RAIL - Back On Track Forum

Rail Express --> NSW rail review under way

QuoteThe NSW Government has formally announced a comprehensive and independent review of Sydney Train's rail infrastructure and systems.

The move was foreshadowed earlier in the month by transport minister Jo Haylen, concerned at recent failures such as delays and widespread outages from the digital radio system malfunctions that shut down the entire system, and discontent over the controversial Korean-built train fleet which led to a transport worker strike.

Sydney Trains operates Sydney suburban passenger 369 kilometre rail network comprising of 170 stations on eight lines.

Each day 3200 timetabled services deliver more than 750,000 passenger journeys. Sydney Trains is responsible for the management of over $42 billion in assets, including the maintenance of 2000km of track, 2263 electric and diesel cars and over 1536km of electric wiring.

The review will be conducted by current National Transport Commission Chair, Carolyn Walsh. ...

I'm curious, what diesel rollingstock does Sydney Trains maintain? Aren't all the DMUs part of the NSW Trainlink fleet now?

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1647966632638300160

Sydney Trains does it well on twitter ...

https://twitter.com/TrainsInfo/status/1650545891202281476

Quote from: ozbob on April 25, 2023, 03:13:10 AMSydney Trains does it well on twitter ...

All except their name. Would be a bit hard to tell that it's for Sydney without the profile picture. Would be even more difficult for tourists!

Sydney Morning Herald --> The reasons Sydney's rail network is set to worsen in the future $

QuoteDelays and cancellations to trains on Sydney's troubled rail network will worsen without a maintenance blitz to recover from a surging backlog in defects, an interim review has found.

The review commissioned by the state Labor government into repeated failures across Sydney's rail network lays much of the blame on a major change to the rail timetable, and industrial action by workers last year delaying fixes.

Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the review had shown that Sydney's rail network was neither reliable nor resilient, and the government would accept all the report's 12 recommendations, including a "maintenance blitz" over the next 12 months. ...

Interim Report ---> https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2023/Sydney-Trains_Review-Phase-One_Initial-Report_12-May-2023.pdf

Final Report due October 2023.

Reading the report now... 

Control

Quote12. That the Government consider, in consultation with TfNSW and unions, transferring accountability for the operation of the electric Intercity fleet and management of associated station staff from NSW TrainLink to Sydney Trains.

So, this is just reforming RailCorp again. In Victoria they are separate operators. That said, judging by the number of small entities all segmented doing 'their bit' in providing train service, you have to wonder if there is just too much interfacing. Might be better to have it all in one pot again.

Maintenance

A lot of the maintenance backlog seems to be a byproduct of industrial action when those activities were paused. This has translated into system unreliability.

QuoteProtected Industrial Actions (PIA) – PIA by rail unions in support of Enterprise Bargaining claims impacted the ability of Sydney Trains to provide services and carry out maintenance programs. Over 500 individual examples of PIA were in place at various times during the bargaining period. 

All in all... not a very interesting interim report. 

ABC News --> More than half a million Sydney rail commuters face weekend disruptions for at least a year in 'biggest ever' fix to network

QuoteMore than half a million rail commuters will be forced to catch buses on weekends for at least a year as the Sydney network undergoes a major maintenance blitz.

Close to 4,000 repairs, upgrades and refurbishments to equipment, including tracks and signalling systems started this weekend at a cost of about $97 million — impacting about 600,000 passengers.

The "biggest co-ordinated program ever" is in response to an expert review of the rail service that found it was plagued by a backlog of almost 40,000 defects. ...

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1682070330481967104

New Redfern Station upgrade opens today ---https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSNF6MpHT/

Sydney Morning Herald --> Older Sydney trains to be kept in service for longer $

QuoteThe NSW government's promise to build a new fleet of trains locally will force the state's rail operator to squeeze about an extra five years of service out of its ageing Tangara passenger trains.

Under Sydney Trains' latest plans, it will take until the early 2030s before the double-deck trains built locally to replace the Tangara fleet enter service on suburban rail lines. ...

Sydney Morning Herald --> Crew doors flew open on new intercity trains during trial $

QuoteCrew doors on one of NSW's new intercity trains opened suddenly as it was travelling through the Blue Mountains last month in the latest fault besetting the multibillion-dollar fleet.

