NSW State Rail...a nightmare that is getting worse

["Pete" <Klendathu98@yahoo.com.au>]

Im new to this group, and my train expertise only goes as far as being a
victim..I mean customer of State Rail in NSW. Things are reaching a breaking
point in State Rail's network.

Im a regular traveller from the Campbelltown area to the city circle, and
things cant get much worse.

-Late trains are becoming the norm. Cancellations during peak hour seem the
latest increasing trends.

-Filthy trains in the morning. Once had stagnant water swishing around on
the floor. The smell of vomit is sometimes present as well.

- Forget catching a train on the weekends, if a bus service isnt bad
enough....the cancellations will surely break the spirit of even the most
optimistic of travellers.

- The security guards are keystone cops, and the criminals that travel the
system know it. Violent hoodlums rule the system at night, especially on
gloomily lit stations that are not attended. Even during the daylight hours
standing on a Western Suburbs platorm can be a semi-dangerous experience.

-Summer, air conditioner on Non-Tangara trains doesnt usually work. Come
Winter, its on full blast freeze mode.

-Ticket prices are an outrage, and just keep going up. 35 bucks for a weekly
into the city and rising.

-ticketing police that have delusions of power. I once honestly lost my
ticket on a journey, only to be rudely slapped with a 100 dollar fine..even
though I had first walked to the ticket office at my destination and offered
payment. I explained that for years I had been a honest paying traveller,
and here I was with a  lost ticket offering to pay...not good enough.

When will this fiasco end? When will the prices stop rising and the service
stop plummeting? And they wonder why people avoid public transport as much
as possible and hit the roads?

Does anybody from inside State Rail have an opinion on whats causing the
trouble? Lack of funds? Bad management?

I remember many years ago in the early 90's things were not this bad.

Pete