Re: [NSW, Ci-tyra-il]Odd observations, Sat. 27 May

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

Always "Woll Eye" for Wolli from my growing up in Bardwell Park, although
plenty of people incorrectly call it "Wool Eye".  The lovely coastal village
south of Grafton (often mentioned in coastal weather forecasts) is Wooli and
correctly pronounced "Wool Eye".

Chris

Gnome 412 <gnome412@hotmail.com> wrote in message
M0MX4.2736$N4.89251@ozemail.com.au">news:M0MX4.2736$N4.89251@ozemail.com.au...
> Took an afternoon trip from Kogarah to the city and back. As always, the
> trip was full of surprises.  Starting with 3801 passing very quietly on
the
> down at 12.15 pm.
>
> The Up and Down Illawarra lines were closed between Hurstville and
Sydenham,
> so the Wolli Creek Interchange was out of action after six days' use.  A
> home-made poster at Kogarah suggested changing at Central for the Airport
> (eminently sensible!).  The official poster at Redfern advised of a bus
> service between Sydenham and Wolli Creek.  I suspect that passengers from
> Redfern, Sydenham and Tempe for the airport could have been transported to
> Turrella by East Hills and Macarthur trains much more simply.  I suspect
> that a bus over the short distance from Wolli Creek to ARNCLIFFE would
have
> been welcomed by any unsuspecting airport to Illawarra travellers.  This
> shutdown was not mentioned at http://www.cityrail.nsw.gov.au/upgrading or
in
> the printed track maintenance posters.
>
> The Up and Down Main lines were closed between Illawarra Junction and
Wells
> Street to allow reinstallation of the junction with the Up Eveleigh Engine
> Dive (or is it now properly the Bi-Di Eveleigh empty train dive?).  West
and
> North Inter-city and Olympic Park trains via the Suburban; some Shore -
West
> trains diverted to the Local; South Endeavours via the Local; Illawarra
> Inter-city trains to Martin Place.  It all seemed to be running very
> smoothly, proving that practice makes perfect. This shutdown was not
> mentioned at http://www.cityrail.nsw.gov.au/upgrading or in the printed
> track maintenance posters, but it didn't involve any diversion of
> passengers.
>
> Finally, a small delay which illustrates all the problems of communication
> within the CityRail operation and the various reactions of customers.  The
> nominal 4.40 pm from Bondi Junction to Waterfall was about 10 minutes late
> from Central.  The front car was closed off due to graffiti covering lower
> deck windows.  The train stopped at Rockdale for 15 minutes while the
driver
> investigated a minor defect and conferred with "Defects".  The guard made
> appropriate announcements.  Some passengers alighted and left the station.
> Some passengers complained to the guard that he should have a better idea
of
> how long the train would be delayed.  After 12 minutes at Rockdale the ASM
> (or whatever they're called now) arrived on the platform to get the run
> number for his report.  The train left Rockdale 27 minutes late.
>
> This unimportant incident is worrying in that, even though Rockdale is
> well-staffed, it seems that train running is no longer the business of
> Customer Service personnel ... it's something that happens downstairs
> independently of Station Management and Customer Service Focus!
>
> Rgds
>
> BTW, what's the correct pronunciation of Wolli Creek?  I've always heard
it
> as "wool eye".  The DVA machines seem to think it's "woll (as in knoll)
> eye".  Some of the human announcers make it "woll ee (as in lolly)".  TIA.
>
>