fact, the report says, the city workforce has remained static since 1951 and passenger traffic has been falling.

“Many of the arguments put forward to support the construction of the underground loop line are misleading or irrelevant,” it says. “The evidence is strong that to proceed with the underground at present would be a serious mistake.” The report was prepared by Mr. Nicholas F. Clark, head of the transport section in the Civil Engineering Department, and Mr K. W. Ogden, a research student. It has stirred wide interest in the Federal Treasury and Transport Department, and is likely to strengthen Commonwealth opposition to the scheme. Workers at the new Flagstaff Station, 1981. Credit:Fairfax Archives “The Minister for Transport (Mr. Wilcox) appears to be acting on the grounds that the underground railway is Government policy and therefore need not be investigated,” Mr. Clarke said last night. The well-documented report says the Government had released no reports detailing the engineering and planning justification for the present project.

“Occasional statements on the need for the underground have been based on very doubtful assumptions,” it says. Workers inspect a hole in the tunnel linking Parliament Station to Jolimont Station. Credit:Fairfax Archives The report is one in a series of special lectures to transport experts from Government and industry. Other speakers have included the Federal Minister for Shipping and Transport (Mr. Sinclair), the Federal Opposition Leader (Mr. Whitlam) and Mr. Wilcox. Shopping plan The plan sets out to demolish the popular reasons put forward in favour of the underground loop. It says the Flinders Street station bottleneck could be solved by staggering shopping hours.

The construction of marshalling lines on the Newmarket abattoirs site would save trains reversing at Flinders Street and cut congestion. Workers pour concrete for the City Loop, 1972. Credit:Fairfax Archives Mr. Wilcox said in Melbourne last night: “The Government would not be proceeding with the underground railway loop unless it was satisfied that it was necessary and logical – and this has been decided on ample expert advice. “There have been a number of reports over the years which have recommended the construction of the underground loop – I can not give them to you specifically.” Mr. Clark said last night that the only official public document on the underground was issued by the Parliamentary Works Committee in 1954. “Which simply is not relevant to Melbourne’s needs in 1980,” he said.

“If detailed information has been obtained then why should it not be made available to the public, who after all are the owners of the railway?” the report asks. The best alternatives to the project would be improvements to suburban rail and tram systems and the replacement of obsolete rolling stock, some of which had been in regular service for over 30 years. “The immediate, short-term problem is the Flinders Street bottleneck for which there are many possible solutions. It does not justify major investment without detailed examination of the nature of the problem and possibly other methods of solution including those with less costs than the underground,” the report says. The first train passes through Museum Station (later Melbourne Central) in 1981. Credit:Fairfax Archives The Premier (Sir Henry Bolte) and Mr. Wilcox will meet the Prime Minister (Mr. Gorton) this month to press for a $40 million grant to finance the underground project.