Re: Olympics journalists sample the joys of Sydney's train network

["Ross \(Goldie\) Goldspink" <goldicom@powerup.com.au>]

The wind problem may be (and I'm guessing, having not seen the site) that
wind gusts can be intensified by channelling around and between structures -
the localised gusts that hit the wires may have been much greater than the
35 knots (63 Kmh) noted by the weather bureau.

Goldie

"Dave Proctor" <daproc@spambait.ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
iD3t5.339748$t91.3811009@news4.giganews.com">news:iD3t5.339748$t91.3811009@news4.giganews.com...
> As promised - from clari.sports.olympic
>
> "AFP" <C-afp@clari.net> wrote in message
> news:Qoly-trainsUR-j4_AS5@clari.net...
> >
> >    SYDNEY, Sept 5 (AFP) - Sydney's much maligned rail service
> > failed again Tuesday, leaving 400 passengers -- mostly international
> > journalists -- stranded at the showpiece Olympic Park station.
> >    Railway officials blamed "high winds" for bringing down overhead
> > lines on to the tracks, but were unable to say how long the problem
> > would take to rectify.
> >    Games organisers, including the Premier of the Olympic host
> > state of New South Wales, Bob Carr, have admitted the woefully
> > inefficient and accident-prone rail network is their biggest worry
> > for the games starting here on Friday, September 15.
> >    The new rail link to Homebush and the state-of-the-art Olympic
> > Park station were opened last year as part of the new Olympic
> > stadium complex.
> >    But rarely a day passes without a derailment, a signal failure
> > or an accident, a total of 60 drivers having faced suspension in
> > recent weeks because of derailments or running red lights.
> >    The 400 stranded passengers had to wait patiently on Tuesday for
> > back-up bus services to transport them back to the city from the
> > games stadium where many of the journalists had been installing or
> > testing facilities.
> >    A CityRail spokesman said the Olympic Park station itself had
> > been evacuated as a precaution, with the overhead lines thought to
> > have been blown on to the tracks.
> >    Up to 26 buses were to ferry passengers between Homebush and
> > Lidcombe to catch a connecting train back to the city, he said.
> > No-one had been hurt.
> >    However, details were still sketchy, with no-one at the station
> > able to say exactly what happened or whether any fallen overhead
> > lines could be seen.
> >    Why the lines were flimsy enough to be blown down by fresher
> > than usual winds was not explained. According to the weather bureau,
> > winds in the area were gusting up to 35 knots.
> >    One of the journalists waiting for a bus said it had taken his
> > group an hour and a half to get from the city to Homebush, a
> > distance of about 14 kilometres (nine miles), which would normally
> > take half an hour by train.
> >    He said he had been directed by a station attendant to go to
> > Strathfield station to transfer to the Homebush Park train, but when
> > he got to Strathfield another station attendant told him: "You'll
> > need to go to Lidcombe for the Homebush connection.
> >    "Sorry, but it's Strathfield in the morning, Lidcombe in the
> > afternoon."
> >
>
>