Re: Rail related questions about moving to Sydney

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

Reuben Farrelly <reubie@bigpond.AAA.com> wrote in message
7ukidi$svu$1@newton.pacific.net.au">news:7ukidi$svu$1@newton.pacific.net.au...
> Hi people,

Hi Reuben,

> In the next 6 weeks I will be moving from Melbourne to Sydney, and have a
> question (and comments) about the suburban rail system up there...
>
> * How reliable is the system in regards to both cancelled trains and
> delays - I don't have a car and so will be depending on rail transport to
> get to work in Artarmon.  In particular, do most trains run late (by much)
> or on time - if I was to try and connect at Hornsby would I be safe to be
> there 3 mins before, or 20 mins beforehand?

Just about all lines (apart from the one you mentioned - Main North -
Beecroft, and the Richmond line) have services sufficiently frequent so that
if a train *is* cancelled, the effects are not too disastrous on those
wishing to travel. I have not seen it too often during the day, but see it
occasionally during the peaks (although this *can* be disastrous - ever
tried cramming 14 carriages worth of people into a 6 car train?)

As far as timekeeping goes, it is a mixed bag. From Penrith where I am,
there is plenty of scope for making up lost time, providing the time is lost
early in the trip. Time lost later in the trip is just about impossible to
make up.

> * If I bought a ticket to Artarmon from say, Beecroft, and I wanted to go
> further north from Hornsby, could I simply buy another ticket from Hornsby
> or would I have to buy a completely new ticket from source to destination?

Just go up to the ticket office at Beecroft and tell them you want a ticket
from Hornsby to wherever - you cannot do this at the TVM though. If the
ticket office is closed, buy it at Hornsby (you would need to change there
anyway - very few main north trains continue past Hornsby, and those that
do - interurbans - rarely stop at Beecroft).

> Why does the system run on the basis of station-to-station fares as
opposed
> to zones like what Victoria has?  [Seems to add a lot of complication to
the
> system, although I think that Victorian zones are _way_ too big]

Depends - *some* people find the zones complicated (I don't) - some *think*
it is easier to just have tickets with the origin and destination on the
ticket.

> The offline timetable download on the cityrail website is a good idea, all
> of 3842 files and 555 folders all zipped up into 1 ;)

Railtrack in the UK has a better online system - you enter your origin,
destination, day of the week, and a time (either a time to leave after or a
time to arrive by) - it will then work out a journey for you, including
transfers (handy for people who do not know the system - it is all right if
you live there, but some don't) - admittedly, you need to be online to do
this, whereas having the CityRail timetables as HTML allows you to download
it and read it offline.

> Thanks,
> Reuben

np

DaveP