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Your carriage awaits, sir

Make tracks … en route to Davoz, Switzerland. Photo: Getty Images.
The founder of The Man in Seat 61 website, Mark Smith, offers his top tips for travelling by train in Europe.
I’ve just finished a tasty ham omelet in the restaurant car and I’m nursing a second glass of equally delicious Croatian red wine, when the [...]

RailCorp has gone hi-tech to stop this

Rhys Haynes Transport Reporter - Caught in the act .. The thieves just before getting caught. Source: The Daily Telegraph.
GANGS of masked thieves are stealing thousands of dollars in cash by literally tearing open ticket machines at isolated railway stations.
The string of raids – using oxygen tools, crowbars and even explosives – has forced RailCorp to [...]

Fires, fights and children in danger on our rail network

Joe Hildebrand - The Daily Telegraph. Rushing … a man tries to make it onto a train at Redfern / Pic: Brad Hunter
ONE child a day fell off a Sydney train platform – part of more than 1000 accidents, assaults, fires, bomb threats and other incidents plaguing the network.
The figures prompted RailCorp to take the unusual [...]

Track cleaner killed by train at Sydney station

Police and transport authorities are investigating why a railway track cleaner did not have enough time to get out of the path of an oncoming train at Kogarah in Sydney’s south overnight, police said.
Penrith man Tamati Grant, 59, was hit and killed as he tried to scramble on to the platform at Kogarah train station [...]

Railcorp’s efficiency software delays payments

PAUL BIBBY WORKPLACE
RAILCORP is running up to three months late with thousands of payments to its private contractors because of a computer system it introduced to improve transparency and efficiency.
The transport operator introduced its Ariba payment system six months ago after the Independent Commission Against Corruption uncovered serious irregularities in the way it hired private [...]

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Your carriage awaits, sir

August 1st, 2010 admin

TGV-Train-Gare-de-LyonMake tracks … en route to Davoz, Switzerland. Photo: Getty Images.

The founder of The Man in Seat 61 website, Mark Smith, offers his top tips for travelling by train in Europe.

I’ve just finished a tasty ham omelet in the restaurant car and I’m nursing a second glass of equally delicious Croatian red wine, when the Zagreb-Vienna EuroCity train bursts out of the Semmering Tunnel, high in the Austrian Alps.

The view takes my breath away. The railway clings to the mountainside, the summits tower above and the valley floor is a Toy Town vision thousands of metres below. The wheels beneath me screech against the rails as the train curves first one way then the other among the fir trees, the waiter bracing himself expertly as he makes his way to my table with my Zagreb schnitzel.

We reach Vienna right on time, just after lunch. It’s a world-class experience without the worldclass expense. The ticket costs 213 Croatian kuna ($42.50), including reservation fee, bought at the station the previous day. The two-course meal with two small bottles of wine and coffee costs €23 ($33). Nor is it a particularly time-consuming way to travel from Croatia to Britain. I leave Zagreb at 7.25 on Sunday morning, spend a sunny afternoon in Vienna and board the Euro- Night sleeper for Cologne (from €49 with couchette). I sleep well and emerge from my compartment on Monday morning to yet another breathtaking view, the Rhine River Valley’s Lorelei rock, followed by a succession of vineyards and pretty Rhine villages with castle after castle perched high on the hilltops.

The journey reminds me yet again why I don’t fly within Europe. But what I cannot claim, of course, is that European train companies make it easy to find out about and book long-distance journeys across Europe. Indeed, the gap between how easy it is to travel by train (and affordable, too, if you know where to look) and how difficult it can be to find out how to do it, is precisely why I started a website called The Man in Seat 61 (seat61.com). Named aftermy own preferred seat in Eurostar’s first class, it explains how to travel by train or ferry between Britain and almost any country in Europe, and beyond.

It certainly helps to have had inside experience of the rail industry. I always knew the career I wanted. In my university holidays I worked as a European rail agent, booking train tickets across Europe, and with the ink barely dry on my final exam papers I ran away from Oxford to join “the circus” – or British Rail, as it was then called. I was the station manager for London’s Charing Cross, London Bridge and Cannon Street stations in the early ’90s, ending my employment as the Department for Transport’s fares and ticketing expert.

