Re: Melbourne Double deckers NEW APPROACH

[Mick Stock <mzs@eastwood.apana.org.au>]

Dave Proctor wrote:
> 
> Richard <richard_snook@primus.com.au> wrote in message
> 38234A82.580205E7@primus.com.au">news:38234A82.580205E7@primus.com.au...
> 
> > SO Melb system is nowhere near capacity??  Sorry  ..been on a peak hour
> train ths deacde??
> 
> Yes - the SYSTEM is not at capacity - the trains that are running are
> certainly full, but there is room to add more trains (or so I am told).
> 
> --
> DaveProctor
> thadocta AT dingoblue.net.au

To anyone who thinks that the Ringwood line is nowhere near capacity,
there is a car park behind the shops in Maroondah H/way on the city side
of Wantirna Rd. From this car park, it is not unusual to see two or more
trains queued up trying to get into Ringwood station. I've also been on
quite a few trains recently which were delayed approaching Richmond
during the morning peak. All you need is for ONE service to be running
more than about 2-3 mins late (which happens frequently, especially
trains starting from Belgrave), and you start getting a snowball effect.
And if a train breaks down, then you can forget about going anywhere in
a hurry (even between Box Hill & the city where you have a third track,
but only a few switching points for trains to divert to another track -
and those few sets of points are often the cause of delays anyway,
especially on very cold mornings!). The points at Ringwood are bad for
causing delays due to failures, especially during winter. During very
hot weather, it used to be fairly common for extensive delays due to
track buckling. While rarely causing trains to be cancelled completely,
this still caused big delays due to reduced-speed running over the
affected stretch - and there are plenty of potential trouble spots where
this can happen - long, straight, unshaded!

I'm NOT one of these people who only catch a particular train, or trains
between
a narrow time range. I catch trains at ALL times of the day & night, and
in both
the direction of the peak crowds as well as the opposite direction on
other
days. As a result, I see FIRST HAND the variations in passenger loading
on most services (or lack of it on others).  It is not unusual for a
train during either peak period to be lightly loaded, while trains
immediately before and after it are sardine cans!

One of the things that annoys me the most are the people who want a
Lilydale train, but jump on a Belgrave train (or vice-versa) & change at
Ringwood even though the following train goes where they want to. The
others than annoy me are the people who get on an express at Richmond
and force their way into a window seat, then get off at Glenferrie or
Camberwell (even thought there is another train in the next platform
going where they want to, but it is less than half full and will only
take 2 or 3 mins longer to get there!).  On one of my semi-regular
evening trains from the city, we usually pass an Alamain, a Ringwood,
and sometimes a Box Hill train, all of which are typically carrying less
than half capacity, and that's SEATED. The ones standing don't need to
be doing so. I've seen many 6-car Alamain trains in particular that have
only been carrying about 25% capacity. Yet at the same time, the express
services are generally sardine cans, especially in the middle cars.

Mick.

 mzs@eastwood.apana.org.au
 mzs@bigpond.com
 http://eastwood.apana.org.au/