Re: Sydney people movers.

[mcfergus@my-dejanews.com]

In article <W1FL2.322$EM4.1494@amsnews>,
  "d.ready" <d.ready@chello.nl> wrote:
> You are so right. The Sydney system are heavy duty people movers when well
> managed and I think that where any problem lies in the actual management of
> the system itself. We have been in The Netherlands for a month now from
> Sydney. Sydney/(NSW) should send a delegation over here to see how things
> are done with rail. The locals here just won't criticize their rail system,
> it is cheap, it is clean with not one train vandalized or has graffiti and
> things are always on time. Intercity trains run every 1/2 hour and
> "stoptrains" (all stations), every 1/4 hour 7 days a week. And the staff are
> friendly and speak both Dutch AND English. They have ticket machines that
> accept EFT. They have a 40% discount card for ALL trips outside 4am to 9pm
> Mon-Fri. We have already met one guard who has offered to take us on a
> private tour of Eindhoven and surrounds. This Netherlands rail system is as
> close to perfect as a rail system can get. And the fee free friendly banking
> system and cheap cable internet with no volume charges..... now that's
> another story/newsgroup........ :)))) But we will be back. Sydney and
> Australia are still home but it is nice to see what we are missing.

I second that! During my brief stay in the Netherlands I was most impressed
with the rail system, although unfortunately I did see a few instances of
vandalism, yet much less than we are used to on CityRail. (On the other hand,
try riding on the Amsterdam Sneltram line, they are the most disgustingly
dirty trains I have ever seen. The Amsterdam Metro wins for the most
disgustingly vandalised concrete monstrosity stations!)

I have also previously suggested on this newsgroup that CityRail move to a
timetable model that emulates that of the NS network, with clockface
timetables and trains neatly sorted into InterCity, Sneltrain (FastTrain) and
Stoptrain catagories. It makes the NS system incredibly easy to use, and I
believe if applied to CityRail and combined with track
upgrading/amplification where necessary, a similar network of regular
SnelTrains on our lines would help attract more customers. Of course, you'd
also need to implement descent bus/LRT feeder systems in the outer suburbs,
more secure park and ride, integrated ticketing... it'll never happen,
they'll just keep building freeways instead.

Unfortunately, the long term future for the excellent rail system in the
Netherlands is also in some doubt. With the European Union's move towards open
access rail systems, it is not clear for how much longer a single integrated
system can survive, in fact there is already an open access operator (Lovers
Rail) running some very unfortunate looking trains between Amsterdam and
Haarlem. Maybe you could provide an update, David?

>
> David


Rob

Sydney (Australia)

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