Re: VIC/ALL Power strike impact on rail?

[Chris Gordon <cmgord@VICSIG.alphalink.com.au>]

> >As those of us in Victoria (and some in SA as well) know we had a
> >blackout last night.
> 
> <rant>
> I support unions. The union that caused this mess however, are bastards.
> There are better ways of making your point.

<more rant>
"The union did NOT support the action of the workers"
</rant>
 
> >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.
> 
> In general, trains kept going. I believe some services may have been
> stopped at some locations though, down trains past Ringwood being one.

All Depends on where the feed into the system is.  There are two power
systems one for the overhead and one for the signalling (there is
another for the workshops, but that is not needed to run trains).

If the feed into the system is down then another feed can be used and
bypass the dead one.  They should keep the whole system going. (Overhead
alive).

Signalling is similar, expect the Epping line takes the power for the
signals straight off the street not through the signalling power system
(very bad).  So if the street power goes down then it tries the other
street if that is down you have no signals.

Not sure how the Upfield line works.
 
> >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.
> 
> The ticket machine was the only thing still alive at Alphington. It was the
> only thing alive though. I'd have been very annoyed if my monthly Metcard
> got eaten up by the validator had I validated less than about 5 seconds
> later. Don't think I'll go near the validator until this power strike is
> over now...

Metcards Machines have UPS and alt power for security reasons.
 
> >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 :)
> 
> Providing that all safeworking and train electricity supply systems are
> running, which they appeared to last night, then the trains will keep
> running. Provided that only safeworking systems are running, and no sparks
> are in the way, any non electric trains will still run too.

Since most of the signalling in the suburban area is just Automatic
Block Signalling (or ATC on single/bi directional lines) then trains
will only run if the signalling power live.  AFAIK Greensborough lost
all power, so no trains ran.
 
> M.



-- 

C.

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