I started Seat 61 purely as a hobby. On a rainy evening in 2001, I wandered into the WH Smith bookshop at Marylebone looking for something to read on the commuter train home. A teach-yourself- html book caught my eye, in retrospect perhaps the best £2.99 I’ve ever spent.

With a home PC and a few megabytes of free webspace I soon had a webpage online, initially a single page explaining train routes from London to a handful of European cities. I never really thought anyone would see it. Nine years on, the site receives more than 850,000 visitors a month and has become a full-time job (visits during the Iceland volcano ash crisis exceeded 1.3 million). Here are some of my favourite train journeys across Europe and some of the tips I’ve acquired on the rails.

London to Fort William
The cosy sleepers of ScotRail’s Caledonian Sleeper leave London every night about 8 o’clock (except Saturday) for Fort William in the west highlands of Scotland. The lounge car serves excellent haggis and tatties ‘n’ neeps, and a wee dram will send you soundly to sleep, waking up to deer bounding away from the train over the superb scenery of the West Highland Line.

Tickets cost from $307 one way in summer, including a berth in a two-bed sleeper. See scotrail.co.uk; raileurope.com.au.

To Spain by ‘trainhotel’
From Paris, travel overnight to Barcelona or Madrid aboard an Elipsos “trainhotel”. These little Spanish sleepers feature “gran” class sleepers with private toilet and shower, “turista” sleepers with shared four-berth compartments and an elegant restaurant and cafe-bar.

Tickets for the Paris to Barcelona journey in gran class cost from $455 and turista-class tickets cost from $152; Paris to Madrid tickets range from $190 to $525.

To Italy via the Gotthard Pass
Leave London on an afternoon Eurostar to Paris and switch to a fast “TGV Lyria” to Zurich, arriving late in the evening. Next morning, take a train to Milan through arguably the most scenic of all the main lines into Italy. The track climbs steeply, surrounded by snowcapped peaks, passing through the Gotthard Tunnel then descending through forest towards Lugano and Italy.

Change in Milan to reach Florence, Venice or Rome by late afternoon. London-Paris on the Eurostar costs from $120 one way; Paris-Zurich costs from $148 one way; Zurich-Milan from $101 one way.

To southern France
From Lille or Paris, take a TGV to the Cote d’Azur. Most Paris-Nice trains are now impressive double-deck “duplex” TGVs with great views as the train speeds along the Rhone Valley, past churches and pretty villages. At Marseilles, you glimpse the harbour and past Toulon the train runs along the coast, past millionaires’ villas and harbours filled with yachts. Buy tickets at raileurope.com.au from $134. Oslo to Bergen This is Norway’s most celebrated scenic rail route. Make sure you have time for a ride on the Flaamsbana from Myrdal on the main line down to Flaam. The trip from Oslo to Bergen costs from $161. A Norway in a Nutshell pass (Oslo- Voss-Bergen) costs from $254, with five itineraries combining those three destinations. See nsb.no or raileurope.com.au.

Zermatt to St Moritz
It’s called the Glacier Express but it’s express in name only, because this 290-kilometre trip takes seven hours. But you won’t mind a bit, as you take in the Rhine Gorge, Mattertal Valley and the high Oberalp Pass. The panorama coaches have huge windows and an excellent lunch is served at your seat, with equally excellent Swiss white wine. Fares from $195. A train on this route derailed last week, killing one passenger and injuring 42 others.

Zurich to Innsbruck
Travelling through the Arlberg Pass, this is one of the prettiest routes in the Alps. The line hugs the valley sides, passing villages and alpine meadows that appear to have come straight from the film The Sound of Music. Fares cost from $104. See the Swiss railway site, sbb.ch, or raileurope.com.au.

Planning your trip
-The Rail Europe website, raileurope.com.au, includes a journey planner that covers almost all of the continent, which therefore makes it the cyberplace to visit for train times for any two points within Europe.

-The website seat61.com shows the best routes, times and fares for journeys from Britain to most European countries and suggests the best way to buy tickets. It covers luggage arrangements, how to take a dog or bike, how to change trains using the Metro in Paris and more.

-Published since 1873, the famous Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable has train schedules for every major route in Europe plus ferries and some bus services. See thomascooktimetables.com or branches of Thomas Cook.