Internal documents obtained by the Herald show scores of defects – including braking problems – in the new double-decker trains that have been undergoing testing ahead of plans for the first of them to enter service in the second half of 2024, more than four years later than originally planned.

Records of the incidents show doors on the driver's compartment of a new intercity train opened by themselves after it had passed Lapstone station in the Blue Mountains on November 11.

It triggered an alarm of a major fault and forced the driver to immediately bring the train to a halt on the Blue Mountains line.

The leaked documents reveal braking problems have been a repeat complication with the new trains.

In an incident in early September, a train's electric brake temporarily dropped out at Strathfield and it ended up travelling further than the driver intended. ...

Testing reveals dramatic faults in intercity train fleet | 7 News Australia

https://x.com/smh/status/1744117340290343299?s=20

Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink (Intercity) performance reports

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/data-and-research/data-and-insights/sydney-trains-and-nsw-trainlink-intercity-performance-reports

Already has January 2024 data available ...

We will not know QR Citytrain data for December 2023 until around 10th February 2024, hardly satisfactory in this day and age is it?

Sydney Morning Herald --> It will cost $73 million to run 100 buses a day instead of a train line. That's just the start $

QuoteTaxpayers will fork out well over $73 million to put on replacement buses for up to 60,000 commuters disrupted each day by the 12-month closure of a busy rail line in Sydney's south-west from as early as July.

Amid a chronic shortage of drivers across Sydney, tender documents show that the state government's deal with bus company Transit Systems will last for almost 23 months, nearly double the anticipated yearlong closure of the T3 line between Sydenham and Bankstown.

The total bill for replacement buses will be millions of dollars more than the estimated $73 million cost of the contract with Transit – which includes GST – because that deal covers three-quarters of the required services. ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1780282731924201734

Sydney Trains Review Final Report Modernising the Railway

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2024/Sydney-Trains-Review-Final-Report-12-December-2023.pdf

^

Sydney Morning Herald --> Old trains, delays and timetable risks: The truth about Sydney's strained rail network $

QuoteSydney's stretched passenger rail network faces challenges from replacing old trains, protracted delays to technology upgrades, workforce gaps and risks from rolling out a new timetable in the next few months to incorporate a $21 billion metro line into the system.

A final report from a review commissioned by the Minns government into repeated failures across the city's rail network has found the performance of the train fleet is still below target due to delays to technology upgrades and new multibillion-dollar intercity and regional trains.

It warns that many projects to improve Sydney Trains overlap with the rollout of new timetables this year and next, digital system replacements and the introduction into service of the problem-plagued intercity and regional train fleets purchased by the previous Coalition government. ...

Sydney Morning Herald --> Spike in 'wheel wear' forces old passenger trains to be pulled from service $

QuoteA surge in wheels wearing out on NSW's decades-old passenger trains has forced some to be pulled from operation and several daily services cancelled on intercity routes from Sydney over the past six weeks because there have not been enough to operate a full timetable.

The problems besetting the V-set trains, which were built in the 1970s, illustrate the pressure on the state's ageing rail fleet, and the ripple effect of a five-year delay to the introduction into service of new Korean-built intercity trains which were purchased to replace them.  ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1784616628916986253

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney's old trains get $450m to keep them in service for extra 12 years $

QuoteAlmost $450 million will be spent on extending the life of Sydney's decades-old Tangara passenger trains, giving the Minns government time to develop plans to build a replacement fleet in NSW and deliver on an election promise.

The upgrade to the Tangara fleet will allow it to keep running on the city's rail lines for about 12 more years – to 2036 – ensuring their service reliability until they are replaced by new trains. ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1798381999406846033

Sydney Morning Herald --> Spike in NSW passenger train faults sparks urgent repair project $

QuoteMore than 2000 train carriages in NSW's passenger rail fleet will undergo critical repairs and upgrades to reduce the likelihood of defects inflicting delays and cancellations on commuters.

Government figures show train faults have increased 28 per cent in the year to June, on the prior period, resulting in 595 cancellations and 2445 delays to services. The faults have been most acute in the state's Oscar, Tangara and XPT passenger train fleets.

Following the defects over the past two years, the government has decided to spend $35 million on repair work to more than 2000 carriages, which make up 372 passenger trains. ...

Newcastle Herald --> Rail controllers playing online games, shopping while guarding passenger safety $

QuoteThe safety of passengers on the Sydney to Newcastle train line has been put at "high risk" by signal controllers "possibly" distracted playing games and shopping on their work computers.

