Melbourne Trains

[somebody]

I think that is only because they are privatised.  The public service would not be allowed.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Melbourne storms disrupt rail service

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Troubles balloon on the City Loop

[ozbob]

Queensland Rail has hooked in Dumb ways to die .. on their home page ..

http://www.queenslandrail.com.au/Pages/Default.aspx

[#Metro]

We need the level crossing jellybean as posters near level crossings!!

[ozbob]

Metro Express Edition number 48

https://www.dropbox.com/s/leb5rnteeueploa/Metro%20Express%20Edition%2048%20Nov%202012.pdf

[ozbob]

Twitter

1m Daniel Bowen Daniel Bowen ‏@danielbowen

Blog post: 798 is NOT the capacity of a Melbourne train http://www.danielbowen.com/2012/12/05/train-capacity/ ... #metrotrains

[ozbob]

Herald Sun --> Metro driver shortage leaves peak-hour commuters stranded

[ozbob]

Forty years young ...

First public Hitachi (Vic.) 24th December 1972

--> http://tdu.to/189712.msg

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Upfield or up the creek, it's all the same time travelling

[somebody]

Having read that article, it seems there are two possible explanations: either the advice to board the Cranbourne train was incorrect, or the Upfield train didn't serve Southern Cross.  Both possibilities seem a little poor.

In any case, a more logical move would have been to board a North Melbourne direct train, if one was available.

[#Metro]

^ Have to say that Metro is VERY TARDY when it comes to accurate destination signage. Was on a train that said we were going to Pakenham while said train was pulling into Caulfield. Often the desto signs inside the train are totally wrong. What was described with the "--" also happened to me and a similar announcement was also made. They don't have very good "do not board this train" signs and I have seen a passenger rush into a terminated train, and then the train head off - presumably this passenger got taken for a ride to the train stabling yards.

[ozbob]

Daniel Bowen Blog --> Hitachi trains: forty years on

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Leaving City Loop open 'recipe for disaster': Doyle

[ozbob]

Herald Sun --> Metro short 30 train drivers for new year's revellers

[ozbob]

Twitter

Metro Trains ‏@metrotrains

A train has derailed near Croydon station. All passengers are safely off the train and there are no injuries. 1/2

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Twitter

Metro Trains ‏@metrotrains

Buses will replace trains between Ringwood and Lilydale station until further notice. We have crews on site now. Will update. 2/2

[ozbob]

Twitter

Chris Gordon ‏@Condog412

Up Lilydale derailed, about 4 carriages off the tracks. Train is a Hitachi. #hitachiwatch

[ozbob]

Herald Sun --> Passengers unhurt as train derails near Croydon Station

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Derailment causes peak-time delays

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Metro admits extreme heat will turn train network into chaos

Metro admits extreme heat will turn train network into chaos
Angus Thompson
Herald Sun
January 04, 2013 12:00AM

THE HOT weather is expected to throw Melbourne's train network into chaos after a heat-buckled rail line caused a train to derail yesterday afternoon.

Metro Trains has admitted today's extreme temperatures will test the network amid fears of mass disruptions as the mercury skyrockets above 40C.

Widespread delays are also expected on Victoria's regional rail network.

V/Line trains spokesman Colin Tyrus said once the mercury hit 36C, heat speed-restrictions meant journeys could be delayed by up to 45 minutes.

Buses will replace trains on a section of the Lilydale Line after a peak-hour service carrying 24 passengers slipped off the rails about 5.30pm yesterday.

No one was injured in the incident, which happened near Croydon Station.

But Metro spokeswoman Leah Waymark said observers would continually monitor heat-related issues across the network.

"We assure our customers the train network is safe and we would not run trains on any section of track we weren't absolutely confident was safe,'' she said.

"Days of extreme temperature certainly test the network but we have invested heavily in infrastructure improvements in recent years and the past three summers have seen no major heat-related issues."

But Public Transport Users Association President Tony Morton said today would not be without incident.

"It could be derailment, it could be a train breaking down in the heat and suspending services, or it could be trains out of service because of their air conditioning breaking down.

"Something is bound to happen," Mr Morton said.

Mr Tyrus said enough buses would be on standby to ferry regional commuters to their destinations if V/Line's network became crippled by train delays.

