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Re: Olympics service(?)
Bill McNiven wrote in message ...
>The story archived at
>http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/news/19991220/A49708-1999Dec20.html reports
all kinds of stuff. (The rest of this is easier read in a fixed-width font
such as Courier New as it contains a few tables.)
After the earlier postings on Sydney Olympics services, I thought I should
dig out a few figures. These have come from various sources over the last
year, so there are a few small inconsistencies.
The Sydney "Suburban" fleet (including 'G' sets and the 2-car sets that
wander to Newcastle and Wollongong) consists of approximately 1,218 cars, of
which around 89% are scheduled for daily service. Obviously this car fleet
is one constraint on the services to be operated during the Olympics.
Equivalent
Suburban Cars 8-car sets cars
Timetable Requirement 135 1080 88.67%
MainTrain 3 24 1.97%
General Inspection 3 24 1.97%
Refurbishment 3 24 1.97%
Spare 2 18 1.48%
Other 6 48 3.94%
----- ----- -----
152 1218 100%
The equivalent figures for 'V' sets are ...
Timetable Requirement 26 210 87.50%
MainTrain etc. 3 30 12.50%
----- ----- -----
30 240 100%
The timetable requirement is met by an assortment of 8, 6 and 2 car trains
(counting two 4-car trains as one 8) ...
trains cars
Sector 1 (incl. Wollongong 'G', 'L')
8DD 20 160
6DD 8 48
2DD 2 4
Sector 2
8DD 40 320
6DD 14 84
Sector 3 (incl. Gosford 'G', 'K')
8DD 43 344
6DD 19 114
2DD 4 8
Sector 4 (week days)
2DD 2 4
----- -----
152 1086
Another constraint is track capacity. While the design target in the 1920's
might have been trains every 3 minutes on every track, what is achieved with
double-deck loading times is a peak of 15 or 16 trains per hour on one
track. The present p.m. peak-hour frequencies (in trains / hour) are
approximately:
WEST
Mount Victoria etc. 4
Penrith, Emu Plains 8
Blacktown, Richmond 4
Gosford etc. 4
Epping, Hornsby (M) 8
Liverpool 8
Lidcombe - Bankstown 4
----
40
FROM CITY OUTER
East Hills, Campbelltown 10
Bankstown 6
-----
16
FROM BONDI JCT.
Hurstville, Waterfall, Cronulla 12
Wollongong etc. 4
-----
16
OVER THE BRIDGE
North Shore 10
Gosford via North Shore 2
----
12
What has been well-reheased at Olympic Test events is the concept that there
will be a dedicated Sydney Terminal / Olympic Park / Blacktown service with
29 trains at 4' intervals, monopolising the Main Lines (and West Suburban)
between Sydney and Blacktown. All other traffic will be squeezed onto the
Local (Sydney - Homebush) and Suburban (and West Main) Sydney - Blacktown.
>From the "test events", I gather that there will be no attempt to run
specific Hornsby - Olympic Park or Campbelltown - Olympic Park services. At
the Olympic Park end, any attempt to provide more than two (i.e. Sydney from
Plat. 1 and Blacktown from Plat. 4) services doesn't work when there are big
queues. From a network point of view, it's easier to say that every train
from Campbelltown is "change at Granville for OP" and every train from
Hornsby is "change at Strathfield for OP" than to try to advertise special
(and risky) services.
>From my observations of some of the "practice events", TRACK CAPACITY WILL
CONSTRAIN THE SERVICE TO THE WEST. If the down Main, Suburban and Local
Lines each carry 16 trains per hour, and assuming Olympic Park gets the 16
trains / hour seen at the Rugby League finals and similar Olympic Test
Events, then the "regular" service to Strathfield will be reduced from the
40 trains / hour listed above to 32 or fewer. Of course, there's no need to
run any 6-car trains so the reduction in passenger capacity need not be
quite so severe.
The real bottleneck will be the Suburban between Homebush and Lidcombe -
which means it may be worthwhile to terminate "Local" trains at Ashfield.
It should be possible to divert a few Liverpool trains via Bankstown.
