OH&S....??

At the Elizabeth Street tram terminus.....all nice and cool for the tram drivers while they have a "comfort stop"!

Notice the air-conditioning unit on top of the toilet?

Electioneering (2)

I had a quick word with the team installing the new signage at the local station, and commented that there must be an election coming on!    They tactfully responded that, yes, there had been a little pressure on them to get the work done!

Anyway, the new displays are kinda nice, although I reflect that, even though it's nice to know if the train is late or cancelled, there wouldn't be a need for all this information if the trains could be relied on to turn up when they're supposed to.  Moreover, the signs on the platforms only tell you what trains are running;  they don't 'fess up to cancellations (although they can give messages about disruptions).  You have to work out that a train has been cancelled by its absence on the display.

And Daniel Bowen wasn't too impressed with  the location of some of the signs.....
 

Occupying seats

Noticed on a recent train trip. The passengers concerned quite deliberately placed just a couple of items on the opposite seat as soon as they boarded.


No, the train wasn't completely full.  Perhaps about 50%.    But I wasn't impressed.

Caught smoking

As I've previously blogged, the train trip from Sydney to Melbourne takes 11 hours or more.   Obviously a long time to go between ciggies if you're a smoker, even if you're not going the full distance.   At many stations, only one or two doors are opened, and even at the bigger stations, passengers are strongly discouraged from getting off the train.  In fact, early in the trip an announcement was made that, because it's illegal to smoke on station platforms, it was no use smokers even trying to get off the train to have a quick light up.

A no smoking zone

Evidently all this was too much for one fairly young traveller on our train.  I happened to be moving about the train at the very moment that the train crew confronted him with the information that a remotely-monitored smoke detector had gone off in the toilet from which he had just emerged.

His denials didn't carry much weight as the crew (and I) could readily smell that he'd just had a cigarette.


He was escorted to the train manager's office, so I don't know what happened.  However, a few minutes later, a "final reminder" announcement was made that anyone caught smoking on the train would be fined and/or off-loaded at the next station.  Being off-loaded?   An option on the train, but wouldn't work so well for an airline!

Upgrading the railway line

There's been some publicity locally about a lot of money being spent on the local railway line.   I previously mentioned this here.  True, I'm aware that some modifications are required on the line so that a wider range of trains can operate on it, although $100 million seems a lot of money.  But there are some marginal seats along the line, and an election is getting closer.  Big amounts of money like this always scare me, but perhaps in the minds of our leaders, big figures are "impressive"?

However, it seems that some of work being undertaken isn't strictly needed, such as painting.  I'm only an observer, but it does appear to me that the paintwork at our local station was in reasonable shape - yet a crew has been here for days, re-painting.  On the other hand, maintenance on other parts of the network is said to be suffering, as Marcus Wong points out.  Is there an issue about priorities here?

The Salvos

After enduring some delays on the trip in as a result of the massive train disruptions that morning, I attended the breakfast launch of the Salvation Army's Red Shield appeal.   550 people were present in the Sofitel's Grand Ballroom.   Obviously a worthy cause, although it's clear that the Salvos run an impressive operation and are well-connected in the business community.   They are also clearly quite particular about their "brand" (have you ever seen a scruffy Salvo officer?)

The child abuse issue was addressed head-on (remorse, never again), which of course is the only viable approach, although not every institution affected seems to have fully grasped this.  

Interestingly, it was said that the the Salvation Army's support in Australia is strongest in Victoria.  I wonder if there are historical reasons for this?

A new station at Springvale

So, at great cost and amid fanfare, the level crossing has been removed and a new station has opened at Springvale.   I'm sure that this is very nice for the people in the area, although personally the closest I ever get, if I'm driving down that way, is the Westall Rd overpass.   But, there is no such thing as a free project and in addition to our taxes being devoted to this project (not that I'm seriously contending that it isn't worthwhile. even if expensive), the rest of us are also enduring 6 weeks of train cancellations while the train drivers learn to drive through the new station (and, it is true, areas affected by the regional rail works).