[ozbob]

Croydon derailment --> http://www.vicsig.net/suburban/accident/croydon

[ozbob]

Twitter

Metro Trains ‏@metrotrains

Hope you all have a great weekend and that this cool change comes as quickly as possible.Looks like we've just hit 40 degrees in Melb. Ouch!

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Twitter

Metro Trains ‏@metrotrains

We are not running any older-style Hitachi trains tonight. All trains should have functional air-conditioning. Please let us know if not.

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Train commuters face evening delays

[ozbob]

Daniel Bowen Blog --> White tracks

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Metro steps up fight against copper thieves

[ozbob]

Twitter

Vicsig ‏@vicsig

On this day 31 years ago the first Comeng train entered service, 311M-6T-312M-313M-7T-314M. Happy Anniversary! http://t.co/6ac9TREf

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Metro pulls support staff from stations

Metro pulls support staff from stations
Date January 25, 2013  Jason Dowling

CUSTOMER service officers at some Melbourne stations are being relocated to centralised control rooms as part of a Metro ''customer assistance trial''.

Melbourne's train operator said the transfer of some staff was ''aimed at improving customer information and service''.

The trial began last year on the Craigieburn and Upfield lines and is expected to be rolled out soon on the Sandringham line.

''The reason for these changes is to provide customers at all stations with an inquiry button and more extensive monitoring of platforms and station areas,'' a Metro spokeswoman said.
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She said before the trial, the red button at stations was for emergencies only but now it could be used for customer information requests.

''Since the trial, red buttons on the Craigieburn and Upfield lines connect customers to a staffed control room on each line to have their inquiries answered and where CCTV is monitored and platform announcements are made,'' she said.

''In order to respond quickly to customers pressing the red button, we needed to allocate more staff resources to these control rooms.''

She said the change had been ''very successful on the lines being trialled''.

Trevor Dobbyn, state secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, said members had been briefed on the trial but there had been no agreement with the union to make the changes permanent.

Public Transport Users Association president Tony Morton said a button was no replacement for staff at stations.

''There needs to be a full staff presence at every station from first to last train ... it is simply penny-pinching to not provide that staff presence now,'' he said.

''It is no doubt that some fare evasion on the train system is opportunistic evasion that might be avoided if there was a consistent staff presence on stations and people had an idea that they might get caught.''

He said a button was ''no substitute for someone who is on the spot to assist people who need physical assistance, with prams, with wheelchairs''.

Mr Morton said not having a staff presence at stations slowed the system because train drivers were required to help commuters in need.

Metro said the trial relocation of staff had no link to the rollout of protective services officers

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/metro-pulls-support-staff-from-stations-20130124-2d9ly.html

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Metro derails online complaint system

[ozbob]

News.com.au --> Avoid the first two carriages and other clues to beating the train crush

[ozbob]

Herald Sun --> Metro fears inside knowledge in copper scam as wire thefts stop trains

[ozbob]

Twitter

6h Vicsig Vicsig ‏@vicsig

The last hour of Electric Staff use in Victoria captured and recorded for history. http://www.vicsig.net/photos/latestphotos ...

[somebody]

Electric staff was still in use on the Hurstbridge line in Jan 2013  

[Stillwater]

Is it still in use on the Goulburn-Canberra run?

[somebody]

Is it still in use on the Goulburn-Canberra run?

I believe so.  And the Parkes-Stockingbal/Coota run too.  I think there are some others, but at least they've gotten rid of it from Casino-Brisbane and the Ulan line.

[colinw]

I believe Joppa Jct to Canberra is currently being worked with Train Orders, as an interim measure until CTC is brought into use. When I last used the Canberra train, over a year ago now, new signals were in place along the branch, but crossed out.

[SurfRail]

Electric staff was still in use on the Hurstbridge line in Jan 2013  

CTC with automatic signalling
Semaphore signalling
Electric staff

All on the same line a few years ago...

Are the semaphores still there?

(Of course there is a certain metropolitan line in a certain 3rd largest city in the country which still features semaphore working.)

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Yes, they are out to get you ... to get you there

Yes, they are out to get you ... to get you there
February 3, 2013
Neil McMahon

IT'S as true in Melbourne as it is in Moscow and Manhattan. Residence of a large metropolis demands certain rituals and obligations, among them the conviction that your city's transport system is a disaster without rival - a mess, a joke, a blight on civilisation.

