Random observations around the network ...

[#Metro]

Eeeeew!! 

[ClintonL94]

Today I went to Richlands and I like the station

Here is my footage from today:

   

   

   

*Above* SMU 230 and 234 on Darra - Richland Shuttles, SMU 232 on an Ipswich all stopper, SMU 271 at Caboolture awaiting departure to Nambour and EMU 34 terminating at Caboolture from an all stopper from Ipswich.

Photographs and Video of Clinton Larsen 21-01-2011

[#Metro]

First class network in the making- that video is very encouraging to watch!
Not only does the infrastructure look great, the the service has SPEED. Leave car for dead in peak hour.

The Springfield line has real potential. Keep the stations spaced apart and get up a good speed, feed the train stations with buses, and it will be a beauty!

GOOD WORK QR and TL   

[Arnz]

6:25am service to Roma Street (from Landsborough) broke down at Nambour and was subsequently cancelled this morning.  

The following service at 6:55am had a Derwan Crush load of 4 leaving Landsborough due to the train being a 6-car ICE (fewer seats).  People standing up and down the aisle of every car (since it was carrying the cancelled 6am load too).

I was later found out during the day the units were IMU106 and IMU109 (later sighted being towed by a 6-car EMU past Caboolture around 4pm).

[ozbob]

Onboard EMU73/83 platform one Corinda, waiting departure 8.27am BNE service via Tennyson.

Just noted Darra service platform 2 new IMUs ...



(EMUs on Airport services always gives me a warm inner glow, I like the tourists to experience great trains ... )  

[ozbob]

Just passed an outbound coalie on the dual gauge going through Yeronga ...

[ozbob]

Park Road platform 3, then over on to the dual gauge, running slightly behind inbound service ex Cleveland parallel that used platform 2 Park Road.

Later at South Brisbane, the train ahead of us was held and we went onto the bridge ahead of it. 

[Arnz]

SMU246 now has the new destos/PIDs/Communication Systems installed.

Almost done for the SMU220 refurbishments.  Only a few left to go for refurb (mostly the 240 series SMUs).

[Gazza]

Anyone notice the new voice in the trains? Still a male voice, but younger and faster speaking, and perhaps a bit more upbeat.
And they've made some announcements more concise.....Eg it used to say at some stations "QR would like to remind passengers to take care whilst de-training from this service, and whilst exiting from your station"
But now it just says "Please take care while disembarking"

[WTN]

Anyone notice the new voice in the trains? Still a male voice, but younger and faster speaking, and perhaps a bit more upbeat.
And they've made some announcements more concise.....Eg it used to say at some stations "QR would like to remind passengers to take care whilst de-training from this service, and whilst exiting from your station"
But now it just says "Please take care while disembarking"

Yes I noticed that once while returning from a visit to Richlands. It was refreshingly different, having listened to the other automated voice for a long time. I thought it was the guard's own voice until I noticed it sounded the same for every station.

The new passenger LED displays have a bigger font too, but display less text so it is harder to read long scrolling words.

-------

Today I experienced the longest bus jam I've seen. Heading inbound at about 9am, buses were lined up from Melbourne St to within metres of the South Bank Busway platform. It took a good 10-15 minutes to get to Cultural Centre.

On the way home at 5:30pm, Victoria Bridge was lined end to end with buses.

[#Metro]

Today I experienced the longest bus jam I've seen. Heading inbound at about 9am, buses were lined up from Melbourne St to within metres of the South Bank Busway platform. It took a good 10-15 minutes to get to Cultural Centre.

On the way home at 5:30pm, Victoria Bridge was lined end to end with buses.

Twice in one day? Was there an incident?

I've been in those bus jams, and the South Bank-Cultural Centre section is the worst, because there are no stations,  you can't just exit (I wish they allowed this!) so you have to sit there, trapped while inching your way to CC.

Just out of Buranda between Buranda and Woolloongabba is also another congestion point- again, no escape!

I wonder why they don't just re-direct the buses over the bridge when things like this happen.

[Golliwog]

Because with the Buranda/Woolongabba example I think its usually the line of buses waiting at the lights to get onto the CC bridge thats causing the delay.

In other news, I got an interesting ride to work this morning. I was in the 4th car (right behind the guard) and got on at Ferny Grove. But after that none of the doors to the carriage worked and the guard ended up locking them all at Grovely and putting locked stickers on them and told us all that it was fine for us to stay there, but to get off we would have to head down to the 5th car. Needless to say we ended up about 5 minutes late by the time we got to Central and everyone got off. Still, it was well handled by the guard, who kept an eye out at each station and let those trying to board know they had to move along to the next carriage.