 Yes, it's just a train here, and a train there, and the cancellations vary from day to day (seemingly, though, the same trains are cancelled on the same day for each of the 6 weeks), but they do include a number of peak services as well as (on our line) one instance where two trains in a group of 3 won't run.





And although there's been a bit of a splash at our local station about "improvement" works occurring on our line (is there an election coming on?), there's nothing there giving any tangible information, such as telling us which trains are cancelled (or, for that matter, even just alerting us to the fact that cancellations are being scheduled).

I know that trains are different from trucks, but I've never noticed the trucking industry being disrupted for a few weeks when a new road is opened so as to allow for truck driver training!

Confusion on Metro

Things can be confusing on Metro at times.   Perhaps the worst problems are with the automated announcements and signs in the trains.  These regularly provide incorrect information, such as the announcement and sign in the train this week that stated, as the train was arriving at Flagstaff, the next station was Parliament (2 stations back).   And this is by no means an isolated example.

There are also regular issues at Flinders Street, too. Last minute platform changes are perhaps inevitable, but so often the announcements are unclear at best and confusing at worst.

But there's unnecessary confusion programmed into the system, too.  A classic example is the recorded announcement regularly made at Richmond, when a train running direct to Flinders Street is approaching.  The recording states that the train will "stop at all stations".    I have looked in vain for a new station to service the tennis centre or the MCG, but to the best of my knowledge, there are still no stations between Richmond and Flinders Street.

Farewell registration stickers

The era of on-line checking has caught up with the need to have registration stickers on our cars.

No longer will we have to peel the old sticker off so as to make room for the new one.












(EDIT:  and, of course, this closely follows the move to a new series of numberplates)

Security at the station

Our local station isn't exactly a hotbed of antisocial activity in the evenings.  It can be a bit quiet, which some people might find a little unsettling (this applies to the nearly streets, too) but I don't think it comes anywhere near to being thought of as a troublespot.  However, it isn't far from the boundary of a marginal electorate that the Government may struggle to retain in the next election (although its actual location is within a safe seat).

A lonely job?

Perhaps I'm cynical, but I wondered if this was a factor when it was announced that PSOs would be present at the station each evening?  Thanks to P for drawing this to my attention.

I went past to check, and, yes, there they were recently during the evening.

All quiet....

My opinion of the powers-that-be is still poor as a result of the massive downgrading of services during January.  There really does seem to be an issue about the appropriate prioritisation of resources.

Enginemen of the Victorian Railways

B lent me Enginemen of the Victorian Railways, in two volumes, by Nick Anchen.  These are collections of reminiscences by engine drivers and firemen, focussing on their experiences on steam locomotives and also (in the second volume) on rail motors, but there are some stories from the diesel era, too.   Numerous excellent photos (many in colour) are included.

For me, it was fascinating reading, especially being able to relate to many of the railway lines mentioned. It's clear from the acknowledgements that although the author has presumably collated the material, he has drawn on interviews conducted by others, at least some of which have been broadcast on Eastern FM.

Obviously, working on steam locomotives was often not romantic in the slightest, although it's said that many of the locos had personalities of their own.    The shifts were sometimes long and at awkward times, the conditions for overnight rest breaks were poor and at least for the fireman, the work often involved a lot of physical effort.    On the other hand, there are several stories about the "highs" of the job, such as driving the S class on the Spirit of Progress and the single H class loco, Heavy Harry.


Other themes that come out are the distinction between the enginemen (who, in the Victorian Railways, came under the Rolling Stock Branch) and other employees, in different branches.   The career structure for an engineman typically started in the workshops, progressing as a cleaner and hostler in the loco depot before becoming a fireman and finally driver.  In the 1930s, promotion was often slow.   Guards and station staff were in Traffic Branch. It emerges at a couple of points that often there was no love lost between these branches,  or between them and the Ways and Works Branch (including gangers and the like).

But even on the footplate there were sometimes issues between the men.   Although the driver and fireman often worked as an effective team, mention is made of at least one "old school" driver who produced a piece of chalk and drew a line down the centre of the cab, informing the young fireman that he was to stay on his own side.    Another driver had a habit of drinking a bit too much before arriving at work, until all the firemen refused to work with him.   Other depots were renowned for their friendliness.

