Re: Box Hill FSS Locals (Was Re: Late running trains go Express (Hillside))

[cmgord@ecr.mu.oz.au (Christopher_Martin GORDON)]

: Perhaps it might be because there are not enough? After all, the expresses
: run every 3-5 minutes, the locals run about every 15 minutes. If you catch a
: train between Ringwood and Box Hill, you wait 5 minutes maximum for a train.
: If you catch it between Box Hill and Burnley, you could be waiting up to 15.
: Which service do you think people will use? As an infrequent user of East
: Camberwell station, I can assure you I think more trains would be better and
: I can assure you that the trains stopping between Box Hill and East
: Camberwell do much better than 33% full - I usually stand in the doorway
: because most of the seats are taken. And often I have to squeeze past other
: passengers to get off at East Camberwell after they get on at Surrey Hills
: and Mont Albert and to a lesser extent Chatham and Canterbury.

That is right the loading between Box Hill and Camberwell is too much, more
local trains are needed from Blackburn and Box Hill (one reason for a third
track beyond Box Hill, but it is on the drawing board to be done by 2011, as
well as three track Caulfield-Dandenong, but that is another thread for
after the election).  The other problem arrises when a train from Blackburn
will run about 2-3 minutes ahead of a train from Alamein on the Section
Camberwell-Burnley.  

I think the following changes need to be made;
* Change the 3 stopping trains from RWD at about 0742, 0810 and 0820 to
express trains.
* Run more locals from Box Hill and Blackburn, currently there is a local
from Blackburn every 15 minutes.  The locals should form at least a 10
minutes service, then about 1/2 these train run express Camberwell-Glenferrie-
Richmond and direct.  They would be followed about 2-3 minutes later by a train
from Alamein.
This would provide about a 10 minute service between BOX-CAM and about a 8 min
service between Camberwell-Richmond, with Glenferrie getting about a 6 min
service plus the express that stop there. 
* Run the opposite in the evening peak.  But the only problem with this is there
is no cross platform changes for people on the stoppers to the
expresses at Camberwell, Box Hill or Blackburn.

Remember in the off peak all the Alamein train ran to FSS and the trains from
RWD went express Camberwell-Richmond.  But this was cut in about 1985, but made
a good service.  Anyone that wanted to get off Between Camberwell and Richmond
changed trains at Cmaberwell.  Anyone that got on between Camberwell and
Richmond caught the local from Alamein.  This provided a service to the people
from beyond Box Hill with a quick journey.  Why stop at all the inner city 
stations, leave that to the Alamein trains.


--

Chris Gordon
http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~cmgord