Re: [VIC] Major Storm Disruption, Melbourne, 21 Dec 2000

["Ben" <smithb@alphalink.com.au>]

Also heard on the news tonight that busses replaced trains between Ringwood
and Upper Ferntree Gully because of repairs due to stom damage. Connex site
confirmed this.


--
Ben Smith

Melbourne Victoria


"Tony Lammens" <lammens@connexus.net.au> wrote in message
3A4451FA.5ED5@connexus.net.au">news:3A4451FA.5ED5@connexus.net.au...
> Frankly, I'm a tad surprised that I'm starting a thread for this
> as I would have thought that 24 hours after, someone else would
> have reported this, but anyway ...
>
> Yesterday (Thursday 21 Dec) a severe electrical storm passed-through
> Melbourne around 4pm, bringing the temperature down suddenly from
> around 38 to about 30 (it later fell to around 24) but dramatically
> increasing the humidity to create a Singapore-like environment.
>
> Anyway, enough of the meteorology ...
>
> One result was that a large tree on the north side of the Caulfield
> group tracks between Armadale and Malvern, just west of the
> Malvern Central shopping centre.  The tree fell onto (at least) the
> 2 northern (Dandenong) line train tracks (the line is quadruplicated
> up to Caulfield). It brought-down the overhead over several hundred
> metres also.
>
> Power supply was apparently severely disrupted over the whole area.
> The two remaining tracks were used for the evening peak service, and
> service was severely disrupted. I was on the 1711 from Spencer St to
> Frankston (which actually left at 1723). Announcements at stations
> informed passengers of delays of 15-20 minutes due to the usage of
> only two tracks. My express service ended up leaving Caulfield
> around 1802 (scheduled around 1730) having travelled at walking
> pace from South Yarra onwards - about 10 minutes to get from Sth
> Yarra to Hawksburn alone.
>
> The journey was pretty uneventful then until around Edithvale, when
> further storm damage affecting power supply caused further walking-
> pace and frequent stopping until before Bonbeach. Power had
> also apparently caused boom gate problems between Mordialloc and
> Frankston. The train eventually arrived in Frankston at 1901 (54
> minutes late), the journey having taken around 1.75 hours! This
> being the Stony-Point connecting service, many passengers had stood
> up to Carrum - standing time of around 1.5 hours! Commendably,
> the 1812 Stony Point diesel had been delayed. The train then formed
> the 1814 Flinders Street service.
>
> Tony.
>
> "I reach high speeds. I especially like driving down a hill directly
> at a tree and swerving to one side at the last moment. That's my way
> to relax" - Boris Yeltsin
>
> --
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>  TONY LAMMENS;  Melbourne, Australia;  lammens@connexus.net.au
>                 http://home.connexus.net.au/~lammens/
>                      Film reviews, music, cycling