Re: Loco hauled suburbans in Brisbane

[Eddie Oliver <eoliver@efs.mq.edu.au>]

Jennifer Richmond wrote:


 
> - 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.

On that theory, all trains should be empty cars, which is probably what
the administrations would prefer. What benefit is there to anyone in
running a train ahead of its timetable if it is going to take up the
same running afterwards? Indeed early running typically produces
congestion where the trains have to sit waiting their next duty.

> 
> - 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.

Sure. So they don't need to provide a service to and from Epping itself.
The people at (say) Reservoir would welcome a service even if the people
at Epping are deprived of it. [NB for anyone in doubt - we are talking
about Epping in Melbourne, not in Sydney, London or on the moon.]

> 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).

The point of converting these empty car movements into FAST passenger
services is that they do not need to stop all stations. 

> - 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.

Again, the point is NOT to stop them all stations - especially in
Melbourne and Brisbane where the tendency to stop almost everything all
stations needs to be broken down quite independently of the empty cars
matter.


> 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.

The nominal reason in Brisbane is probably that some of them can be run
to and from Mayne car sheds via the exhibition loop without actually
serving the city stations. But that's a copout.

Eddie