Re: Country(link?) - try walking instead

["Jack" <bd107@tsn.cc>]

Hi Dave

Dave Proctor wrote in message <7vb8l5$ppg$1@news1.mpx.com.au>...
>Jack <bd107@tsn.cc> wrote in message
>_HNR3.139$z73.3997@nsw.nnrp.telstra.net">news:_HNR3.139$z73.3997@nsw.nnrp.telstra.net...
>
>> >All I ask are fairly simple things,
>> >1. Close to on time running.
>>
>> Sure, I would liket that as well, but point the finger where it
>belongs....
>> Track work, congestion, No priority in Train pathing, train contollers
who
>> prefer to stand passenger trains with 400 odd people on them for late
>> running MT freight services, strangely enuff NRC Trains all the time....
>
>Funny you should say that - we left Broken Hill on time last night, and our
>first delay was at Menindee - they put us into the loop so that a late
>running NR could go through on the main. By the time we then set back and
>got into the platform (we had passengers boarding AND alighting) we were 20
>minutes late.
>
>I woke up at about 5.45 this morning - looked out the window and saw that
we
>were passing a triangle junction - as I was not fully awake, I assumed
>Orange (not unreasonable, given that we were due to arrive at 5.51) - it
was
>Parkes - 2 hours and 10 minutes late by the time we left Parkes.
>
>Discussions with the crew indicated that the delay at Menindee meant that
we
>lost our path, and we had to wait 50 minutes at one loop for an NR train
and
>another hour elsewhere for the I-P.

Yep losing a path is a common thing... the the thing on most occassions the
path is lost because of poor train control working... and yet they make no
effort to get the train back on its correct path... the service just keeps
gettin later and later


>
>Having said that, the management of the late running was woeful. Rather
than
>running the train into Orange and having the loco run around, why couldn't
>they bring everyone out to East Fork. They could have chartered a bus to do
>this (30 minute charter - not overly expensive) - that bus could have then
>taken those detraining back into Orange. This would have enabled the train
>to regain over 30 minutes.

I dont know that anyone would be at work in Sydney where these decisions are
made at that time of the day :)


>
>There was also a passenger travelling to Canberra on SP21 - she well and
>truely missed it, so they rebooked her on SP23 (arrival 2210). A little bit
>of lateral thinking would have seen her leave the train at Orange, get the
>Countrylink coach to Cootamundra (arr. 1300), change to the Canberra coach
>(dep. 1400) arriving in Canberra at 1645 - only an hour after she would
have
>arrived otherwise.

Maybe you could have suggested this to the PSS.... but then again it may
have done no good...

>
>There are delays that are beyond the control of Countrylink (like the
points
>failure at Goobang on the way up on Wednesday) - you cannot blame them for
>this, but you *can* blame them for the way they manage the delays.

Sure, but the management  who make the decision has to be aware of the
delays and be able to do somethin about it

>
>Another example - with the above mentioned points failure, after we had not
>moved in the middle of the triangle for over 50 minutes, and not a peep
from
>the crew over the PA, I asked the PSS what the problem was - she said that
>she did not know. I rang the State Rail switchboard, asked for Orange
>Control, and found out (I told the PSS). A little bit of effort to keep
>passengers informed can generate a lot of goodwill, and prevent people from
>getting up tight.

Yep I agree with 100 precent...


Cheers
Jack
Queensland: Perfect One day
Beautiful the next
And wet for the other 363 days of the year