R765 at Guildford on an excursion train to Avoca, 4 Nov 1964

There are lots of stories which give an insight into life on the railways in the days of steam.   Many are about things going wrong and people getting up to mischief, such as the guard who hopped off the train to collect mushrooms and then couldn't get back on it.   I guess these are the aspects that are remembered and make the best stories!

Fare evasion (2)

I've often noticed that a lot of people don't seem to "touch on" when they travel by tram, especially in the city.   I commented on this some time ago.

It seems that this isn't "fare evasion" if you've got a "Myki pass":  see section 2.1 of the PTV's Network Revenue Protection Plan.   So perhaps not all those who fail to touch on are getting a free ride.   Additionally, I suppose that others who don't touch on may still be within the 2 hour period of an earlier trip (paid for with "Myki money"), so wouldn't be charged any more for their tram travel even if they did touch on.   But my understanding is that they are still supposed to touch on.

The PTV's plan notes that the failure by Myki pass holders to touch on may contribute to a "domino effect", in that, if the pass holder doesn't touch on, other passengers may gain the impression that they're evading payment. I'm not sure that there's any easy solution to this.   To impose a penalty if pass holders don't touch on seems a bit heavy-handed. 

In the meantime, I notice that continued focus is to be given to measures such as checking disembarking passengers at platform stops.   I noticed this action occurring at a city stop recently, but it was occurring at a quiet time of day (the AOs out-numbered passengers).  Although I can't say with certainly, my impression (albeit based on fairly limited observation) is that ticket checking seems less likely to occur at busy times, and certainly never on busy trams or trains, although AOs do monitor barriers at city stations at busy times.

Further, few if any of the AOs in this particular exercise appeared equipped with Myki card readers.  I wasn't close enough to see with certainty, but at least some of the passengers who were checked appeared merely to show a Myki card to the AOs, who looked as though they were concentrating on passengers with no Myki card at all.  I guess this is better than nothing, but it seems less than perfect.

Historical Beechworth

We spent a little time in the historical precinct at Beechworth, including the gaol tour.   This lasted an hour and took us through all the main areas of the former gaol (although we didn't get to climb a guard tower as advertised on the web site).    It was obviously an extremely tough place to be in if you were there in the 19th century, and would still have been a most unpleasant place if you were there as late as 2004 (the year in which it was closed).

Interior of cell - used until 2004

Solitary confinement exercise yard

The tour included a close inspection of the gallows.  The only part missing was an actual demonstration of their operation!     Apart from that, little was left to the imagination.

Not sure if T class locos ever operated mixed trains, but does it matter?

One of the other buildings able to be viewed  was the telegraph office.  In addition to a good display of telegraphic equipment, a model of the Beechworth railway station in the 1950s was on display.

Box girder bridges

Box girder bridges don't have a great track record, and the news of a crack in the West Gate Bridge - which is such a bridge - caused me to pause for thought.

Sure, the crack a few days ago seems only to relate to the surface, and not to the structure.  In fact, I'm told that the fact that there was yellow at the bottom of the crack is somewhat reassuring, as that means the membrane under the asphalt that protects the structural steel is intact.  Had the steel itself (which is under the membrane and is red) been visible, then the integrity of the membrane would have been breached and the issues would have been somewhat more serious.

More generally, however, what would be the implications for Melbourne if a structural problem with this bridge did emerge?   Perhaps life would go on with lower load limits and lower speed limits - but in a "worst-case" scenario, if the bridge had to be closed for safety reasons, there would be enormous disruption.



Bridges - like other structures - do fail from time to time, but it's interesting that the West Gate Bridge is a box girder bridge.    Some of these bridges failed during construction including,  as well as the West Gate Bridge itself,  the Milford Haven Bridge in West Wales (also known as the Cleddau Bridge) and South River Bridge in Koblenz, Germany. Since then the Cline Avenue bridge in Indiana has been closed.

Failures can occur in any sort of structure, of course, but apparently box girder bridges can be more susceptible to rusting and corrosion than some other types because water can begin to pool within the cell of the beam.   Hence, the authorities presumably keep a close watch on the West Gate Bridge and  seem to think that (and in relation to the latest incident, here) all is OK with it.

