Olympic Park opening

[Eddie.Oliver@efs.mq.edu.au (Eddie Oliver)]

As far as I could see, the Olympic Park stations opening yesterday
(Sunday 8/3) went smoothly, at least during the morning which is all
I observed.

The official train (ex Sydney Terminal 0930) was a G set, and had some
difficulty running slowly enough to avoid getting to Olympic Park too long
before the 1000 target. The semi-public trains (conveying people who
had paid Rotary $6) started arriving Olympic Park about 1120 and
were also G sets. I returned to Sydney Terminal on the 1123; it crossed
another down service at Flemington Goods Junctions and another at
Sydney Terminal, all as programmed.

Trains were using the outer track at Olympic Park, unloading via the
centre platform and loading from the outer platform.

It is said that the Easter Show services are to be timetabled rather more
intensively than really required to shift the expected numbers, to give
further experience at higher-density running conditions. It is also said
that a recent trial of higher-intensity running was satisfactory in that a
deliberately-induced delay was recovered after only about five trains.

Of course many people remain sceptical that any trials at even a
3 minute frequency without very many people can give confidence about
what will happen at a 2 minute frequency with lots of people.

Eddie Oliver