Summary 16-20 May

Here's the full story since I started keeping records. You know the scoring system by now, but if you don't, green, orange and red should give you a fair clue!

Mornings are OK still, more or less, while Monday and Friday evenings are bad again. Still 24% cancelled or significantly delayed.

Mon 04/04	Tue 05/04	Wed 06/04	Thu 07/04	Fri 08/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	17:27	17:38
Mon 11/04	Tue 12/04	Wed 13/04	Thu 14/04	Fri 15/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:27	17:27	N/A	19:35
Mon 18/04	Tue 19/04	Wed 20/04	Thu 21/04	Fri 22/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	17:38	17:38	17:38	17:38
Mon 25/04	Tue 26/04	Wed 27/04	Thu 28/04	Fri 29/04
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	09:11
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17:38
Mon 02/05	Tue 03/05	Wed 04/05	Thu 05/05	Fri 06/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
16:37	17:38	17:38	17:38	18:50
Mon 09/05	Tue 10/05	Wed 11/05	Thu 12/05	Fri 13/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	18:01	18:12	18:35
Mon 16/05	Tue 17/05	Wed 18/05	Thu 19/05	Fri 20/05
07:14	12:47	06:59	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	N/A	17:38

Fri 20 May - Ol' Reliable...

07:14 and here's the train - the mornings have got back some of their former reliability recently, pity the evenings are still cactused. Actually, I gather that later in the morning, between 08:00 and 09:00, they'd get the sweetest nun swearing - which sounds like a good reason to stick with the 07:14. That said, I don't seem to get many SMSes lately...?

And happy 5th birthday to Ellen. Sorry I'm home late, that nasty Connex mob delayed me again!

Predictably we end the week on a low. The 17:38 is cancelled with about five minutes' notice. So of course the 17:49 is packed solid again, but at least it gets away pretty much on time. Have I mentioned lately that I hate Connex?!

Thu 19 May - Nothing doing...

Sorry, a Connex free day today so nothing to report. I can't even offer any excitement from the Railpage forums as I don't really have time at the moment... assignments, exams at uni, budgets, problems, preparations for annual leave at work, not much time for gunzelling right now!

Wed 18 May - Early one today...

Need to go into work a bit earlier today - thought I'd take the 06:59 for a spin - don't get to use this one very often. It's on time and not crowded at all. Naturally we spend the obligatory minute or two having a look around the yards as the PDP-11s scratch their metaphorical heads looking for a vacant platform for us to go to.

The PDP-11s must be on song this evening, since the 17:38 leaves at exactly 17:38:00. It's one of the old Hitachis, so Shaz and I are confident that there'll be none of that we're going, we're not going, we are going after all malarkey that we get with the new trains.

Tue 17 May - Very late today...!

I'm on the 12:47 today, having spent the morning studying. Bang on time, as you'd expect in off peak times. So this one balances out yesterday evening's little comedy.

A colleague, let's call him Mark to protect his anonymity, commented recently that I'd strayed from just talking about the delays to talking about a wide range of topics, most of them critical of Connex. And of course he's right. There is just so much to have a go about, I doubt I'll ever run out of Connex whinges!

Quelle surprise! 17:38, we're here, train's not, no announcement. That was the last thing I expected. Anyway it eventually rolls up a couple of minutes later and we get away around four minutes late. Could've been worse.

I have been a bit slack and neglected to mention yesterday that I finally received a letter from Connex, in relation to some of my complaints. Given that it was dated 21 April, I'd suggest they still owe me a few more! Anyway, the gist of it is they do lots of maintenance but trains still fail so suck it up - fortunately Qantas doesn't share this attitude. They do try to tell us about delays and cancellations but sometimes they don't know until the last minute - fair call, but what about all the other times? They're well on the way to solving the driver shortage problem - good, your year's up. There's SMS updates available - I know, I've complained about them, check your forms. There's a different compensation arrangement - who cares, I don't buy the tickets that qualify and your stats are bogus anyway. They're trying really hard and I can complain to the Public Transport Ombudsman if I like - yeah I'm saving that one. If you'd like to see the letter, here it is
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Mon 16 May - What's a PDP-11...?

Dad, what's a PDP-11?
Well son, it's one of the earliest mainstream, multi-purpose computers from the 1960s and 70s.
Oh, OK. Is it powerful? How does it compare to your Mac PowerBook?
It doesn't, son. Even the Playstation has better processing power.
Really? So they should all be in museums by now?
Yes, I'd say so son. I worked on IBM mainframes back then, so I don't know too much about them. I doubt any are still in service though.
Well Dad, little Jimmy at school reckons his Dad told him that they're the main computers that Connex uses.
No chance, son, they couldn't possibly be relying on such old technology. But then again, it might explain why they find it so hard to manage their services...

Unfortunately the PDP-11s managing the signals held up the 07:14 in the yards for a few minutes again.

Home time. Here's how it goes...

Enter Phil & Shaz from stage right

Phil: Hey the train's already in
Shaz: Yeah that's good

P&S get on train

Announcer: The 5:38 Sandringham train is departing from platform 13, stand clear please
Phil: Why aren't we moving?
Shaz: Dunno
Phil: Hey that guy looks like he's probably the driver
Shaz: Could be
Phil: Wonder what's happening?
Shaz: What's that?

P opens door

Announcer: All change on platform 13, all change
Phil & Shaz: What the...?
Phil: Looks like it is stuffed
Announcer: The train is defective and has been cancelled, the next Sandringham train is the 5:49

A few minutes later, P&S's mobiles buzz and beep with the SMS alert advising it's cancelled

A few minutes later again...

Shaz: Looks like they're getting back on
Phil: Yep, sure does
Announcer: The train's fixed, please get back on
Phil: And there's the 5:49 on platform 12, what do you reckon?
Shaz: Nope, I'm staying on this one
Phil: Yeah I'm tempted to go for it
Shaz: I'm not moving
Phil: It's gone 5:49, what if that one departs empty?
Shaz: The doors are shut now, so we're stuck
Phil: But we're not moving
Shaz: Now I'm beginning to think we should've got on the 5:49
Phil: Too late now

Train waits another minute or two, angry passengers outside futilely stab at button trying to open door

Phil: Here we go

Exeunt stage left

Summary 9-13 May

I might as well keep going with the full history instead of just the weekly summary, so here it is. You know the scoring system by now, but if you don't, green, orange and red should give you a fair clue!

Pretty good effort in the mornings with every one pretty much on time. Monday and Friday evenings not so good. Still 24% cancelled or significantly delayed.

Mon 04/04	Tue 05/04	Wed 06/04	Thu 07/04	Fri 08/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	17:27	17:38
Mon 11/04	Tue 12/04	Wed 13/04	Thu 14/04	Fri 15/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:27	17:27	N/A	19:35
Mon 18/04	Tue 19/04	Wed 20/04	Thu 21/04	Fri 22/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	17:38	17:38	17:38	17:38
Mon 25/04	Tue 26/04	Wed 27/04	Thu 28/04	Fri 29/04
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	09:11
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17:38
Mon 02/05	Tue 03/05	Wed 04/05	Thu 05/05	Fri 06/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
16:37	17:38	17:38	17:38	18:50
Mon 09/05	Tue 10/05	Wed 11/05	Thu 12/05	Fri 13/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	18:01	18:12	18:35