To - and from - the tennis

We can't really complain about public transport arrangements to get us to the tennis, because the 605 bus from the end of our street drops us off right outside HiSense arena.  True, the frequency isn't great (and is even worse in January), so we have to plan our trip, but once we get that sorted, it's an uncrowded, virtually door-to-door, air-conditioned trip.  And if the bus times don't suit, there's always the train to Richmond.
Getting home after an evening session is a different matter.    The session we attended was on a Thursday and play was still in progress at midnight.   The bus doesn't run after 7 pm, and the train service in the evening is a bit "lumpy" with the services being bunched together.  Once again, some pre-planning is needed.   But the big, big issue is, what do you do if the game is still going at midnight?   True, on Fridays and Saturdays, the trains  run until 1 am, and in addition I suppose there are "night-rider" buses.  The latter are a bit of a mystery to mere mortals such as me, and anyway they only run on Friday and Saturdays night.   On other evenings, the only option is a taxi or a tram back to the city if you had the foresight to drive in and park there.

In relation to the taxis: when we left in time to catch the last train - before the end of play at both Rod Laver and HiSense - the taxi queue was (I would guess) getting on for 100 metres.    There was an equivalent queue of taxis, true; the delay was getting passengers into the cabs  - not helped by a set of traffic lights just past the head of the taxi queue, which stopped the cabs from moving off.

What's the solution?  Perhaps there isn't an easy one.    I don't normally travel by train at around midnight, so I don't know if the quite-full train that we caught home is typical.   If there are regularly passengers around at that time, then perhaps run services until 1 am throughout the week (instead of just on Fridays and Saturdays)?  Otherwise, perhaps run them for the duration of the tennis?   This wouldn't solve the issue in relation to matches that went even later, but it would help.  Another possibility would be to run some or all of the tram services past midnight (in addition to the shuttle trams to the tennis, which do wait until the last match is finished).

After I had prepared a draft of this post, Daniel Bowen drew attention to a proposal for all-night trains at weekends.Of particular interest is  his comparison with other cities.  Apparently all-night trains aren't common around the world, but many cities have better all-night bus services.  From my intermittent observations, I would say that the signage of such services is in many cases much better than in Melbourne which, to my mind, is an important factor in encouraging their use.    While there's some information in Swanston St, there's not a lot elsewhere.   It's not much use having a service if no-one knows about it. 

Murder on the Ballarat train

I blogged that Kerry Greenwood's research for Raisins and Almonds seemed to be quite impressive.   So, when I came across Miss Phryne Fisher's investigations in Murder on the Ballarat Train, I wondered about the quality of the research for this book.    Based on a fairly quick review, it doesn't seen to have been of the same standard as the Eastern Market mystery (which included a list of sources).  I understand that Murder of the Ballarat Train dates from 1991, whereas Raisins and Almonds dates from 1997; perhaps the author became more interested in historical details as she developed as a writer?

In particular, it seems to me that Kerry may have taken a few liberties with the location of the murder.   The closest timetable I could locate was a 1924 Working Timetable.  The events in the book are set in 1928, so in theory there may have been some changes (but I doubt it).  Assuming things in 1928 were similar to those in 1924,  there was no train departing Flinders Street for Ballarat at 6 p m (see page 14) although there were trains departing Spencer Street for Ballarat at 5.05 and 7.09 pm.  In fact, my impression is that it would have been very unusual indeed for Ballarat trains to have departed from Flinders Street.  The murder is said to have occurred at a water tower about 10 minutes before Ballan (pages 28 and 140), but this could not have occurred, as the only water towers were at Bacchus Marsh and Ballan.  There was an electric staff station at a small sttion called Ingliston, but no water.

