Sounds good so far, but cut it back to a 2+5 formation same as the Dubbo
XPT. This gives two more spare XAMs and two XFs.
>This would
>free up 2 four-car and 2 two-car Xplorers. The 2 two-car Xplorers would
>operate on basically the same service as NT25/26 now,
Do you mean 4-car Xplorers?
>although it may be
>curtailed to Coff's Harbour, due to increased running times of the
>Xplorers,
The only place they'd be running any slower is between Morriset and
Maitland.
>although it could depart earlier,
When NT27 was departing Sydney at 12.35, there was a good connection
between NP24 and NT27 at Maitland.
I'd have NT23 departing at 11.05 and NP27 departing at 12.35.
>One of the two-car Xplorers would operate as a connecting Werris
>Creek-Moree shuttle, the other two-car set would operate as a
>Junee-Griffith shuttle. Both of these could operate daily, returning to
>Sydney (for the Griffith set) or Broadmeadow (for the Moree set) for
>servicing as required. I personally would like to see the sets work a
>direct service from Sydney on Sundays, then work a connecting shuttle
>(MRZ-WCK-MRZ or GFF-JUE-GFF) on Monday to Friday, then operating as a
>direct service back to Sydney on the Saturday.
This makes sense. For the Griffith service you could still have SL15/16
running in the opposite direction to the Griffith Xplorer on weekends.
>The XPT, being slightly faster than the Xplorer, would be able to slightly
>reduce journey times from Sydney to Armidale, although this may be negated
>by the need to offload a number of passengers at Werris Creek.
You wouldn't gain much time until you were on the up side of Muswellbrook.
You might only gain 5-8 minutes.
Here's how it might look. Rather than having the Xplorer idle at Werris
Creek for 4.5 hours, it could do a return to Tamworth. This gives an
opportunity for passengers to do a day return from the north west line to
Tamworth. There would be 3 hours in Tamworth for shopping or business. On
Saturdays, this service runs through to Sydney after crossing the XPT at
Werris Creek. The Sunday return from Sydney runs through to Tamworth, then
back to Werris Creek and on to Moree after connecting with the XPT from
Sydney. Tamworth gets extra services, and Moree only loses one service per
week. The Grafton Xplorer would probably only lose 15-20 mins over the XPT
schedule, if that. On the up working, it would need to run a bit later to
avoid conflicting with the XPT from Armidale.
NP29 NP31 NT23 NP27 NP33
2-Xpl 2-Xpl XPT 4-Xpl 2-Xpl
Sun M-Sa Daily Daily M-F,Su
Sydney 8.35 11.05 11.35
Gosford 9.48 12.18 12.48
Broadmeadow 10.46 13.11 13.46
Maitland 11.08 13.31 13.58
Dungog - - 14.45
Taree - - 17.05
Kempsey - - 18.05
Coffs - - 20.30
Grafton - - 22.45
Muswellbrook 12.10 14.32
Scone 12.29 14.51
Werris Creek 13.41 11.55 16.03
West Tamworth 14.12 12.26 -
Tamworth 14.17 12.31 16.38
Armidale 18.40
Werris Creek 16.10
Gunnedah 17.10
Narrarbri 18.21
Moree 19.45
NP28 NP30 NT24 NP32 NP32
4-Xpl 2-Xpl XPT 2-Xpl 2-Xpl
Daily Daily Daily M-F,Su Sat
Moree 8.05
Narrabri 9.19
Gunnedah 10.28
Werris Creek 11.39
Armidale 9.10
Tamworth 11.08 15.20 15.20
West Tamworth - 15.25 15.25
Werris Creek a 11.44 15.55 15.55
d 11.49 16.05
Scone 13.00 17.18
Muswellbrook 13.19 17.37
Grafton 7.15 - -
Coffs 8.26 - -
Kempsey 10.00 - -
Taree 11.40 - -
Dungog 13.45 - -
Maitland 14.40 14.19 18.39
Broadmeadow 15.00 14.39 18.58
Sydney 17.20 16.50 21.18
For Griffith, there is actually time to give two returns on weekdays and
stable the Xplorer at Junee on most nights. The timings from Junee give
connections from Sydney and Melbourne.
SP25 ST3 SP27 SL15 SP21a
2-Xpl XPT 2-Xpl Pass 2-Xpl
Tu-F Daily M-F Sat Sun
Sydney 8.10 8.15 11.43
Goulburn 10.50 11.20 14.22
Yass Jcn 11.55 12.36 15.40
Cootamundra 13.14 14.05 17.20
Junee arr 13.52 18.05
dep 8.15 14.00 14.45 18.10
Narranderra 9.30 15.15 16.20 19.25
Griffith 10.20 16.05 17.30 20.15
SP22a SL16 SP26 ST4 SP28
2-Xpl Pass 2-Xpl XPT 2-Xpl
Sat Sun M-F Daily M-F
Griffith 7.30 8.00 10.50 16.35
Narranderra 8.30 9.09 11.50 17.35
Junee arr 9.40 13.00 18.45
dep 9.45 10.36 13.09
Cootamundra 10.55 11.37 13.51
Yass Jcn 12.20 13.09 15.14
Goulburn 13.40 14.26 16.24
Sydney 16.28 17.12 19.13
Any thoughts?
Cheers
David