Re: The Late Sydney Rail System

["Chris Lehmann" <chrisjl@iname.com>]

Dave Proctor wrote in message <8a71f2$rbi$1@news1.mpx.com.au>...
>To tell you the truth, I have never had a problem with trains in Sydney and
>late running, but then I have always lived on lines that have a fairly
>frequent service. If trains are running 15 minutes late, then big deal, I
>will gt the one that 10 minutes ago when it arrives in 5 minutes time.


I have always thought that way as well.  Living on the Western line and
 working in Nth Sydney, as I did for about 20 years, I was used to a
system that was rarely late running.  Now that I work in the Inner West
 I have had more problems - but still not enough to put me off travelling
 by train
>
>One way that Sydney does fall down though is in the area of passenger
>information. If only they could get the destination signs on trains to work
>properly it would not be so bad (one would *hope* the driver would know
>where he/she was going). If they had adopted a less high-tech (but proven
>elsewhere) system they might actually have it working now.

Passenger "mis-information" is indeed the most pressing problem.  If I
knew that the next fast train was going to be 20 minutes late or be
cancelled
 I could catch the all stations train and get home reasonably satisfied.
Waiting
at Parramatta station, as I did a couple of weeks ago, for a fast train and
seeing the all station train come and go - and still no details about the
fast
trains' whereabouts - was extremely frustrating.  Especially when I could
have
caught the slow train at Strathfield.

Chris Lehmann