[NSW] THE Airport Line Opening

["Chris Downs" <cvdowns@ozemail.com.au>]

1755 and no comment on the opening of THE Airport Line yet?

I missed the opening ceremony this morning but operations appeared
reasonably smooth up until 1255 when I headed home.  Some trains were a few
minutes late - not surprising with 4 minutes turnaround at Turrella for
some.

There weren't that many people around today but I don't think details of the
opening events got a real lot of media coverage.

>From what I saw today I think the line is great.  The stations are well laid
out and the access to the Ansett Terminal from Domestic (as its called) is
fantastic.  I'll test it (with luggage in tow) at 0700 tomorrow.

The 11/19 minute weekend headways are a bit poor.  Although no trains that I
saw today were overtaxed however due to the relatively small number of
opening day visitors.  Certainly nothing like 23/06/79 for the ESR but that
no doubt was a blessing.

The double track tunnel looks great especially to the north from Mascot (you
can see about 500m up the line) and Wolli Creek (you can see about 200m down
the line beneath the Illawarra Lines.

All tunnel signals are four aspect with LED "lamps".  I can see what some
drivers were saying - the green over green aspect and even green over yellow
does not really stand out in the bright tunnel environment.  Green over red
and red over red were just fine however (and most importantly).

The running times are good with some sprightly efforts put in between
Central and Green Square and also between Green Square and Mascot today
(both runs are about 2.7km long).  Beats the pants off "surface" transport
between Central and the airport.

What I found particularly noticeable was the minimal air pressure pulse
compared with the City Railway and the ESR.  The profile of a double deck
car in the twin track tunnel must only take up about 30% of the profile
compared with about 85% in the single track tunnels.  Also track borne noise
seemed much lower than either the CC or ESR.

I just caught Sydney's Channel 7 news.  The story dealt with the opening but
cast criticism on lack of dedicated trains (Bruce Baird [Federal Minister
for what???] was whinging about this)and that the service is integrated with
the East Hills/Macarthur lines and escalator problems - there were some
breakdowns today.

Its a shame CityRail did not use Tangara (G-set) rolling stock for the 1st
day trains.  The S & C sets in use (all 8 car) had there share of grime and
graffiti and a cracked window in one car - there was no special scrub.
Notwithstanding this some of the cars had opening windows in the door giving
a better view of tunnel running.

regardless of Sydney siders' cynicism towards public transport (and CityRail
in particular at the moment), overseas visitors will certainly benefit from
the link (as will locals) but the visitors will have a better of how the
link really adds to Sydney's transport infrastructure.

Chris