The privatised fine system for Vic pass. operators

[Michael Kurkowski <mk@netstra.com.au>]

Hi,

Two days in a row I have seen classic examples of delays caused by events 
uncontrollable by the railways and tramways. Firstly, on a down 
Broadmeadows train last night, delayed 15 minutes at Ascot Vale by the 
collapse of a person. Secondly, a pretty bad car accident on Elizabeth 
Street blocking the tram tracks.

Example 1: I won't go into the full graphical details, but a young man, 
probably suffering an overdose managed to crawl off a train and collapse 
onto the platform at Ascot Vale station last night. As a result, the driver 
got out, along with a few people and assisted this person. Driver called up 
an ambulance via his radio to Metrol. By the time the ambulance arrived 
after this incident, and the ambulance officers got sufficient details from 
any witnesses, 15 minutes had passed.

Example 2: Today I decided to catch a tram to Moonee Ponds then catch a 
train home from there, rather than endure the City Loop which i do every 
day of each week. By the time the tram arrived at Latrobe Street, we 
stopped. We stood still for a few minutes, before I looked back to notice 
that a B2 was stopped just past the lights. Everyone got out and walked. 
Trams were banked up either side of the A'Beckett Street intersection for 
quite some distance. Further inspection revealed an SS commodore and a 
small car ("fartbox") in the intersection. Commodore with front crushed in, 
and fartbox with side crushed in. Mica ambulance was present so things 
weren't good it seemed :( Meanwhile, the trams on the Latrobe Street side 
were blocked in. The up trams on the Queen Vic Market side couldn't get 
through either, however were redestined to the destinations that were on 
the trams on the Flinders Street side. I hence had a very interesting ride 
on a DOWN tram running for about half a km on the UP track. We crossed over 
just past the Queen Vic Market intersection. All the trams that were on the 
up did this, while trams at the points after the intersection had to wait 
until the section had cleared before going through, im not sure what 
happened after this.

This poses questions, of course.

1) With Kennett's flawed(tm) contract system between the rail/tram 
operators, are there provisions where things beyond their control can waive 
a given fine for all delays and short running (trams terminating at 
A'Beckett Street) caused as a direct result? 

2) Are there any special rules regarding the running of down trams on an up 
line, and vice versa, taking into consideration that I believe that section 
of road is a shared roadway (broken yellow line) and trams would have been 
running against cars. 

Well that's my weekend so far, off to Wheezing William tomorrow, wonder 
what will happen there with this weekends track (pun not intended) record 
so far?

ObFaveLocoSighting - T345 and T377 looking magnificent passing the sg/bg 
flyover taking a works train to the Fighting Ground (viaduct between 
Spencer Street and Flinders Street, where drivers fight for the next path 
into Flinders Street).

Regards
Michael

-- 
Michael Kurkowski
Email: mk@netstra.com.au
Website: http://www.netstra.com.au/~mk
ICQ: 1459118
Telephone: 0416-044-124

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