Article: Downpour delays trains as passengers huddle at shelter

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Downpour delays trains as passengers huddle at shelter

Downpour delays trains as passengers huddle at shelter
February 27, 2013 Adam Carey

A LACK of shelter at most suburban railway stations is to blame for Melbourne's bankable rainy day train delays.

On a wet Tuesday morning for Metro, most lines experienced delays of five to 15 minutes in the downpour, while four lines were temporarily shut due to a death on the tracks, stolen cabling, a defective train and tangled overhead wires.

Metro spokeswoman Larisa Tait said heavy rain generally slowed down train travel times significantly as passengers clustered under station platforms, fumbled with umbrellas and walked at a slower than usual pace across wet platforms.

''As a general rule, on days of heavy rain we know to expect that normal passenger boarding times will double,'' Ms Tait said. ''As some stations have only a small length of shelter, many customers stay under it until the train is approaching.''

Melbourne University transport expert Chris Hale said it was a failure of planning that Melbourne's railway stations had not been designed with better weather protection, given the known impact on train travel times.

''It's OK for Metro to say it's raining and [trains are slower] because of the inefficient loading of passengers on platforms, but the question is, what are people doing about this, knowing that it's going to happen again and again and especially in winter?'' Dr Hale said.

Studies had shown passenger loading was 15 to 30 per cent less efficient at stations exposed to wet weather, Dr Hale said.

Tony Morton, president of the Public Transport Users Association, said Melbourne's stations lacked shelter because they had not been designed for passengers, but rather to solve problems such as fare evasion. ''Stations still have single entry and exit points,'' Dr Morton said. ''Now that we have myki and don't need station staff to check tickets, there could be open access points at each end of the station. But they just put the new myki gates next to the existing gates.''

Ms Tait said ''in previous times, shelter and passenger amenities were not always a high priority'' but design standards changed late last decade.

''The standard now demands that all city-bound platforms at new stations have a minimum of 60 per cent shelter incorporated into the design,'' she said.