[WTN]

Sorry about the delay folks. I've been busy.

On the Monday that I posted the bus jams there wasn't any obvious incident as I went past, but there could've been one earlier. There wasn't one on Tuesday morning. However, in the afternoon a long line formed. There was an incident at Cultural Centre as an ambulance was stopped at the platform.

On Wednesday I went via Captain Cook Bridge. In the afternoon a broken down car on the outbound side of the bridge and caused long lines of traffic stretching the length of Alice St and parts of Albert and Edward St. Captain Cook Bridge buses were caught up in the mix - taking about 10 minutes to travel from Edward/Mary St to Parliament House. With on street running, at least there was a way to get out if you had to!

[Golliwog]

I did notice that Ann street was a bit busier and slower looking than usual when I left work on Wednesday.

I had a really fast turn around of my train on Tuesday morning though. I was catching the 8.07am from FG to the city, but it didn't arrive at Ferny until 8.04am (the PID ticked over from 8.03 just as the train was pulling in) but they managed to have it leave at 8.07am on the dot (I was watching the PID, I wanted to see how long it would take and if we were going to be late). I was impressed seeing as its always quoted as taking 8 minutes.

[mufreight]

Despite the espoused perceptions of many the majority of the crews are sufficently motivated to do their best to provide a pretty high level of service, there is much that is beyond their control but they do make the effort beyond what they have to do.  Efforts that mostly go unoticed. 

[ClintonL94]

IMU180 expressed through Beenleigh(inbound) as a special at 12:04

[Arnz]

Yesturday's journeys to and from the workplace at Cab.

Filmed the Morning Journey between Beerburrum and Elimbah.  4 minutes running time on SMU280/SMU270 going at 130km/h.

IMU177 operating the Cooroy-Brisbane service whilst Waiting for the 3:53pm Caboolture-Nambour run.

[ClintonL94]

Great videos Arnz. May I ask what you are recording with?

[Stillwater]

There are a few places on the network where the train line runs parallel to a motorway -- for instance, between Eumundi and Yandina and out on the line to Richlands where the trains race the Centenary Highway traffic.  I'd love to see vision of the trains beating the cars down the motorway - just to illustrate what's possible.

[Arnz]

Great videos Arnz. May I ask what you are recording with?

An old Canon Powershot SX200 which I bought 2 years back (can at least do 720p HD quality for Youtube).  I'm aware there are way better cameras out there.  

Hadn't used it for videos till recently.

[ozbob]

Joined Ipswich service platform two Central (5 and 6 closed).  Noted 3 car SMU sets, one in platform 2 and one in platform 3 Roma St, now on main up at Milton ... noted green signal on sub up at Auchenflower (WS028).  UP sub has green lights all the way, I wonder if they are running the Ipswich services on the main and Richlands on the sub??

Later:  crossed back to the up sub immediately prior to Sherwood.  Must be just 'musical platforms' ...

Earlier on a train in from Darra (ex Richlands) met up with a chap from Perth. Two observations:  seems to staff everywhere and lineside graffiti is everywhere ...

Just passed a down coalie (full) Gailes, few coalies out of Ebenezer this week ...

[HappyTrainGuy]

I had a very interesting race onboard SMU280 against SMU23X yesterday morning across Merivale bridge both heading to South Brisbane at around 6:30. Something I don't get to see everyday. Oh, and SMU280 won by the way

[somebody]

Joined Ipswich service platform two Central (5 and 6 closed).  Noted 3 car SMU sets, one in platform 2 and one in platform 3 Roma St, now on main up at Milton ... noted green signal on sub up at Auchenflower (WS028).  UP sub has green lights all the way, I wonder if they are running the Ipswich services on the main and Richlands on the sub??

Later:  crossed back to the up sub immediately prior to Sherwood.  Must be just 'musical platforms' ...

Earlier on a train in from Darra (ex Richlands) met up with a chap from Perth. Two observations:  seems to staff everywhere and lineside graffiti is everywhere ...

Just passed a down coalie (full) Gailes, few coalies out of Ebenezer this week ...

Really hate it when they do that.  Could be a points clean working, or maybe not.  All Richmond trains seem to do it.

[Otto]

Later:  crossed back to the up sub immediately prior to Sherwood.  Must be just 'musical platforms' ...

I do see trains switching between the Main and Suburban lines between Graceville and Sherwood quite often during the offpeak daytime as I pass on a GCL service and get stopped at the boomgates.