No "W" symbol between Bacchus Marsh and Ballan in 1964

A missed opportunity in the book is to refer to the long climb up the Ingliston Bank, between Bacchus Marsh and Ballan, which has also resulted in on optimistic schedule (1 hour 15 minutes after leaving the city) in the book (page 16) for the train to arrive at a point 10 minutes before Ballan.   The 1924 train that departed Melbourne at 5.05 pm took 52 minutes between Bacchus Marsh and Ballan, mostly spent in climbing this bank (arriving at Ballan at 7.12 pm, over 2 hours after leaving the city), and the 7.09 pm departure took 54 minutes. The distance from Bacchus Marsh to Ballan is 17¾ miles, with a climb of 1323 feet.  Although trains in 1964 still crawled up this bank, times are much improved today according to the V/Line timetables.

Ah well, the book is fictional in so many other ways, and quite a good read, so perhaps a few liberties can be excused!

The January train timetable

A reduced train service will operate during January.   Perhaps some reduction is understandable, but on our line (in broad terms) the number of trains is down by half.  Yet by the middle of January, I'd guess that something in the region of about 75 to 80% of people will be back using the trains.


And from our local station, there's a gap between 8.29 am and 9.08 am - that's right, an interval of 39 minutes, at the time when people are going to work - when NO train will stop to pick up passengers.  Normally, there would be 4 trains in this period, but it seems none of these will run.   And this is on the back of an increase in the fares?

Update:   Daniel Bowen has also blogged about this issue.
Update 2:    Metro have quietly plugged the 39 minute gap. by changing one of the expresses so as to stop at 8.48 am (see Daniel Bowen's blog).  Just the same, I think the trains at this time of day will be very crowded by the time we get to the second part of January.

Platform 11

An extra platform at Flinders Street station would be very useful, especially when things go wrong and trains queue up to get into the station (haven't we all been held up between Richmond and Flinders Street?)   There used to be a platform 11, the twin of 10, facing the river, which was used by St Kilda and Port Melbourne trains before these were converted to "light rail".    Now there's just a fence and a space on the other side where the rail track used to be.

Recently some activity has been occurring in this area, and there's a sign referring to a "riverside venue" being opened here!

Daniel Bowen has also commented on this, and addresses the issue that, although this might not be the best location for trains coming into Flnders Street from the east,  it could nevertheless provide additional flexibility.  This would especially be so when Showgrounds or Flemington Racecourse trains are operating.

Room for a rail track

But no, the powers-that-be have clearly determined that Melbourne has a greater need for another coffee venue than de-bugging the train system!

Old ticket windows at Elizabeth St entrance are also apparently to be re-cycled

Renewing Myki

When I tried to"touch off", the Myki reader flashed a message at me.  I'm still not certain what it said, because it flashed up and went so quickly.    A different Myki reader operated normally, but I wondered if the message had something to do with the fact that my Myki card might be getting close to the end of its 4 year life.  It doesn't seem to have been that long, but I checked on the top-up machine, and yes, it was indeed due to expire in a couple of weeks time.

I paused to reflect on the fact that our London Oyster cards had worked without a hitch recently, more 5 years after they had last been used (and in one case, probably about 6 years since it had been first issued).   However, I suppose banks re-issue cards regularly, so I guess Myki isn't alone in having a drop-dead date.

So I headed to the ticket office, where the Myki was changed over without problems, although they pointed out that the new one wouldn't have my name on it (if I wanted that, I had to go to Southern Cross).  I didn't see this as an issue, although hopefully this won't give rise to issues when the ticket checkers look at it.  The Myki money balance was transferred  over, too.   Later in the day, I received an email confirming that the transaction had occurred, and all seemed fine, save that it stated, "If auto-top up was set up on the old Myki you will need to set it up again on the new Myki. Auto top-up arrangements are not transferred to replacement Mykis."   Once again, this isn't an issue for me, but I can see that it could be a little annoying for some people.

Advertising

I guess advertisements in and around public transport vehicles is nothing new.   When I was young, there were neat rows of advertisements lining the ceilings of trams, and in frames on the walls at the end of the red rattler carriages (although I preferred the photos of scenic locations that were also placed there). 

Now we see the outside of some trains featuring prominent advertisements, but once again this has been happening on the trams for years.  

However, advertisements covering the inside of the train doors seem be a relatively recent development.   Perhaps the logic is that you really do have to look at the door at least for a short time during each journey?