Re: Rugby clash a Test match for transport

[Don Allitt <nahgfa@zeta.org.au>]

Doesn't matter how many " excuses" you can think of it still remains far to
small, a single ballon loop with a split middle,how stupid and even worse some
fool got paid to design it.Don.

Bill McNiven wrote:

> The growing expertise in moving monster crowds in and out of the Sydney
> Olympics site is a tribute to heavy rail.
>
> The story below comes from http://www.smh.com.au on Thursday 26th.  Ignoring
> the scrums and tackles inside the stadium, those in the queue for trains
> afterwards could be interesting.
>
> I understand that for recent major events at Stadium Australia
> * Rail gets around 50% of the crowd
> * 60% of these travel to Strathfield / Redfern / Sydney Terminal while 40%
> travel to Lidcombe / Granville / Parramatta / Westmead / Seven Hills /
> Blacktown.
> * Each train loads around 1,500 passengers in 2 minutes.
> * Using one platform for City departures and one for Blacktown departures,
> each service has a departure every 4 minutes.  This means that the effective
> capacity is 45,000 passengers / hour.
>
> If the usual ratios applied to Rugby Union, we might expect 55,000 rail
> passengers, including 33,000 to the City.  These city passengers would
> depart on 22 trains over a period of 88 minutes.
>
> The *new* challenge is that Rugby Union enthusiasts are not uniformly
> distributed across Sydney, so maybe the City's share will be more like
> 44,000 passengers over 30 trains over 120 minutes.
>
> The initiative "Live entertainment and a temporary bar have been organised
> to encourage spectators to wait after the game until the crowds thin out"
> sound brilliantly unlike the more traditional Sydney approaches to transport
> challenges! One suspects that the temporary "Olympic Roads and Transport
> Authority" is doing some lateral thinking that would be difficult for
> CityRail on its own.
>
> While it's not mentioned in the story, I suspect that a fair proportion of
> fans will be kiwis from Bondi who, if only because Bondi's not really a
> motoring suburb, will *all* arrive by train.  Which means rail's market
> share being more than 50%.
>
> It will be an interesting night for EMU train-watching!
>
> Regards
>
> Bill
> Not an All-Blacks supporter either!
>
> Rugby clash a Test match for transport
>
> By MATTHEW MOORE, Olympics Editor
> Olympic organisers have warned Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup match at the
> Homebush stadium poses greater transport problems than many Games events,
> including the opening ceremony.
> Although the Australia-New Zealand rugby game will be the ninth Olympic
> transport test event at the stadium, several factors have prompted
> organisers to warn it will be their most difficult and that patrons should
> expect delays.
> Saturday's game is the first sell-out of the 110,000-seat stadium and will
> be staged at the same time as another international sporting event, the Pan
> Pacs swimming competition at the Homebush Bay International Aquatic Centre.
> Although double-header rugby league games early this year drew 104,000
> spectators, many left before or during the second game, easing pressures on
> rail services.
> If the result of Saturday night's game is close, organisers fear all 110,000
> spectators will leave at the same time and swamp transport.
> Live entertainment and a temporary bar have been organised to encourage
> spectators to wait after the game until the crowds thin out.
> Eight hundred buses and coaches will take many spectators, but trains will
> carry most of them.
> The peak capacity of 50,000 passengers an hour will be difficult to achieve
> on the night, according to a spokesman for the Olympic Roads and Transport
> Authority (ORTA), because up to 80 per cent of spectators will come from the
> east and north, and 20 per cent from the west.
> "This will make things particularly difficult at the end of the game and
> involve the longest time yet taken to clear the eastbound platform of
> Olympic Park railway station," he said. "The crowd needs to be patient at
> the end of the night. Again, this is harder than the Games because we might
> not face such a demographic split then."
> ORTA is also concerned that rugby spectators often arrive at matches close
> to kick-off. They warn that if they do this on Saturday the transport will
> not be able to cope.
> Direct trains to Olympic Park will run from Central and Redfern from about 3
> pm with bus services to Olympic Park on Easter Show routes starting 45
> minutes later.