A speculative evening peak in late September might feature (in trains /
hour) ...
WEST (75% of normal service)
Olympic Park 16
Mount Victoria etc. 3
Penrith, Emu Plains 6
Blacktown, Richmond 3
Gosford etc. 3
Epping, Hornsby (M) 6 (this is no change if 8 x 6DD become 6 x
8DD!)
Liverpool 3 (plus 3 running express via Bankstown)
Lidcombe - Bankstown 3
Ashfield 3
----
46
FROM CITY OUTER (81% of normal service)
East Hills, Campbelltown 8
Bankstown 5
Diverted Liverpool 3
-----
16
Remembering that the ORTA press release suggested that normal School
Holidays result in a 15% drop in loadings, this can probably be "sold" to
Sydney residents and Olympic visitors if the "peak hour" is stretched from
two hours 16:00 - 18:00 to four hours 15:00 - 19:00.
How does this track-based estimate match the fleet?
I have heard that no electric cars will be undergoing refurbishment during
the Olympics, and that scheduled inspections will be scheduled away from The
Games.
The fleet in September 2000 should be ...
Equivalent
Suburban Cars 8-car sets cars
Timetable Requirement 146 1170 96.06%
MainTrain 0
General Inspection 0
Refurbishment 0
Spare 6 48 3.94%
Other 0
----- ----- -----
152 1218 100%
The equivalent figures for 'V' sets are ...
Timetable Requirement 28 230 95.83%
Spare 1 10 4.17%
----- ----- -----
30 240 100%
My SPECULATION goes like this ...
1 The PR barrage which told Sydneysiders not to expect a train at 01:15 on
New Year's Day is repeated and thus the "peak hour" is spread from 2 hours
to 4 hours.
2 Illawarra suburban services lose an arbitrary 10% of their cars by
reducing 10 8-car trains to 6 cars.
3 Sector 2 gets 80% of its train services and 85% of its cars. Services to
the West are reduced to 75% by running the normal service pattern, with the
intervals changed from 15/30 minutes to 20/40 minutes. Half the Liverpool
trains are diverted via Bankstown.
4 Sector 3 gets 80% of its train services and 86% of its cars. Services to
the West are reduced to 75% by running the normal service pattern, with the
intervals changed from 15/30 minutes to 20/40 minutes. There are some
reductions on the North Shore.
The distribution of cars and sets would be something like ...
trains cars
Sector 1 (100% of services, 90% of cars)
8DD 10 80
6DD 18 108
2DD 2 4
Sector 2 (80% of services, 85% of cars)
8DD 43 344
6DD 0 0
Sector 3 (80% of services, 86% of cars)
8DD 49 392
6DD 0 0
2DD 4 8
Sector 4 (15 trains / hour)
8DD 29 232
----- -----
155 1168
Having gone through this thought process, I don't understand some of the
"cuts" announced by ORTA on 20 December.
Why cancel "Cumberland Line" trains when the bottlenecks are east of
Granville and the City - Granville - Penrith & Liverpool trains will be
packed?
Why bustitute Lidcombe - Bankstown? Track capacity or rolling stock
capacity? Or a fear of "flat junction" delays at Lidcombe?
Does "regional Newcastle services will be closed" mean that it's worth
replacing four 2DD trains with buses to scrape up the last 8DD set for
Sydney?
Thinking through the track constraints also reduces the impact of "a lack of
Millenium Trains". Adding another 80 cars to the fleet would allow normal
services on the North Shore and the Illawarra (and the "Cumberland Line"?)
but it wouldn't result in squeezing and extra train through the peak to
Strathfield. Then, it might allow suburban cars to make extra trips to
Gosford / Wollongong.
I guess all will be revealed when "organisers finalise details of timetables
around June".
Rgds
Bill
:-)
PS: What happened to the 63 or so Tulloch trailers from "M" and "W" sets?
Are they a strategic reserve somewhere or have they gone to some great
aluminimum smelter in the sky?
PPS: I haven't even thought about 'V' set cars and bustitution between
Lithgow and Katoomba. That should be another contributor's task.