Buying tickets online
-Most European train reservations open 90 days before departure, although Eurostar opens 120 days ahead and a few countries open reservations 60 days ahead. You can’t book before reservations open – but nor can anyone else. -The easiest way to buy train tickets from London to France, Spain, Switzerland or Italy is online at Rail Europe, raileurope.com.au. It’s often best to split the journey into two: for example, book the Paris to Venice sleeper train first, click “add another ticket”, then book the Eurostar from London to Paris, allowing at least 90 minutes to cross Paris.

-You can also buy tickets to France, Spain, Switzerland or Italy at the French Railways website, tgv-europe.com.

-Sometimes you’ll need more than onewebsite. For example, you can book a sleeper from Cologne to Copenhagen, Prague or Vienna at bahn.de, then buy a London-Cologne ticket at either eurostar.com or raileurope.com.au.

-The cheapest way to buy train tickets is usually direct from the relevant national operator; for example, go to www.renfe.es for Spain, trenitalia.com for Italy and bahn.de for Germany.

-For Australians, other, more complex journeys, such as London to Istanbul, are best booked through a travel agent.

By ferry
-A combined train-ferry ticket from London (or any East Anglia station) to Amsterdam is £35 ($60) each way by day, or £57 overnight including private cabin; see dutchflyer.co.uk. There are overnight ferries from Newcastle to Amsterdam (dfds.co.uk) and from Hull to Rotterdam (poferries.com).

-A train-ferry ticket from any other station in Britain to Dublin costs £30.50 one way (Belfast from £42).

Sunday Telegraph, London

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RailCorp has gone hi-tech to stop this

July 7th, 2010 admin

702891-atm-robbersRhys Haynes Transport Reporter - Caught in the act .. The thieves just before getting caught. Source: The Daily Telegraph.

GANGS of masked thieves are stealing thousands of dollars in cash by literally tearing open ticket machines at isolated railway stations.

The string of raids – using oxygen tools, crowbars and even explosives – has forced RailCorp to install “look now” technology in the machines that detects a break-in attempt and warns staff monitoring CCTV.

This dramatic CCTV video obtained by The Daily Telegraph shows two thieves using crowbars to rip the front off a ticket vending machine at Windsor station in 2008. Having torn off the metal casing, the thieves went to work on the cash boxes inside.

But then gun-toting police suddenly arrived, yelling for both men to lie face down on the platform.

The two men were later charged with offences including larceny, malicious damage and being armed with intent.

One was sentenced to two years jail and the other a community service order.

The incident was one of 15 attempts to break into the machines that compelled RailCorp to overhaul its ticket vending machine security.

“This will help police respond very quickly. You can see in the footage these guys pulled the door off the machine to get the money. They don’t care how much damage they do,” RailCorp general manager of innovation Paul Passmore said.

Mr Passmore said the destruction of machines ultimately causes inconvenience and added costs to taxpayers.

“We’ve installed the new technology into more than 200 machines across the network and it will allow us to know it is happening immediately, meaning our CCTV operators will look at it as it is happening.”

RailCorp is also introducing a new video motion detection system that uses lasers to trigger an alarm if people illegally enter a tunnel.

“We have successfully trialled this in one of our tunnels,” Mr Passmore said. “It can tell the difference between a rodent, for example, and an unidentified or unauthorised person and we have already had some people going into the tunnel and being apprehended.”

He said the so-called laser measurement system maps the objects it sees and alerts an operator who can then call in an immediate response from a transit officer or police.

“We are trying to take our security to the next level.” 

Transport Minister John Robertson said vandalism to ticket machines caused inconvenience to passengers and could be costly to repair.

“If vandals are going to attack a vending machine, they should know that the police or security staff won’t be far away,” he said.

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Fires, fights and children in danger on our rail network

May 29th, 2010 admin

731454-running-for-trainJoe Hildebrand - The Daily Telegraph. Rushing … a man tries to make it onto a train at Redfern / Pic: Brad Hunter

ONE child a day fell off a Sydney train platform – part of more than 1000 accidents, assaults, fires, bomb threats and other incidents plaguing the network.

The figures prompted RailCorp to take the unusual step of handing out bracelets to children warning them to be careful as they attended Wednesday’s State of Origin match – as well as flooding Olympic Park station with extra staff.

Internal RailCorp safety logs revealed that 68 people fell on to the tracks or between the train and the platform from March 18 to April 18 this year.

