LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
Sydney's train network was badly disrupted on Saturday 18 August, largely because of a metal balloon which got tangled in the OHLE causing a loss of power on the core section of the electric network.
This was at Wynyard station, in the critical city tunnel section north of Central station, affecting all the city loop services and those over the Harbour Bridge to the north.
Passengers had to be evacuated on the track through the tunnel.
There was also an unconnected major IT failure yesterday on the Transport NSW systems.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...on-shut-parts-of-it-down-20180818-p4zybs.html
The public/political reaction was depressingly similar to that in the UK - unacceptable, minister should be fired etc etc.
Minister (not in town, as he was attending damaging bush fires elsewhere in NSW) claims the biggest investment ever in the railway is in progress.
I'm just here on holiday, and have been using the trains daily for a week or so.
It strikes me that Sydney Trains is normally an efficient, well-run network of dense local services with a cheap fares system using their multi-mode Opal card.
The stations are clean and well signed, with many heritage features preserved.
The trains (double deck 2x4-car EMUs) on the 1.5kV DC OHLE network are mature, shall we say, but very practical.
I've also been using the new light rail line in the western suburbs, built by converting the Sydney Goods Line to passenger use with on-street running to serve Central.
Nice CAF trams on a line with a Metrolink feel to it (mix of dedicated and street running).
I did a run from Sydney to Canberra and back last week, which is an inter-city service using DMUs dating from 1993 which are pretty close technically to a 3-car class 158 (but limited by the route to 120 km/h (75mph)).
But they managed to produce a choice of 3 lunch meals from the galley, and the 4-hour (330km) trip was highly scenic.
Seating is a spacious 2x2 in seats that rotate to face forwards American-style, which automatically gives decent leg room.
The last lap back into Sydney was marred by a signal failure and level crossing issue, causing loss of our fast path through the dense suburban network, so was 30 minutes down by the end.
Very like a GB 158 journey I thought, the equivalent to say Waterloo-Exeter-Paignton.
But I thought $71 (about £42) was pretty good for a normal return fare (1st class) for a journey similar in length to London to Preston or York.
Only 3tpd though, between Australia's biggest city and its capital; quiet southbound, busy northbound.
We passed 7-8 long freight trains each way on the route, a mix of containers, tanks and general wagons.
Most of these would be to/from Melbourne, which also gets day (XPT) and night passenger trains.
The route is double track for 230km to Goulborne, and single for the final 100km to Canberra.
It is electrified for the first 58km to Macarthur which is the terminus of the Sydney Trains suburban network.
Sydney is undergoing a major upgrade of its transport infrastructure, with several rail extensions under construction (light rail and metro), plus new motorway links.
The suburbs go on for ever (up to 50km in places), and the traffic is frequently grid-locked.
Such are the problems of being a fast-expanding world city.
As far as I can make out, main line passenger trains in NSW are government run (freight is in private hands).
The light rail system is run on contract by Transdev.
This was at Wynyard station, in the critical city tunnel section north of Central station, affecting all the city loop services and those over the Harbour Bridge to the north.
Passengers had to be evacuated on the track through the tunnel.
There was also an unconnected major IT failure yesterday on the Transport NSW systems.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...on-shut-parts-of-it-down-20180818-p4zybs.html
The public/political reaction was depressingly similar to that in the UK - unacceptable, minister should be fired etc etc.
Minister (not in town, as he was attending damaging bush fires elsewhere in NSW) claims the biggest investment ever in the railway is in progress.
I'm just here on holiday, and have been using the trains daily for a week or so.
It strikes me that Sydney Trains is normally an efficient, well-run network of dense local services with a cheap fares system using their multi-mode Opal card.
The stations are clean and well signed, with many heritage features preserved.
The trains (double deck 2x4-car EMUs) on the 1.5kV DC OHLE network are mature, shall we say, but very practical.
I've also been using the new light rail line in the western suburbs, built by converting the Sydney Goods Line to passenger use with on-street running to serve Central.
Nice CAF trams on a line with a Metrolink feel to it (mix of dedicated and street running).
I did a run from Sydney to Canberra and back last week, which is an inter-city service using DMUs dating from 1993 which are pretty close technically to a 3-car class 158 (but limited by the route to 120 km/h (75mph)).
But they managed to produce a choice of 3 lunch meals from the galley, and the 4-hour (330km) trip was highly scenic.
Seating is a spacious 2x2 in seats that rotate to face forwards American-style, which automatically gives decent leg room.
The last lap back into Sydney was marred by a signal failure and level crossing issue, causing loss of our fast path through the dense suburban network, so was 30 minutes down by the end.
Very like a GB 158 journey I thought, the equivalent to say Waterloo-Exeter-Paignton.
But I thought $71 (about £42) was pretty good for a normal return fare (1st class) for a journey similar in length to London to Preston or York.
Only 3tpd though, between Australia's biggest city and its capital; quiet southbound, busy northbound.
We passed 7-8 long freight trains each way on the route, a mix of containers, tanks and general wagons.
Most of these would be to/from Melbourne, which also gets day (XPT) and night passenger trains.
The route is double track for 230km to Goulborne, and single for the final 100km to Canberra.
It is electrified for the first 58km to Macarthur which is the terminus of the Sydney Trains suburban network.
Sydney is undergoing a major upgrade of its transport infrastructure, with several rail extensions under construction (light rail and metro), plus new motorway links.
The suburbs go on for ever (up to 50km in places), and the traffic is frequently grid-locked.
Such are the problems of being a fast-expanding world city.
As far as I can make out, main line passenger trains in NSW are government run (freight is in private hands).
The light rail system is run on contract by Transdev.
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