Re: Flinders Street platform 4+5

[pshute@melbpc.org.au (Peter Shute)]

On Sun, 1 Nov 1998 01:37:10 +1100, "Michael Kurkowski"
<mk@netstra.com.au> wrote:

>Yesterday (Saturday 31/10/1998) it appeared that Flinders Street platform 5
>was open for traffic. Platform 4 however was still undergoing works. The
>workaround to this was to put up temporary fencing in the middle. Personally

This morning (Sunday 1.11.98) they had the reinforcing down on 4, but
did not look ready to pour concrete yet. I suspect it will be very
close to ready by Monday, but not quite. I asked at the information
window, and she showed me the sheet for tomorrow. 4 was not listed. 5
will be in use, but I think Werribee trains might be using platform 7.

I expect it could easily be back to normal after Cup Day.

>i coped quite well, if not, actually prefered the temporary conditions
>because it made connecting from the Broadmeadows line to the Hurstbridge
>line a lot more efficient (same direction running). It also appeared the
>passengers coped quite well with the changes, and i believe it would
>probably have been better to just finish the work off and open it a week
>later.

Same here. Apart from several disastrous connections in the first 3
days (trains terminating at F.St. instead of continuing, an express
trip to Newport on a defective train, a half hour sit in darkness in
the loop, etc), I barely missed a connection at all - much better than
normal. It only worked that well though, because my connecting trains
were more reliably late.

I was disappointed at the attitude of some of the drivers. Some tried
very hard to give clear instructions about changing at Flagstaff, some
were more interested in jumping out and running to the coke machine
there than even bothering to mention things weren't running normally.
It's a pity on board announcements can't be done centrally, it's quite
obvious most drivers don't like doing them.
Peter Shute, Melbourne, Australia