Distressingly, 32 were children.

The number of falls was more than double those of other months and were driven up by families travelling to see the Royal Easter Show.

They include a horror 48 hours in the middle of the school holidays in which seven children fell, almost all at Olympic Park. On Saturday, April 10, there were three falls in less than 80 minutes.

RailCorp chief operating officer Andy Byford said the agency had reacted strongly to the spike by putting in extra measures at big events and especially targeting children.

“It’s very unusual to have that many. I wasn’t very happy about it and I insisted we strengthen arrangements,” he said.

Mr Byford said that at no stage had a train moved after a child had fallen.

There were also a number of cases of drunk people falling on to the tracks and even people climbing down to retrieve something they’d dropped.

RailCorp workers also had to deal with 27 fires over the period, many of them deliberately lit in carriages.

There were also at least 25 assaults and staff were spat on, or in one case vomited on, while attempting to help passengers.

The figures also include the tragic case of the worker killed on the tracks at Kogarah Station on April 13.

Another RailCorp staff member was caught crossing rail tracks without wearing safety gear the very next day.

There were several security scares, including a bomb threat at Town Hall station on March 30 and another one at Hornsby, as well as rail detonators activated by drivers wrongly entering zones where people may be working.

There were also incidents that were downright bizarre. In one case a red-bellied black snake was found at Riverstone Station.

In another a runaway cherry picker went on a rampage at Cronulla.

One man was arrested for carrying a bow and arrows on to a train. It later emerged he was on his way to an archery competition.

Another person claimed to have been injured by a ticket barrier. CCTV footage later proved he had not inserted a ticket.

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Track cleaner killed by train at Sydney station

April 13th, 2010 admin

Kogarah_stationPolice and transport authorities are investigating why a railway track cleaner did not have enough time to get out of the path of an oncoming train at Kogarah in Sydney’s south overnight, police said.

Penrith man Tamati Grant, 59, was hit and killed as he tried to scramble on to the platform at Kogarah train station just before 1.10am today, police said.

He was one of four cleaners who had been picking up rubbish on the tracks when the train approached, RailCorp said. 

Grant’s three workmates got out of the way in time but the train hit the 59-year-old as he was trying to climb onto the platform, police said. He died at the site.

Police, WorkCover and two transport investigation bodies are examining what safety procedures failed or were not followed in the lead up to the tragedy.

The men started work at 10.30pm on Monday, RailCorp said in a statement.

A protection officer, who is responsible for supervising any work performed on the track or “danger zone”, was there at the time, a RailCorp spokesman confirmed.

It is not known whether the protection officer did not see the train coming, failed to give the track cleaners enough warning to move off the track, or whether a signalling failure may have occurred.

Police are examining CCTV footage from the station.

“We are also conducting our own investigation to determine how this happened,” RailCorp chief executive Rob Mason said.

“This is a tragic incident and our thoughts go out to the man’s family and colleagues.”

Mr Mason said there were procedures in place to prevent such tragedies.

“The procedures would involve the signaller and also the protection officer in charge of this track gang,” he told the ABC.

“All those tapes have been secured and they’ll be listened to as part of the investigation.”

Grant’s employer, Sydney outsourcing company Swetha International, said it was co-operating fully with the investigation.

Swetha International managing director Praveen Challa said he was shocked and saddened by Grant’s death and went to the train station at 2am after hearing the news.

“We have offered our condolences to the family and we’re providing counselling to all staff members who saw the incident,” Mr Challa said.

The rail line was closed for a time but had reopened for the morning peak.

Grant’s family had been notified and a report was being prepared for the coroner, police said.

- with AAP

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Railcorp’s efficiency software delays payments

March 19th, 2010 admin

rail_NSW_RollingStockPAUL BIBBY WORKPLACE

RAILCORP is running up to three months late with thousands of payments to its private contractors because of a computer system it introduced to improve transparency and efficiency.

The transport operator introduced its Ariba payment system six months ago after the Independent Commission Against Corruption uncovered serious irregularities in the way it hired private contractors.

However, the new system has been plagued by problems, delaying 7000 outstanding payments of up to $100,000 each.

Among the dozens of companies owed money are cleaning suppliers and bus companies that fill in when trains are cancelled due to track maintenance.

