Re: Booked out Melb XPTs

["WhaleOilBeefHooked" <daproc@sd5.mailbank.com>]

Maurie Daly wrote in message ...

>Yes thats right,a full train would make a profit.
>The problem is how many XPTs are full?

They alla re during holidays. That is the point of this thread, after all.

>I havnt a clue and would suggest that the loading varies
>thruout the year and thruout the week .

During the off-season, the reduce the seven-car sets to six-cars. THis saves
on crewing, as 3 PA's are required for a seven-car train (plus a PSS and
SPA) whereas only 2 are required for a six-car train.

>The problem is that the fixed XPT consist doesnt easily cater for
>variable loadings.

you could actually stick an extra car in to make it an eight car train - it
would have to be a buffet car though, as one buffet would not be able to
handle the extra loading.

>Operators like GSR can wind up and down the length of their trains
>quite easily to suit the demand ,and can also just as easily decide not
>to run trains at all or not to stop at unprofitable stations.
>Countrylink dont have any of this sort of flexibility.

One thing that *could* be done with the XPT's is to reduce the number of
doors (so that there is one door on each side of the carriage). Some
rebuilding would have to take place - relocate the toilet so that it is
where the current doorway is - cut the current luggage area in half, and
have a similarly sized luggage area where the toilet is. Doing this at both
ends of the vehicle would mean that an extra row of seats could be fitted,
and they would actually line up with the reading lights and windows.

This would give each train an extra 20 seats - not a lot, I grant you, but
it is a start.

DaveP