Sydney Metro’s first stage from Tullawong to Chatswood is set to purchase all its electricity needs from a new solar farm at Beryl in the Orana region of central northern New South Wales. It was revealed through RenewEconomy(link is external) and the Fin Review(link is external) that Transport for NSW is on the other end…
The Rail Futures Institute has called on the State and Commonwealth Governments to keep one eye on the long-term and get the route and operations of the Melbourne Airport Rail Link ‘right’ in the first instance. A statement from the rail lobby group says “we have long advocated that the Airport route should be from Southern…
The Kororoit Creek Road level crossing in Williamstown North has been completed one week ahead of schedule just as community consultation starts ramping up on The Moreland Road, Brunswick and Bell Street, Coburg level crossing removal projects. On Monday the Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Allan, announced trains would start to roll again on the…
Testing on the Sydney Metro Northwest has begun expanding across sections of the new line beyond the Tullawong terminus, storage, maintenance and operations depot area where testing has been limited to thus far. Trains have begun rolling over the new Windsor Road bridge and onto the new Kellyville Station this week with the ultimate aim to move…
The Western Australian cabinet has endorsed two Metronet project definition plans which the WA government says construction in both cases is on track to start next year. The Yanchep rail extension project will see the Joondalup Line extend northwards from Butler to Yanchep over 14.5km of new track. The Thornlie-Cockburn Link will provide Perth’s first…
Enabling works for the Parramatta Light Rail Project in Australia’s second oldest city are set to commence toward the end of the year after the NSW Government announced the Diona Ward joint venture had won the contract. The enabling works will encompass relocation of underground utilities, intersection upgrades, new traffic lights, landscaping, and changes to street…
The winners of the 2018 Victorian Architecture Awards have been announced at the annual awards dinner hosted on Friday night. Education and public architecture projects dominated across multiple categories, reinforcing the importance of a well designed public realm. Across 14 categories, a total of 66 awards were given including named awards, architecture awards and commendations from…
The New South Wales Government in its budget, to be released this week, will allocate $15.6 million to deliver increased bus services in metropolitan Sydney as part of a wider $1.5 billion program that will deliver bus fleet renewal and expansion. 1000 new services will be run through the Northern Beaches and 500 new services will…
Apparently, 9 minutes will be shaved off the time to travel from Pakenham and the City when the Monash Freeway expands, yet again. “The [Monash] freeway will be widened between Warrigal Road and Eastlink and between Clyde Road and Cardinia Road, cutting an estimated nine minutes off a peak-hour trip between Pakenham and the city,”…
澳大利亚又回到了“全球排行榜的首位”。正如上周官方经济增长数据所显示的，今年前三个月GDP增长了1％，这是六年来最好的季度结果。 但是几天前，另一份国家统计数据恰好在同一时间讲述了一个完全不同的故事。 国民银行（NAB）的澳大利亚幸福指数（Australian Wellbeing Index）连续第三个季度下滑，创下该指数诞生五年来的最低点。 这项调查采访了2000名澳人，询问他们对生活的看法和感受如何，结果发现平均幸福感，生活满意度，甚至生活价值感都在下降。它跟踪了48个不同的人口统计分组，除了其中两个以外，其他人的幸福感都变低了。 不满情绪的一个可能的罪魁祸首是工资增长持续低迷。 NAB的指数是澳大利亚当前统计国民幸福度的几项调查之一。 这些幸福度指标并不像GDP那样备受关注，但却突显了传统经济措施忽略的一些重要的事。 比方说，NAB的指数显示，社会大众的焦虑程度极高，引发了人们的关注。 这项自2013年以来每季度进行的调查发现，始终有大约四分之一的受访者感到“高度”焦虑。而财务压力往往是一个因素。 根据NAB的研究，对澳人幸福感拖累最大的因素，是“没时间”以及时间紧迫所造成的压力。这在18至29岁之间的女性中尤其严重。 年轻女性报告焦虑的比例也一直高于其他人口群体。 心理疾患会造成巨大的经济成本。而患有心理疾患的人，幸福感往往低于平均水平。 费尔法克斯– 横向经济学指数显示，心理疾患每年造成2140亿元的经济成本——相当于经济年产值的12％左右。 它还表明，过去十年中肥胖造成的幸福成本已经上涨了80％以上，接近每年1300亿元。 国民幸福度也深受经济资源分配的影响。 过去的研究发现，最贫穷的五分之一家庭，所得每增加1块钱，幸福度的提高要比最富有的五分之一家庭多挣1块钱多出五倍。 在NAB过往的研究中，年收入10万元以上的受访者，幸福感和生活满意度也都高于年收入不超过3.5万元的受访者。