New SMUs and IMUs banned from NCL rumour

[rob2144]

Heard a rumour today the new SMUs and IMUs were banned from running services north of Caboolture due to the issue of no interconnecting doors.

Can anyone shed any light on this matter?

[Arnz]

A SMU260 was on a Cooroy service a few days ago, so I'm not sure if that was put into place recently or only a rumour.

Edit: According to the "Zero Harm" policy on the NCL.  The same deal applies for a 6-car IMU160/SMU260 on the NCL when I last caught the 5:17pm Central-Nambour service.  The guard announced that the back 3 carriages were to be closed and locked off north of Landsborough.

[Arnz]

IMU174 and IMU16? subsituting for the ICE - Gympie North service into Brisbane.  

Back 3 carriages were unlocked at Landsborough as per "Zero Harm" policy.  Boy did the front 3 carriages look crowded when the train arrived in Landsborough this morning.

[ButFli]

I don't see how this "no interconnecting door" problem is any different to the rest of the suburban fleet? Why is this "ban" limited to the new IMUs and SMUs?

[mufreight]

Unless I am mistaken on the earlier sets the interconnectiong doors could be locked off making it possible to confine passengers to only one or two carriages of the three car set.

[Arnz]

Why is this "ban" limited to the new IMUs and SMUs?

It's not "banned" to my knowledge.  Sighted a 6-car IMU160 was substituting on a Gympie North service only too recently.

This might be a problem if a "late night" service is given a 6-car set, but 7:26, 9:26 and 11:30pm Brisbane>Nambour service are usually scheduled as 3-car IMUs.

This doesn't seem to be a problem when the Gympie North service is substituted with a 6-car IMU160/SMU260.

Edit: The usual "lock the back 3 cars and move all passengers to the front" at Landsborough for the new MUs (like any other 6-car service) usually comes into play per "Zero Harm" policy.