The executive director of the Bus and Coach Association of NSW, Darryl Mellish, said he understood payments were up to 90 days late.

”These operators need to be paid – government payments are often a bit late, but this is unacceptable,” he said.

The chief executive of Busways, George Tisse, said his company had been chasing Railcorp for money it was owed for its service between Wauchope and Port Macquarie.

”They recently made a progress payment, but until then they were running three months late,” Mr Tisse said.

”It’s tens of thousands of dollars we’re owed, but it’s also the frustration of having to chase the money.”

Railcorp introduced the Ariba system in September, at considerable expense, to put procurement for all of its contractors and suppliers under a single system.

According to the software specialist company’s website, which trumpeted the Railcorp contract in a press release, RailCorp has ”300 sourcing projects worth over $900 million”.

A Railcorp spokesman acknowledged there were 7000 outstanding payments but said 120,000 had been processed.

He said all major software implementations came ”with challenges” and that RailCorp was working hard to rectify the issues.

”The system has completely transformed the way we source, procure and process invoices from suppliers – such as bus providers and cleaning suppliers – and is a critical part of RailCorp satisfying recommendations made by the ICAC for more transparent procurement practices,” he said.

”We are committed to implementing a better and more transparent payment system to guard against potential abuse and to protect public money.”

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Revealed: Keneally’s transport blueprint

February 20th, 2010 admin

kristinacrop-420x0ANDREW WEST AND MATTHEW MOORE

THE Keneally government’s transport masterplan is set to rehash old announcements, with minor additions to the CityRail network, secret government documents reveal.

While the government prepares to announce tomorrow that it will build a north-west rail link, it asks voters to take it on trust, because work would not begin until 2014 at the earliest.

The news comes as five consortia bidding for the $5.3 billion CBD Metro received letters from the Metro Authority telling them to stop work immediately. The authority told them it would provide further directions when the government makes an imminent announcement about the transport plan.

Yesterday, the Herald obtained key government announcements, which had been uploaded accidentally to a new website ”Shape Your State” at www.nswtransportblueprint.com.au, registered to a company called Bang The Table.

The Premier’s Chief of Staff, Walt Secord, said they were ”working documents” and were still to be finalised at an emergency cabinet meeting today.

The handful of statements reveal the government is planning to ”make the most out of our current system through extensive improvements”, including:

A five-kilometre tunnel between Eveleigh and Wynyard, which would ‘’separate western services from inner city trains to provide shorter journey times”.

Eight new platforms at Redfern, Central, Town Hall and Wynyard.

Express services to the city from Parramatta, Blacktown, Penrith, Richmond and Katoomba, and 5000 more seats, on four to five trains, as part of an effort to shore up Labor’s western Sydney seats.

Doubling the existing line between Chatswood and St Leonards.

There are also plans for 1000 new buses – although it is unclear if this includes the 300 new buses the government announced in November 2008 – and a $54.3 billion roads budget to pay for new motorways across Sydney.

The north-west rail link – first promised in 1998, abandoned in 2005 then announced and dumped on three occasions – is slated to have stations at Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Hills Centre, Norwest Business Park, Burns Road and Rouse Hill, but not until 2021.

The blueprint also refers to spending nearly $2 billion over 10 years completing the ‘’strategic bus corridors”, recommended by the Unsworth Review in 2004, by 2014.

The government claims to have ”implemented” 31 bus corridors already but these services run well short of the 10- to 15-minute intervals recommended by Unsworth, do not operate with priority at traffic lights, and most do not have access to exclusive bus lanes.

The blueprint appears to maintain the original proposal, floated in the December version, for $350 billion over 30 years, comprising $150 billion in infrastructure and $200 billion in service and operating costs.

But the documents say: ”Funding the Transport Blueprint is a significant commitment of the state finances that cannot be met by the NSW government alone.

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Public demands improved transport

February 12th, 2010 admin

pg1cropANDREW WEST

ALMOST two thirds of Sydneysiders support ”high investment in public transport” – and they are prepared to pay for it.

One of the most extensive surveys of commuter needs finds the public is desperate for improved train, bus, light rail and ferry services – and even drivers, who rarely use mass transit, strongly favour better public transport.

The survey of 2400 randomly selected people – conducted by the Centre for the Study of Choice at the University of Technology, Sydney – reflected an overwhelming preference for public transport solutions to the city’s congestion crisis.

