Re: [v] Flinders St station stuff-ups - AGAIN

["James C" <jamesccj@optusnet.com.au>]

And also just before the privatisation.....but after the privatisation
things are better....

Cheers
James



Kym Columbine <KymColumbine@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:AzGZ4.11147$c5.17184@newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
> Nothing new about this.
>
> I used to Travel Broadmeadows/Glenroy to Glenferrie every day to go to Uni
> 91-94 and this sort of thing was a regular occurence.
>
> Kym
>
>
> Mick Stock wrote in message <393650F7.C0711C87@nospam.bigpond.com>...
> >This is getting way beyond a joke.....
> >I challenge ANYONE who works at Hillside to come up with the REAL
> >explanation for the following:
> >
> >Who is responsible for what trains are switched to what platforms at
> >FSS?
> >
> >This afternoon, I had to catch a train much earlier (about 3 hours) than
> >normal - at about 3pm, they couldn't make up their minds what trains
> >were leaving what platforms (plat. 2, 3, & 4).  Some trains which
> >normally leave from plat. 4 were switched to 3, trains which should have
> >been using plat 2 or 3 were switched to 4, the display screens were
> >TOTALLY out of sync with actual train movements, and even station staff
> >didn't have a clue what was going on!
> >
> >For example, at about 14:55, the 15:05 (15:04??) Glen Waverley was
> >sitting at plat. 2, was announced as such, but the screens indicated
> >"not taking passengers", and the doors were closed, so no-one could get
> >on anyway. The 15:01 Alamain train was sitting at plat. 3. At 14:58, the
> >14:59 Lilydale was announced as "departing plat. 4", and passengers were
> >only given a one minute warning of this fact.  Considering the mess that
> >plat 2/3 is in at the moment, moving everyone from 2/3 across to 4 is a
> >major pain the the a..., so why did they do it?
> >
> >And why the hell can't they stop changing what platform a train is going
> >to leave from?  As a typical example (and one which happens almost every
> >day on some services):
> >
> >One minute, the screens show that a train going to Lilydale will leave
> >from plat 2, then a few mins later plat 3, then back to 2. In the
> >meantime, the train arriving on plat 3 ends up being the Lilydale... Or
> >worse still, the train arriving on plat 4 will be the one!  In the
> >meantime, the screens on plat 2/3 will often be turned off!  With the
> >so-called construction works, which restrict access for a large part of
> >platforms 2/3, further delays are triggered while passengers attempt to
> >move from one side to the other with the limited access caused by the
> >construction works.
> >
> >It is also quite common for a train to be delayed, because another train
> >which is due to leave AFTER the scheduled earlier train was given access
> >to the platforms first (which is also what happen this afternoon)!
> >
> >Most days, I catch either the 18:04 (which may as well be rescheduled to
> >18:11, as it rarely leaves before then!), the 18:14 Belgrave (usually
> >leave 18:16), or the 18:22 Lilydale from FSS.  The trains are almost
> >always late, arrive at the other end even later. Even at this time of
> >the evening there is almost always platform swapping as in todays
> >example above (mainly between 2 & 3, but occassionally switched to plat
> >4 or even plat 1).  And of course, I usually end up missing bus
> >connections due to the late running, resulting in 30-40 min wait for the
> >next bus....
> >
> >This is sloppy running, and can not be justified.  At no time was there
> >any indication of signal problems, as trains were using all platforms
> >concerned (and switching tracks quite normally).
> >
> >And when are they going to FIX THOSE USELESS BLOODY
> >SCREENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> >
> >Can ANYONE explain how many years ago, when everything was done manually
> >(computers weren't used for that sort of thing in the 50's/60's/early
> >70's(?)), there were less problems than now.  With modern technology,
> >these problems shouldn't be happening, except for when there are genuine
> >equipment failures, and yet in real life, things are going downhill very
> >fast.
> >
> >Mick.
>
>