Re: Loco hauled suburbans in Brisbane

[Jennifer Richmond <richmond@melbpc.org.au>]

Eddie Oliver wrote:

> >
> > All morning peak SX services go out empty and return Passenger.
> > All afternoon peak SX services go out Passenger and return empty.
>
> Yet another appalling example of unnecessary empty car workings,
>
> (b) missing a cost-free opportunity to inflate the apparent numbers and
> speed of services.
>
> Even if there is no real interest in providing a service for potential
> passengers, one would think that someone would note the political
> advantages of being able to say that a substantial number of extra
> passenger runs had been added to the system.

I agree with what you are saying, but remember that there may be some
reasons why they are run empty rather than revenue.

I live in Melbourne and work at Reservoir railway station (Epping line, 27
mins from Flinders St) and on a weekday afternoon between 1450 and 1658
there are about 5 sets of regular empty cars going up from Epping stabling
sidings (not the workshops). There are several reasons (that I can see),
why these are not revenue:
- They don't always run (may be cancelled due to a surplus at the up
end/deficiency on the down end). This would look bad, and pull down the
service delivery figures, undoing any good that you have done by instating
the extra services. This could also be a result of substituting an EMU/SMU
for an SX set. If you have the EMU on hand, then the empty cars wouldn't
run.

- The services are flexible. If a driver is ready and the signalman can
find a path, I have seen these trains leave up to 18 mins early.
Alternatively, if a driver is not ready, or there are circumstances
requiring a late departure, this is also acceptable.

- The train doesn't need a platform road to arrive/depart. The empty trains
at Epping can depart straight out of the yard, without having to come out
of the yard and shunt into the platform. This saves a lot of time. Also, if
things are a bit late at Clifton Hill (the junction of Hurstbridge/Epping
lines) the empty car set can use the centre road (no platform).

- Less running time. For a spark, you add roughly 1 minute for each station
stopped at to the running time (for decelerating, waiting for passengers
and accelerating). I imagine that this would be more with the loco hauled
stock (especially diesel). From Epping, that is about an additional 19
mins.

I don't know how relevant these comments are to the SX sets in Brisbane,
but I think that there may be good reasons why they are empty car sets.

Sam Eades
eadess@yahoo.com