The trains will never run on time, all the time. Few things exercise the populace more keenly; few failures drive us more swiftly to anger and excuses for expletives.

In Melbourne, the people who run and work for Metro Trains know that they will always be hated, and the best they can do is minimise the hostility, while doing their best to tame an innately unwieldy beast.

On a day behind the scenes observing various aspects of the network close up, Fairfax Media went where commuters never go - up front in the cabin with a driver, backstage at Flinders Street with the staff monitoring the system by CCTV, and riding the rails with the officers whose job seems to be to make your life misery if you've forgotten to touch on your myki card.
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Driver Ian Terry sums it up best: ''It's different up here,'' he says, as he guides a train along the route to Sandringham. ''The perspective of a train driver to a passenger is totally different.''

This much is obvious, not just in the driver's cabin but everywhere we visit. While passengers, rightly, give little thought to anything other than getting from their preferred A to B, the people charged with making that happen have countless factors to weigh every minute of the day.

Up close, it's possible to solve some of the mysteries that drive us to distraction.

We ask station officer Vipul Limbachia, for example, if he can shed light on one of the eternal frustrations of train travel through the CBD hub: those inevitable, enraging, unexplained delays on the journey between Southern Cross and Flinders Street.

The train stops. So near, yet so far. You're either on it, and stuck in the carriage, or you're waiting on the platform cursing that the train you can see has halted as if it's run out of petrol.

Limbachia laughs, acknowledging the ubiquity of the problem.

But he ventures an explanation: ''There are a lot of tracks crossing each other between Southern Cross and here, and every moment the train wants to go he has to have a green signal and before he gets the green signal they have to change the tracks ... even though it looks like there is nothing there, they have to wait for the signal. And sometimes when they change the tracks there is point failure ... there's a lot of operational things going on that passengers don't know about. They think, 'I can see the train, why isn't it moving?' But that's all they can see.''

So, it's about safety in the main, and on top of that things do go wrong. How could they not? Some numbers make plain the pieces of this puzzle that all need to fit to deliver a perfect service.

There are 15 lines; 217 stations; a workforce of 4200 people; 206 six-carriage trains across 830 kilometres of track; they travel 45 million kilometres a year. And then there's us: the 415,000 passengers.

The front-line staff cop it the worst.

''Most of it involves late trains,'' says Ian Terry, though he is unfazed by the occasional abuse.

He's been at it 36 years, and his focus is on his speed, on the curves, on the stops and the starts. And for every driver, there's the inevitable fear of an accident, or of his train being used as a suicide weapon. Terry prefers to identify his greatest concern more broadly: ''Your greatest fear is anything that may or may not go wrong.''

Ever alert, sometimes that's not enough even for experienced drivers. Train services officer Carson Millar has experienced the worst. ''Luckily for me I didn't know about it,'' he recalls of a deadly incident. ''The chap climbed between the two and three car sets and put his head on the rail. I was up the front.''

Back at Flinders Street, Andrew Roe is in charge of a less traumatic but often busy element of the operation: lost property. It's endless: lost phones, lost wallets, lost bags, lost books. A standard call: 'What colour case? Tortoise shell? OK. When did you lose it? Monday this week?''

After 10 years in the cramped office, Roe has heard every story, solved countless problems.

Also used to passengers' tales of woe is Farley Clements, an authorised officer who does everything from directing people to the right train to issuing tickets for fare evasion. Myki presents a new challenge, he admits. And he can exercise discretion.

''We do. Tourists, for example. This time of year there's a lot of tourists and now they've got no option [but myki], and if they're at a station where they can't buy a ticket and they don't know how to use the machine, we can ask for ID and show discretion.''

Watching Clements and other staff up close, you leave with the feeling: glad it's them and not me. And also with an understanding that, contrary to what we may think in the heat of the moment, no one at Metro Trains is deliberately trying to ruin your day.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/yes-they-are-out-to-get-you--to-get-you-there-20130202-2drg0.html

[ozbob]

News.com.au --> Peak-hour rail chaos as bat causes short-circuit and commuters told to expect delays

[ozbob]

[ozbob]

Melbourne Age --> Rail chaos spills over to second day