Re: [Vic] Connex TV ads

[Michael Walker <wk@cgsc.vic.edu.au>]

James, you seem to have a bee in your bonnet about refurbishing the
Hitachis. You will not see the Hitachis refurbished because:

a) They are perceived to be old. People seem to think perception is
just as important as providing the goods in this day and age. There is
nothing inherently wrong with the inside of the Comengs either, carpet,
padded seating, air conditioning, tinted panoramic windows, etc. Yet
they are being refurbished. If all that Connex have done is done up the
interior of the carriage, then their refurbishment is a waste of time.
Why? Because the problem with the Comengs highlighted theoretically by
the auditor genral's report of a few years ago, and the experience of
the Upfield line closure between Flemington Bridge and North Melbourne
when the Comengs were replced by Hitachis is that they are highly
unreliable mechanically. The auditor general's report gave figures
along the lines of best practise MTBF=100,000kms, Melbourne's trains
are averaging 4-5,000. I saved the report at home somewhere if anybody
wants any more info. If all Connex has done is an interior
refurbishment and new fibreglass fronts, it is because they have to as
part of their contract and they are trying to improve the perception of
their trains. And old trains have bad perceptions, however good they
may be. You could argue a case for Britian's railways keeping
historical swing door carriages along the lines of 'all you have to do
is spend lots of money refurbishing them', even though it may be
cheaper and better to get new. There comes a time when it is better to
relegate particular models to tourist railways and museums.

b) Your air conditioning in the saloons will never be, allegedly the
chassis and body structure is too weak to support air conditioning
being installed. From what I heard at the time, the drivers cabs were
done because they had to (OH&S), and the cabs are the strongest part of
the carriages. Even then the units installed are pretty small (and I
doubt especially effective).

c) Given they have to buy new trains anyway, what would be the
additional cost of refurbishing Hitachi trains when they don't have to.
>From memory, one of the justifications for not refurbishing the rest of
the Harris trains and instead adding extra trains to the Comeng order
was that it would cost more to keep the Harris trains than it would to
buy new ones.

Feel free to disagree or correct any erroneous facts.
--
Michael Walker
Email: wk@cgsc.vic.edu.au
ICQ: 78913383


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