It\u2019s a sad moment, but I\u2019ve now realised that I\u2019ll be dead before Melbourne has a train to the airport.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m 57 years old. I eat green things. I exercise. And so I might just crack the 90s. Or even beyond, if all the gods like me.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s no spinach leaf, push-up, cold plunge or liver cleanse that can get me on a train to catch the VA 739 to the Gold Coast. I know I\u2019m not going to make it.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s just not meant to be. Like Socrates with an iPad \u2014 it pushes against the natural flow of time.<\/p>\n
But we\u2019re not talking about something historically out of place, are we? It\u2019s a train. We used to be good at trains.<\/p>\n
My grandfather was a bush timber cutter along the Murray. He felled the red gum to make the sleepers for the railway tracks.<\/p>\n
He was like thousands of other men who only had saws, axes, muscle, horses and tea boiling over the fire to get the job done. And they did. They connected the towns, and vapour trails from steam engines covered the state.<\/p>\n
So we know how to do it, and we know we want to do it, we just can\u2019t do it anymore.<\/p>\n
This week, the brand new premier announced Melbourne Airport rail as a priority.<\/p>\n
Yet we\u2019ve been here many times before. After the announcements come the same arguments about the route, the station location and the cost, and then we\u2019re back at the start with lots of blah blah and no toot toot.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not really money and debate that halts the train \u2014 it\u2019s the lack of political pay-off.<\/p>\n
Any competent politician \u2014 or even an incompetent one \u2014 knows that someone else will be cutting the ribbon.<\/p>\n
The truth is a train to the airport is going to take a particular kind of leader, and I\u2019m not sure we make them anymore.<\/p>\n
Who knows, we may get a surprise after November, but our long track to Tullamarine is a tale of much pessimism.<\/p>\n
So I hope I\u2019ve got a few good decades left. And if I\u2019m lucky, it\u2019ll be full of wonderful things \u2014 watching the Ashes at Lord\u2019s, nailing the solo on Comfortably Numb, perfecting paella, and becoming a grandfather too.<\/p>\n
But I now know what I won\u2019t get.<\/p>\n
Justin Smith is an author, journalist and broadcaster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a sad moment, but I\u2019ve now realised that I\u2019ll be dead before Melbourne has a train to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[90423,90449,90461,42924,90443,90419,90453,40819,84155,90456,90460,90462,57485,61734,90452,90444,90413,90455,90416,90420,90440,90436,44508,90451,90431,90418,90428,22775,90430,38992,42713,260,18559,90422,90425,90417,90438,90446,25868,7941,47324,90412,90454,31458,90411,90439,90415,16420,90433,37134,90434,37866,15595,90427,90424,90457,90437,38710,37262,39814,40413,41212,90458,90463,90421,90414,90448,58882,90435,90426,90442,37679,90441,90445,90429,73893,90450,38964,17467,90447,90459,37437,90432,68,30570,66760],"class_list":["post-68570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-s-airport-rail","tag-s-airport-rail-dream","tag-s-airport-train-dream","tag-s-announcement","tag-57-years","tag-a-bush-timber-cutter","tag-a-few-good-decades","tag-a-grandfather","tag-a-new-premier","tag-a-particular-kind","tag-a-priority-yet","tag-a-sad-moment","tag-a-surprise","tag-a-tale","tag-a-train","tag-all-the-gods","tag-an-ipad","tag-anymore-this","tag-axes","tag-blah-blah","tag-cold-plunge-or-liver-cleanse","tag-comfortably-numb","tag-decades","tag-even-an-incompetent-one","tag-green-things","tag-horses-and-tea","tag-it-perhaps","tag-leader","tag-lord","tag-lots","tag-many-times","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-airport-rail","tag-money-and-debate","tag-much-pessimism-so","tag-muscle","tag-no-spinach-leaf","tag-no-toot-toot-but","tag-november","tag-opinion","tag-other-men","tag-our-long-track","tag-paella","tag-place","tag-political-pay-off-any-competent-politician","tag-push-up","tag-saws","tag-smith","tag-socrates","tag-someone-else","tag-steam-engines","tag-the-90s","tag-the-airport","tag-the-announcements","tag-the-ashes","tag-the-brand-new-premier","tag-the-cold-political-reality","tag-the-cost","tag-the-fire","tag-the-gold-coast","tag-the-job","tag-the-lack","tag-the-murray","tag-the-natural-flow","tag-the-railway-tracks-he","tag-the-red-gum","tag-the-ribbon-the-truth","tag-the-route","tag-the-same-arguments","tag-the-sleepers","tag-the-solo","tag-the-start","tag-the-state-so","tag-the-station-location","tag-the-towns","tag-the-train","tag-the-va-739","tag-this-week","tag-thousands","tag-time-but","tag-trains-my-grandfather","tag-tullamarine","tag-vapour-trails","tag-victoria","tag-week","tag-wonderful-things"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}