Re: Melbourne's Old Train Fleet

[Mick Stock <mzs@eastwood.apana.org.au>]

On Wed, 7 Jan 1998, Craig Haber wrote:

> Matthew Geier wrote:
> >  If Melbourne can run longer cars than Sydney, why were the 4D cars
> > shortened ?. Were they shortened only to keep the length of a 4 car set
> > near that of a 3 car Comeng set ?
> 
> Given that there are restrictions on single deck cars in the curved
> tunnels at Jolimont, could it be a similar story for the 4D around the
> curves in the Melbourne underground?  Yes, a Comeng and country car can
> get around the loop safely, but if the (higher) 4D cars were normal
> length, their centre-overhang may see their higher bodies touch the
> tunnels.  Keeping them shorter may have been the only way to achieve
> safe clearance.
> 
> If the cars were normal length, go for 3 car sets rather than 4, hence
> alleviating the problem of shorter platforms.
> 
> Cheers,
> Craig.
> -- 

> Craig Haber

I remember when the first few "Hitachi" trains appeared - they often       
scraped the platforms at Mont Albert station, and quite possibly others as 
well. Needless to say, out came the platform trimmers! (To those not       
familiar, Mont Albert is on a curve at the crest of a hill, with the Box   
Hill end being the biggest problem).  I think even the Comengs had
problems at some stations.

As a passenger who has travelled on the "4D" several hundred times, I've
never seen any clearance problems when going around the loop. When it
first opened, the loop was advertised as "being able to accomodate double
decker trains planned for introduction in the next few years" (the wording
may be a bit different, but I'm pretty sure the above is almost exact!). 
Even when travelling in the centre of a carriage, there is no obvious
clearance problems (both upper and lower decks). If anything, it is the
current Comeng s/deck carriages that potentially would have a problem, as
they are wider than the 4D (at least above platform level). Since a large
number of trains in use while the loop was being built were 75ft long,
you'd think that the designers would allow for similar length doubles. I'm
also pretty sure that the 4D is the same length as a 3-car Comeng, as
existing stations were supposed to be able to take an 8-car 4D without
alterations, and a '3 car Comeng + 4D' used to fit platform length easily. 

Also, when the 4D first appeared, it was supposed to be the first of a
fleet of 18 (2 x 4-car sets?) which were to be introduced on the
Lilydale/Belgrave lines. At that time, they were not going to be
introduced on other lines until a (much?) later date, according to TV and
newspaper reports at the time, and even then only on the longer distant
runs. 

Mick.

p.s. Does anyone know why the 4D HASN'T been running with a 3-car Comeng
attached since Dec 96?  Since then, it has only been running as a single
4D set, even during peak periods.... needless to say, hopelessly
overcrowded!

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