One thing we can possibly all agree on is there’s no leaks regarding this venture. That makes me feel more positive about the project than anything I’m garnering here.

12 hours ago, Go the Biff said:

Betsy is a tipping site set up by Matt Welsh after he got the lemonade and sars from his short career at Racing Victoria. Prior to that he'd been a "form analyst" at racing.com.

I suspect they might have an agenda. What they don't have is influence. Very low subscription/ followers base.

This is the point I’m making. Betsy are running an agenda for the MRC who we need to have on board and it’s the tunnel that is the issue.

1 hour ago, Demonsone said:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but would Pert & co not have recognised all the variables of Caulfield, with so many different parties and the funding required through their feasibility process.

I often wonder with these feasibility studies ,just another name for jobs for the boys .

13 hours ago, Go the Biff said:

Betsy is a tipping site set up by Matt Welsh after he got the lemonade and sars from his short career at Racing Victoria. Prior to that he'd been a "form analyst" at racing.com.

I suspect they might have an agenda. What they don't have is influence. Very low subscription/ followers base.

Matt Welsh is one of the most passionate Demon supporters you’ll ever meet in your life.

Why would he be doing the bidding of an organisation that he left acrimoniously, to the detriment of the football club he loves?

People have their heads in the sand.

13 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

Tell that to the horses!

What ???

Horses wont know any difference

Why don't we offer use of Gotch's paddock to the MRC for while the tunnel is being built. I'll admit I don't know much about horse racing, but horses do graze on paddock's and the oval is the same shape as Caulfield race track. What would be involved in putting in place the Insfrasutructure to host say the Caulfield Cup at Gotch's paddock for one year. We should put it to the MRC and seek support from the CRRT.

3 hours ago, beelzebub said:

What ???

Horses wont know any difference

A racetrack surface which is either compacted from earthworks or has inconsistent hardness definitely increases injury risk, and unstable subsiding soil segments caused by disturbed drainage patterns is basically an on-track landmine.

I say this as someone who thinks racing can eat a bag of soil-enhancing byproducts and that Caulfield would be much better served if racing got out completely, but if we have to live alongside them then we have to account for the stakeholders.

That said, you can definitely bank on them exaggerating the impacts and messing with the project parameters just because racing's hierarchy likes to make people burn themselves with cigarettes just to prove their submission.

19 hours ago, picket fence said:

Caulfield is dead and buried, Mr. Ed and everyone else know it!

I don’t know anything.

I’m a horse.

31 minutes ago, Mister Ed said:

I don’t know anything.

That’s more than plenty on here.

39 minutes ago, Mister Ed said:

I don’t know anything.

I’m a horse.

Of course

5 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

A racetrack surface which is either compacted from earthworks or has inconsistent hardness definitely increases injury risk, and unstable subsiding soil segments caused by disturbed drainage patterns is basically an on-track landmine.

I say this as someone who thinks racing can eat a bag of soil-enhancing byproducts and that Caulfield would be much better served if racing got out completely, but if we have to live alongside them then we have to account for the stakeholders.

That said, you can definitely bank on them exaggerating the impacts and messing with the project parameters just because racing's hierarchy likes to make people burn themselves with cigarettes just to prove their submission.

I'll play Trivago again

It's pizz easy. Seriously.

Remove top ( i.e turf... with sports /tracks to a depth of around 200 mm . Store ... or.... have new turf growing ready to lay.

Cut trench. Compact sub base to 98% hard..

If any services required to inner .. do at same time. Install precast tunnel sections.. recover over with appropriate sub-bases and soil. Relay turf... aerate .. water... Replace rails.

That is as hard as it gets. As far as a tunnel goes.

A horse wouldn't even know anything had happened.

Depending on how long a window you had available Id probably take in any plant needed for terraforming then.... might need to crane it out later. You could lay temporary access apron but there could be risk to track. Craning sounds excessive... but could remove all plant in 24hrs .

There is nothing about this project which actually IS an insurmountable impediment.

There's only agenda.

19 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

There is nothing about this project which actually IS an insurmountable impediment.

There's only agenda.

That much I'll absolutely concur with!

It is possible that, 9 months into a 6 week remedial works at my building, I may have a rather pessimistic outlook on construction.

Recently they added the first layer of balcony waterproofing in 95% humidity on the saturday morning of a weekend forecast to have Sydney's biggest storms in months. The engineer had literally called them to say 'Don't do that, numbnuts', but they still did it.

Their solution was to nail black tarpaulin directly into the gutters, but then they didn't tie it down properly so for four days it flung around like a set for Pirates of the Caribbean. "Arr, me sand layer be causing deep rooted bubbl'n, and ye balcony now be pumice."

A horse would have done a better job and I certainly wouldn't let one on the balcony.

Frankly, @beelzebub I'm slightly uplifted to have interacted with someone who seems a proper construction professional able to articulate a project plan. It's like having a night parrot land on your balcony - if one were to have a functioning balcony, that is.

The $100 million estimate was put forward in 2024.

It is now 2026, and we are nowhere putting a shovel in the ground, inflation, interest rates energy costs have gone through the roof.

It is also very unusual to carry out feasibility studies before,

holding a letter of understanding regarding funding from financiers.