Re: Booked out Melb XPTs

[David Bromage <dbromage@omni.com.au>]

WhaleOilBeefHooked wrote:
> Thenormal composition for an XPT is now 4 cars for Dubbo and 6 cars for
> elsewhere.

The "normal" consist is 2+5 and 2+7, sometimes reduced to 1+4 and 2+6
during low traffic times.

> I have been informed that the limitation on inserting
> extra cars beyond 7 is (apart from the lack of cars) the capacity of the
> buffets. They simply would not be able to stock enough food and drink for an
> extra 68 people. The train would lose time on some stretchs, but would catch
> up on others sue to recovery time.

The limit of 2+7 is imposed by the track alignments and gradients. a 2+8
XPT would not be able to maintain the already tight schedules.

Cheers
David