[BribieG]

Noticing more and more "reborn" EMUs on the Caboolture Line - when they get updated do they still retain their original names, e.g. EMU25 or do they get a new name?

[Otto]

Yes, they do keep the same fleet number..

[Stillwater]

Glad to see QR has taken up a suggestion to place a sign on the locked toilets at Cooroy railway station, directing those who 'need to go' to the public toilets on the other side of the overhead pedestrian walkway, dubbed the 'rocket launcher' by locals because of its steep ramps.  The station toilets are locked during the day when the Cooroylander operates, as well as when the tilt trains and Sunlander pass through and stop.  Saw two people the other day walk to the toilets, read the sign and wander across the overbridge to the public loos, and then make their way back again to catch their train.

[johnnigh]

Observed at Domestic Terminal at 8pm sharp, thence to 8.50:
6 car unit at Terminal station, passenger compartments brightly lit, crew compartments dark.

Numbers of would-be passengers climbing the (stopped) escalators to station level, having seen the lit train but not having read or understood the signs within the terminal. Many climbers of Asian appearance, possibly tourists.

There being no public transport apparent, taxi queues from both Virgin and Qantas ends extended to create waiting times of about 25 minutes (my experience). Shuttle bus service to the city available at too-long an interval, half hour or more, to be of use.

Storms had delayed flights into BNE creating these queues. Our flight included passengers from an earlier flight that had returned to Sydney after flying as far as Queensland border, so the excess of passengers was significant.

Clearly, the BAC does not have adequate means of dealing with these situations.

Contrast the much-maligned Kingsford Smith Airport, with a rail service that is part of the suburban network, thus operates long hours early and late, and at least one public bus service passing through the domestic (and international?) terminals (Route 400, Burwood - Bondi Jcn via Rockdale)

[#Metro]

I can only imagine the shock these tourists have after coming from Europe (metros and LRT everywhere) or asia (well known for big efficient rail systems like Japan, China etc) and looking up at airtrain and realising that they have to wait 30 minutes, whereas in their home country they might wait 3.

Oh, and it shuts down at 8pm!

[HappyTrainGuy]

If it was still there at 8.50 I'd assume that it was because of the signal faults where it rejoins the network from the airport line.

[O_128]

I can only imagine the shock these tourists have after coming from Europe (metros and LRT everywhere) or asia (well known for big efficient rail systems like Japan, China etc) and looking up at airtrain and realising that they have to wait 30 minutes, whereas in their home country they might wait 3.

Oh, and it shuts down at 8pm!

Part of the reason why I'm quitting public transport and buying a car when I get home, after the level of service I've seen here I just can't waste any more of my life waiting 30 min for a train.

[p858snake]

Valley station {during/after} the storm (taken by someone on my facebook).

[johnnigh]

Yes, it must have been quite a storm, but isn't Brissie used to big storms? They've only been happening since the last ice age, and we've been around for just a few of those centuries. Can't we afford big enough stormwater systems? Oh, probably not...

[ozbob]

On platform 8 Roma St waiting for the 8.37am Ipswich service, noted a couple of terminating suburban services using platform 10.

[ozbob]

ICE at Roma St.  Travelled from Central to Roma St on this service ... 







Photographs R Dow 2nd March 2011

[Fares_Fair]

we Sunshine Coasters love our ICE trains ....
they may only hold 48 passengers per car, but wow - thay are perfect for a long-haul commute.

Thay are plagued by a regular door fault that delayed services last week.

Regards,
Fares_Fair

[Arnz]

Indeed Fares_Fair, definitely suited for the longer runs to Cooroy and Gympie, and for the off-peak/weekend runs out to Nambour.

Only gripe I've got about them is the reliability of the units (which on numerous occasions causes delays to services), which has been pointed out many times before on here and other boards.

[HappyTrainGuy]

That can't really prevent most of their problems considering they were designed for long hauls to Rocky with a few stops. But the ride comfort really makes you want to stay on the train when it terminates at Roma Street

[johnnigh]

Yesterday enjoyed the 8.27 from Corinda to Central (bound for Airport), one of the services to be let go in the new timetable. Are 'they' making it clear that the service isn't worth running by ensuring the journey took just over 30 minutes  :conf ? It was almost 'I'll walk beside you' for much of the journey 

[ozbob]

I'm onboard the 8,27am BNE flyer ex Corinda now (nice new  283). 
We left on  time, just arriving at Tennyson.  Stop watch on ...

Infuriating looking across at the tennis centre, and not being served by rail ...