Re: VIC/ALL Power strike impact on rail?

[David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au>]

OgO wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> As those of us in Victoria (and some in SA as well) know we had a blackout
> last night.
>
> When it happened my housemate was on the train, the train kept stopping
> every 10 seconds or so and eventually made it to the next station (home)
> which was pitch black, and apparently kept going.
>
> When we wandered down later (wondering if we could get a train anywhere)
> the only light at the station was from the metcard ticket machine
> <sarcasm>yay!</sarcasm> and the pedestrian boom gates were down, but
> powerless.  The level crossing nearby had the boomgates down and bells and
> lights going, although all the traffic lights nearby were dark.

Level Crossings have backup batteries.

> What I'm getting around to asking is, *do* the trains keep running in a
> blackout like this?  Obviously the one my housemate was on kept going for
> at least some way, not sure if it made it to the city or not...  and we
> didn't see one at the station later, although we decided the better option
> was to go back home and crack open a couple beers before they got warm :)

I guess that depends on the nature and extent of the blackout.  In Sydney,
there was a massive power failure in the CBD one afternoon - All high rise
buildings and Traffic Lights lost power.  Within a couple of minutes, State
Rail had re-routed power from all over the electrified network, and got all
the CBD stations and Overhead power running again.  It was wierd to get off a
train onto a fully lit Town Hall station, and walk into a very dark QVB!

--
David Johnson
trainman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~trainman/
------------------------------------
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