Article: Thousands of seats to go on trains

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Thousands of seats to go on trains

Thousands of seats to go on trains
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun

Peter Rolfe, State politics reporter

October 26, 2008 12:00am

MORE than 8000 seats will be ripped out of Melbourne's trains if a radical trial of a stripped-back service is deemed a success.

A trial train with at least 44 fewer seats than usual and more standing room is being launched next month to combat the commuter crush.

Connex said it would remove more than 8600 seats - forcing thousands more passengers to stand - if the trial was given the thumbs up.

Seats would be removed from near doorways, with hundreds of extra handrails and poles added to accommodate standing passengers.

The move is expected to pave the way for a multi-million dollar refit of Melbourne's train fleet.

It comes after Connex said it would cut at least 72 seats from its fleet of 18 new trains set to join the Melbourne network next year.

Dubbed "the train of the future", the three-carriage trial train is being built as a blueprint for metropolitan rail travel.

Disabled seats would remain, with designated space for bikes and prams at the front of trains.

Connex spokesman John Rees said the plan aimed to create more space for commuters and easier access to carriages, rather than standing room only.

"It's about getting more people on the train and if that's having some people stand, then that's something we will look at," he said.

Melbourne-wide trials of the new train will begin in the next few weeks to gauge how passengers respond to standing on journeys.

Train punctuality, passenger flow and commuter numbers will also be monitored during the trial.

As these exclusive images show, at least 16 seats would be removed from carriages, mainly in doorways.

More than 90 seats would be removed from each peak-hour, six-carriage train.

But Mr Rees said more seats would be removed if the trial showed it boosted train comfort and reliability.

"People will put up with standing, but they don't want to be crushed, so we want to put more handrails in and get more space for people to make it more comfortable," he said.

The trial train is expected to be in service by November 9 when 277 services will be added to the network.

Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the plan was an innovative response to unprecedented passenger growth.

[ozbob]

Last week I was in Melbourne. I managed to deliberately get on a peak hour overloaded service (Murrumbeena to Southern Cross) to see the congestion first hand.  Most people got off at Parliament station. It was probably a little better overall (slightly less congestion) than what we experience in Queensland on our trains. This follows due to the different loading gauges.  There has been some seat readjustments on some of the late refurbished Queensland Citytrain EMUs around the doors.  I have noticed this has improved loading and increased standing room too.

Another idea worth considering is more flip seating. This means that at peak the seats are folded up and more room is available for standing punters.  When things less congested the seats can be used as normal.  This is being done on the New York Subway as a trial.