Central (NSW), Friday 24/9

["Bill McNiven" <wmcniven@gunzel.ozemail.com.au>]

I had to visit the city at 5pm today and (since the train service at Kogarah
looked normal) travelled by train, aiming to change at Sydenham (NSW) so as
to see Redfern on the surface.

Redfern / Central (or whatever it's called today) around 4:30 revealed a
reasonably normal train service ... a ten-minute delay on the up Suburban
and Local as crews were sorted out at Central Platform 16/17.  Most trains
(other than Bankstown trains) were lightly loaded, probably because a lot of
people didn't go to the city by train in the morning.  There was one train
out of Sydney Yard around 4:45 which was an 8-car T set.

Central around 6:15 to 6:55 was a little different.  There was still a
pretence of running to a timetable, with crews waiting for their rostered
trains without knowing whether the train would ever come.  There were also
crews on other than their rostered trains getting concerned about crib
breaks.  While the West / North Shore service was running reasonably (as it
should have), the remains of a truncated Bankstown / Quay / Liverpool
service were falling apart.  In this period, departures from platforms 22/23
were nil to East Hills (as expected), four empty to Eveleigh and nil to
Bankstown.  Some trains waited for relief drivers, others for relief guards.

But then, this is what has always happened when CityRail or its predecessors
try to run a service with large parts of the system shut down.

Another Olympics rehearsal?

Rgds

Bill

BTW, motive power on the Circular Quay end of today's Airport ballast was
PL1+4854.  The train moved off towards the Airport at 6:45 pm.