Re: Cityrail Station Staff

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

Santosh Bhat <santob@ihug.com.au> wrote in message
3A8E9A8C.ED0AF8EE@ihug.com.au">news:3A8E9A8C.ED0AF8EE@ihug.com.au...
> Nathan & Mel wrote:
> >
> > Station Staff dont make trains run late, its a combination of things,
speed
> > restrictions, the weather (hot days result in WOLO conditions- trains i.e.
> > reduce their speed), incidents on trains.So dont blame us, treat most of
us
> > with dignity and respect, one day you will need a station assistant to
help
> > you.
>
> Ok so tell me why the trains late, tell me its out of your control, and
> for goodness sake, stop giving me the apology/regret treatment.

I witnessed a good example of what happens with announcements at Bankstown on
Friday.  The 3:06pm Bankstown to City via Sydneham service arrived 15' late at
Bankstown but no announcement was made about its late running (I only arrived
at the station at 3:09 however so I comment on my time on the platform, I'd
just missed the previous service running 9' late).

When the train arrived it was held.  The assailant and his friends from the
fatal Bankstown shooting at the bus stop outside the station had apparently
fled to the station.  Passengers on the platform and the train were advised
that the train would be held indefinitely at the behest of the police.  This
message was soon repeated.  The train finally left at 3:29 after an
announcement was made to allow the smokers to extinguish their fags and rejoin
the train.

It appears to be a case of the staff remaining silent when they were not
informed of events (the train arriving 15' late).  They can hardly make an
announcement when they no nothing of the train's whereabouts (I'm assuming
they knew nothing).  When the train was further delayed on arrival they kept
everyone fully informed as they had useful details.  While a guard can give a
generic statement when the reason and extent of a delay is unknown ("we're
held at a red signal for another train and the extent of the delay is unknown
at this time" etc.) station staff have no such flexibility, a generic
statement of the obvious with no details is probably the only thing worse than
saying nothing, although station staff could say they are obtaining details of
the delay if that's what they're actually doing.

Two other things that struck me on Friday (no bullets), no-one on the station
appears to have heard the 3 shots albeit we were 50-100m from the shooting!
And how would Christie alocate the delay in with his no black mark when not
our fault policy if the original 15' delay was not caused by external factors?

Chris