Re: MET/Hillside madness

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

Jennifer Richmond wrote:
> 
> > AT
> > LEAST 400 people who boarded it.  Approx. 3 mins after it arrived,
> > everyone was
> > unceremoneously kicked off it, with the explanation "train has to be
> > divided....".
> >
> > WHY WAS THIS SO??????
> >
> > There were more than enough passengers to justify 6 cars, especially
> > after
> > picking up from Spencer St, Melb Central & Richmond, and because of the
> > stuffing around while the train was divided, by the time it left
> 
> The issue may not be the number of passenger, but the number of trains. As
> there is no stabling sidings at Flinders St now, the cars may have been
> needed to form another train.


This was not the case on this occassion - the only other trains to use
the
platforms concerned are Glen Waverley, and they arrive/depart 5-10 mins 
BEFORE Lilydale/Belgrave trains.  From my personal observation, the cars
split from the 6-car set are usually taken off to one of the new
stabling
yards - either Burnley or Camberwell, but on odd occassions they have
also
been seen heading (empty) towards Spencer St!

If they did need the carriages elsewhere, what they SHOULD have done
was:
    (1) Turn the 7:59 Glen Waverley (6 cars) into to 8:05 Belgrave
        (this train was a "Hitachi" set - can't be split????).
    (2) Split the Comeng set and use the 'front half' for the Glen
Waverley
        run, then the other half could go elsewhere or to a stabling
yard.

If they had done this, the Glen Waverley train would have only been
delayed
a few minutes and the Belgrave train would have been on time (for a
change).
And for my money, the Belgrave train should be given priority anyway - a
MUCH
BUSIER line, and a MUCH LONGER distance travelled.  Any delays to
Lilydale
and Belgrave trains can cause a snowball effect on certain runs
(complicated
by single line sections between Mooroolbark and Lilydale, and F-T Gully
and
Belgrave).

I think part of the problem is that the people who make decisions on the
operational running of these "services" probably don't travel by train,
and
don't have any real idea of just how overcrowded many services can get -
ESPECIALLY services between 5 & 8:30PM on weekends, with the 6:30 to
8:15pm
time slot being the worst for overcrowding!).  I've heard reports of
people
'counting heads' and performing other passenger surveys on some runs,
but in
the 26-odd years I've been catching trains I've never seen them (other
than
the questionaire about the 4-D a few months after it commenced
service!).

Mick.