A subgroup of 1200 people, who were asked about long-term solutions, said they were prepared to pay a mixture of slightly higher fares, limited congestion charges and even annual household levies, which would raise almost $36 billion over the next 25-30 years to improve public transport. But the public was strongly against paying more for the current levels of service, which they consider inadequate.

The results of the research come as the Herald-backed independent public inquiry into Sydney’s transport needs – headed by Ron Christie, a former chief of the State Rail Authority and the Roads and Traffic Auth- ority – prepares to release its recommendations.

”People want public transport to be an attractive and competitive alternative to the private vehicle, especially for movements to and from the centres,” the research finds.

”These studies have not only confirmed the community’s strong interest in and support for public transport improvements but have indicated a remarkably high willingness to pay for these improvements.”

The market research also revealed the community’s top ‘’short-term” priorities for the next five years. Twenty-six per cent say their first priority is to create more capacity on peak hour services, reflecting the growing anger of commuters who have to squeeze on to packed trains. For 19 per cent, their first priority is more buses on major routes, while a further 19 per cent say their top priority is integrated fares and ticketing, which the government has promised but failed to introduce for more than a decade.

Of those who had not commuted by car in the previous five days, 69 per cent supported major investment in public transport. But even for car commuters, 60 per cent supported ”high investment” in mass transit. Only 24 per cent of frequent drivers backed similar investment in roads.

The figures were remarkably similar across income groups, with 63 per cent of households earning between $75,000 and $150,000 endorsing big spending on public transport, against 58 per cent of households on $45,000 to $74,000 and 62 per cent of households taking home between $20,000 and $45,000.

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Metro pause leaves businesses in lurch

January 31st, 2010 admin

North_West_MetroLOUISE HALL AND ANDREW WEST

IT HAS come too late for some. Last week the Premier, Kristina Keneally, announced that the Government had decided to pause in its acquisition of property in Rozelle to make way for the controversial $5.3 billion CBD Metro.

But the owners of two properties – the Tagine restaurant at 679 Darling Street and another property at 170 Victoria Road – have already sold their properties to the Sydney Metro Authority for a total of $2 million. Five tenants have handed over their leases.

Frustrated business owners in the area have been left in the lurch by the uncertainty around the Government’s plans. Some have already committed to moving from their premises around Darling Street.

Others say they cannot get a straight answer on whether the Government still plans to acquire their properties, and the uncertainty is taking its toll.

Steve Issac, who owns the building that houses Retravision and several other tenants, was told by the Sydney Metro Authority last week that the acquisition of his property had merely been delayed, not cancelled.

”I was told, ‘This is just a pause, it’s no more than that – Rozelle is still on the metro map’,” Mr Issac said. But across the road, Glen Campbell was advised by the same agency to stop looking for a new home for his store, Bed.

The shop owner had spent weeks and thousands of dollars inspecting rental properties and engaging architects to design a new fit-out, only to be told the deal was now most likely off.

”The Government has put us through two years of drama and are now trying to pull out as if it never happened,” he said.

The decision to stall on further acquisitions in Rozelle is the latest twist in a three-year battle within the Government over the future transport plan for Sydney.

In 2008, the premier, Morris Iemma, announced a $12 billion metro travelling under Victoria Road to Sydney’s north-west, shelving long-held plans for CityRail extensions to Rouse Hill and to Leppington, in the south-west. This proposal was axed by his successor, Nathan Rees, later that year, and replaced by the $5.3 billion metro between Central and Rozelle.

Now speculation is mounting that Ms Keneally will announce a third metro permutation that she will take to the March 2011 election. The Opposition has opposed the metro plans, and wants the money to be spent on the heavy-rail extensions to Sydney’s outer suburbs.

Chadi Tahan, who runs Adore Pharmacy, was one of a dozen proprietors expecting a compulsory acquisition notice to arrive this week. He had rejected an offer from Sydney Metro to buy his land as being ”much lower” than the property was worth. ”It would be nice if the Government was honest rather than just keeping us hanging or leaving us to find out from the newspapers,” he said.

The Balmain Leagues Club has signed a deal with the Government and the developer Benny Elias’s company Rozelle Village to use the club’s Victoria Road site as a metro construction zone.