The issue has come to light after an Office of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI) report tabled in NSW Parliament found a signaller had incorrectly allowed a Newcastle-bound train to enter a section of closed track in January last year.

The Homebush-based signaller failed to properly block the track for scheduled maintenance work despite giving verbal assurances to a manager that they had done so. ...

https://x.com/GuardianAus/status/1814885883645976703

Daily Telegraph --> Calls to improve Sydney train platform safety after six prams roll onto tracks over three years $

QuoteEngineering experts say more has to be done to improve Sydney's platforms as it was revealed that hundreds of them slope towards the tracks including the one that took the lives of a two-year-old girl and her father last month.

Six prams with little children strapped in have rolled onto train tracks at Sydney train stations over the last three years.

Rail engineering experts say more needs to be done to improve station safety as it can be revealed all but one of the platforms where the incidents occurred were designed to slope on an angle towards the train tracks. ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1820129131381792831

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1828836582864105503

Sydney Morning Herald --> NSW's new intercity train fleet set to miss opening date $

QuoteNSW's long-delayed project to deliver new intercity trains is set to miss a secret target date for first passenger services on September 16 amid challenges in modifying the multibillion-dollar fleet and a wait for regulatory approval.

Missing the internal target date for the first regular services, which is detailed in confidential Transport for NSW documents, will mean the $4 billion rail project will be delivered five years late after earlier delays.

The new Korean-built intercity train fleet joins the $2.875 billion first stage of the Parramatta light rail project – slated internally for the first service on August 25 – in missing targeted opening dates. ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1830624727033131300

https://x.com/TrainsInfo/status/1832905211683160222

Excellent communication this.

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1836436658511880311

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1836776158748442666

Daily Telegraph --> T3 Bankstown line commuters face more than a year on buses as track is converted for Metro $

QuoteThe last train on the T3 Bankstown line made its final journey just after midnight on Monday morning, with Sydneysiders along the line preparing for more than a year of bus services as the track is converted for Metro.

The Minns government has warned residents they will face a difficult year, with train replacement buses taking more than 20 minutes longer than the old train service.

The closure has finally happened after many hurdles including industrial action from train drivers and a shortage of bus drivers. ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1840403059933126718

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1843663950174662713

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1844767935619125367

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1856725051166556400

I find this pretty bizarre. Unions are there to ensure that workers negotiate with management without a power imbalance, so that they get good pay and conditions and that things like safety are well considered. It's really not their role to direct what services a provider should provide.

Apparently the NSW RTBU wanted to put fully qualified train drivers in the automatic Sydney Metro when it opens between Sydenham and Bankstown, but the transport minister Jo Haylen said no.

Sydney already has a very good train replacement night bus service that shadows train lines and runs every night. These buses generally run from Town Hall station.

Sydney Night Network
https://transportnsw.info/document/1422/sydney-nightride-network-map.pdf

Unions NSW drop threats of industrial action after transport minister promises free rail travel in Sydney this weekend - ABC News
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/104370222

Quote from: OzGamer on November 14, 2024, 11:00:18 AMI find this pretty bizarre. Unions are there to ensure that workers negotiate with management without a power imbalance, so that they get good pay and conditions and that things like safety are well considered. It's really not their role to direct what services a provider should provide.

It's an odd one, but it is part of the Protected Industrial Action for the current EA negotiations. Causes some pain to the Government/Railway management while actually benefitting the public, instead of strikes etc which can disrupt the public and get them off-side, all while giving the opportunity for a bit more work for the workforce.
I think it's quite a smart move by the Unions on this one.

Quote from: #Metro on November 14, 2024, 11:29:39 AMSydney already has a very good train replacement night bus service that shadows train lines and runs every night. These buses generally run from Town Hall station.

If you'd ever used that service, you'd know it's horribly slow, and often overcrowded on weekends. This means you can't get on the bus, and need to wait an hour for the next one.

They really need trains on weekends (Friday/Saturday), or to put more buses on, including expresses to outer areas like Penrith and Campbelltown.

Rail maintenance needs to be done during those hours and crowding can be dealt with by adding more services.

What I like about the Sydney night bus is it runs every weekday as well.

I've always thought some core bus routes (555, 333, 222, 444 short to Indooroopilly) should run 24 hours.