Re: Delay at Mortdale on Wed morning

[Neil Waller <nwaller@dehaa.sa.gov.au>]

An interested Observer wrote:
> 
> This morning after boarding my usual train at Oatley (7:32 to city) we
> only got as far as the Mortdale carriage sheds when we came to a stop.
> After a couple of minutes, the guard (I pressume) came over the PA in
> very clear and understandable English to advise that someone in the
> train in front had collapsed and they were waiting for medical help to
> arrive and that we would be delayed for some time. He apologised for the
> delay. About 10 mins later he updated the message and finally after
> about 25 mins he advised that the train in front was moving and that we
> would shortly follow which we did. What was so refreshing was being
> correctly informed on what was going on - I overheard a number of
> passengers also commenting favourably on this action. It makes a delay
> so much bearable when you know what is going on.
> What was also of interest was the use of the bi-directional signalling.
> I guess we were too close to the train in front to be able to cross over
> but at least 4 trains overtook our train using the down line. The
> opportunity to take advantage of the opposite track would have reduced
> the delays to the other trains at least to a minimum and kept the system
> running reasonably smoothly.
> Overall one of my better observations of the professionalism of State
> Rail.
> 
> Graham Fry

Communication with customers is important:

Last April I travelled north from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur on the
morning express on KTMB.   If we stopped other than for passengers
we were told the reason (usually "to cross a train from the north").

An overkill perhaps but it is nice to know what is going on.

The airline industry can be as incommunicative as well.

Quite a few years ago I was to fly to Kangaroo Island on Friday 
evening.  The flight is 35 minutes at the outside.

The 40 or so passengers waited, and waited some more, were given
a meal by the airline, and waited, and waited.

We were, however, told what the problem was (the starboard engine
had failed in Kingscote and a crew had to be flown over from
Adelaide to fix it).

The upshot was that we waited 5 hours for a 30 minute flight but
we knew what the problem was.

This did not stop some passengers contacting the Adelaide Advertiser
which ran a story the following morning.

I was contacted by the airline's public relations people the next
week to see what I thought of the situation.

About a year later a similar thing happened.   The plane simply
was never called and no explaination was given.   Charters were
running out to another outport and you started to get the feeling
that your regularly scheduled flight was being bumped for a very
lucritative set of charters.

I had to ask what the problem was (another engine failure) and the
clerk who told me was chastised by a colleague for telling me.

Suffice to say that airline, a subsiduary of a large national
airline that does not have a kangaroo on the tail, no longer
operates.


-- 
Neil Waller	(nwaller@denr.sa.gov.au)
Department of Environment Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs
Telephone:	Oz: (08) 8204 9218; International: (618) 8204 9218
Mail:		GPO Box 1047, ADELAIDE 5001     Australia

Unless explicitly attributed, the opinions expressed are personal
and not those of DEHAA or the South Australian Government.