Members were sent a letter last week advising that the club would move to Flemington markets and Five Dock Bowling Club by early April.

Ms Keneally denied that her position on the future of the Rozelle extension conflicted with that of the Transport Minister, David Campbell. On Thursday Mr Campbell said: ”Rozelle is on the table as a station.”

Property worth $124 million has been acquired, a spokesman for Sydney Metro said.

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More doubts about Metro

January 31st, 2010 admin

680816BY COL ALLISON

AMID speculation that the Premier, Kristina Keneally, may axe the CBD Metro, CityRail has undermined a major plank of the planned $5.3 billion Metro.

CityRail says there is plenty of capacity on its trains.

The Sydney Metro Authority, which is responsible for the seven-kilometre line between Central and Rozelle (dubbed “the line to nowhere”), justifies the Metro by insisting that more services are needed between Sydney and Parramatta than CityRail can supply.

But Andrew West, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, has revealed that a submission to the authority by RailCorp, operators of CityRail, disputes this claim.

It is noted that the western and north shore lines are not at capacity and where high passenger loading occurs on specific services this is not in itself causing a lowering of reliability,” RailCorp says in the Sydney Metro Network Stage 1 (Central to Rozelle) Submissions Report, which was released last week.

The Metro Authority constantly says that the CBD Metro will be a so-called “enabling line” for a vast metro system. This was spin that the deposed premier Nathan Rees used after axing the North-West Metro, but his many critics derided it.

But Hills residents will be the biggest losers if the State Government goes ahead with the Sydney Metro, says the peak infrastructure body, the Civil Contractors Federation.

The federation’s chief executive David Elliott said Hills ratepayers would once again miss out on road and rail upgrades while inner-city residents get yet another public transport option.

The CBD Metro just doesn’t make any sense,” Mr Elliott said, echoing a raft of sceptics.

At $1 million per metre, the Metro will go down as one of the most expensive pieces of infrastructure in Australian history and yet it will service a part of Sydney awash with existing public transport options.

The opportunity cost of the Metro is not only the North-West Rail Link, but also upgraded train stations, new commuter car parks and better roads in Sydney’s west and north-west.

Inner-city mayors have rejected it, the Opposition has rejected it, and even infrastructure experts have questioned the need for a Metro servicing just six kilometres of Sydney parallel to the existing light rail and near heavy rail, bus lanes and even a cycleway.

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Slow trains push commuters onto motorways

January 30th, 2010 admin
M5-6116987ANDREW WEST TRANSPORT – January 16, 2010

THE decision to slow down Sydney rail services has increased traffic on the city’s main roads, including motorways.

In an analysis for the Herald, Michelle Zeibots, a researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, compared official travel speed data from the Roads and Traffic Authority and on-time running statistics for CityRail.

She found a pattern between the decline in the performance of CityRail, the growth in congestion and the decrease in average road travel speeds during the morning peak.

”It’s a relatively simple nexus,” Dr Zeibots said. ”The slower and more unreliable the rail service, the more cars you get on those roads that run parallel to major rail lines.”

Between March 2004 and March 2005, when the CityRail system melted down during Bob Carr’s last year in office as premier, on-time running fell to between 50 per cent and 55 per cent.

At the same time, the average traffic speed on seven major roads – including the F3 between Wahroonga and Newcastle, the M4 between Strathfield and the Blue Mountains, the M5 between Liverpool and Beverly Hills, and the M2 between the Hills district and North Ryde – fell from 34km/h to 31km/h in the morning peak period.

Between mid-2003 and mid-2004, another period of chronic unreliability on the rail service, there was a 2.2 per cent slump in train patronage and an average 4 per cent increase in traffic volumes on motorways.

In mid-2005, the Government changed the definition of on-time running: trains that arrived within five minutes were considered punctual. A new timetable, introduced later that year, slowed the trains permanently.

”Average road speeds in Sydney dropped and have stayed there,” Dr Zeibots said. She points out that nearly all proposed motorways run along the routes of existing rail lines.

”In the real world, most people base their transport decisions on the fastest option,” Dr Zeibots said.

”If taking the car is quicker, they’ll drive. If rail is faster, they’ll take public transport. This is how the speed of the rail network affects road speeds and why it’s vital that governments invest adequately in rail.”

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