Article: New trains will have fewer seats

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

New trains will have fewer seats

New trains will have fewer seats

Jason Dowling and Clay Lucas
May 9, 2008

MELBOURNE'S new trains will each have 72 seats removed in a bid to squeeze more standing passengers onto the city's already bursting network.

The 18 new X'Trapolis trains come into service next year and will have at least 12 seats removed from each carriage.

Existing Melbourne trains will be refitted this year with some seats removed to make entry and exit easier and create more standing room.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the removal of 12 seats per carriage on the new trains would "make a huge difference in improving passenger movement and comfort on board".

"The seating on X'Trapolis is five seats across. This will be reduced to four seats across," she said.

"There are 528 seats on a six-carriage X'Trapolis set ? this will be reduced to 456, but in peak periods when not all passengers can be seated, this will make travel more comfortable."

Ms Kosky said Connex was also working through early design changes to "one six-carriage Comeng train to remove some seats for wheelchairs and the disabled and to better accommodate bikes".

"The Department of Transport will advise me if further changes to the existing fleet can be made to improve passenger flows," she said.

Connex spokesman John Rees confirmed that plans were being drawn up to reconfigure existing trains, with the first refitted train to be trialled on the network by September.

The changes are expected to be similar to those to be made to the new X'Trapolis trains and will be accompanied by a marketing campaign.

The seat announcement comes as this week's budget papers showed passenger numbers on trains were at record highs, jumping by 40 million ? from 178 million in 2006-07 to an expected 218 million in 2008-09.

The Opposition Transport spokesman, Terry Mulder, slammed the new seat arrangement, saying "passengers are paying more, getting less, going slower and are now being asked to stand". He said some trains from Pakenham could take up to 77 minutes to reach the city.

"So you are looking at 2? hours standing on public transport," he said.

But Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen welcomed the carriage changes: "The way they have been set up now is very inefficient ? you end up with people milling around the doorways, blocking people getting on and off, so it does make sense to look at that design again, perhaps move some seats around, perhaps remove a small number of seats, not too many, and certainly put in more straps to hold on to."

Metlink chief Bernie Carolan said anything that improved "customer flow through a train and the ability for people to stand comfortably as well as the lucky ones who get a seat" was very important.

"I think reviewing the ways trains are configured is a good thing," he said.

The massive pressure on Melbourne's rail network was recently noted by international transport expert Sir Rod Eddington when he recommended $18 billion in new road and public transport investment for Melbourne. "We have to provide people with an appropriate journey," Sir Rod told The Age. "And standing on a platform and watching trains go past because they are full is not an appropriate journey."

Mr Rees said there would be no wholesale stripping of seats from trains to make standing room or bench seats down one side like "some sort of New York trolley car". He said some seats would be removed from around doors to make it easier for people to get on and off. " ? it's really about taking out, getting the balance, getting a couple of seats out in the right space."