Summary 23-27 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!

Despite my misgivings at the start of the week, it turned out not too badly. Down to 23% cancelled or significantly delayed. What I haven't really found a way to reflect is the knock-on effects. On Thursday evening the 17:27 was cancelled, so although the 17:38 ran I had to let it go as it would've been packed solid. Similarly Friday morning the 06:59 was cancelled so we had a double load on the 07:14, so while it did run on time, it was pretty crowded. So although both these trips show as green, there were still problems.

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
Mon 23/05	Tue 24/05	Wed 25/05	Thu 26/05	Fri 27/05
07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14	07:14
17:38	18:24	N/A	17:49	17:38

Fri 27 May - At least it's on time...

Receiving two SMS alerts before 07:00 is probably not a good start to the day. The first one is for the 06:59, which means the 07:14 will be carrying a double load... great! A quick review of SMS alerts over the past several weeks seems to confirm the pessimistic view that the week started with.

At least it comes in on time - and as a bonus we are on platform 9 instead of 12/13.

17:38 on time no worries. Certainly better than the last couple of Fridays.

Thu 26 May - Good choice Phil...

I'm at a seminar this morning and was tossing up whether to go straight there and get a later train or go to the office first. As they can get a bit iffy by 08:00 or so, I chose the latter. Wise choice as it turned out, since the 07:29 is cancelled and that'll have a knock-on effect to the next couple of trains.

Somewhat ironically, given my comments of 13 May, I'm the one telling the station staff about the cancellation. And still there's been no SMS alert.

At 17:08 we're alerted that the 17:27 is cancelled. Not enough time to pack up and get down to the station in time to catch the 17:17. So here's the choice - go and get on the 17:38 and put up with being crushed, or let it go and hope the 17:49 is OK. Well there's not really much to think about, jamming into the 17:38 is just not an option. So we go for the 17:49 and there it is... and it gets away about on time. Sometimes it works out OK, sometimes not.

Wed 25 May - Sydney...

No Connex today as I'm in Sydney. Call me a glutton for punishment - I go on the Sydney train line from the airport to the Sydney office. It seems to run OK. So later we come back from Milson's Point to the office by train too.

I met the woman who organised the Sydney no-fares day last year at lunch time today. Amazing how she managed to pull that off.

Tue 24 May - Mornings good...

The 07:14 is here on time again. Mornings good. Evenings bad. Then again, perhaps I have a short attention span, since it was only 24 hours ago that I was whingeing that the 07:14 was cancelled!

18:24 for the homeward trip - it's there when I get to platform 13 and it leaves more or less on time. Both trains in one day being on time is not a regular occurrence - in fact it's only happened ten times since I started keeping records seven weeks ago.

Mon 23 May - An ugly week...?

Aah the 06:59 again. Not through choice this time, in fact I barely have time to catch it. But at least the SMS arrives with just enough time to race out and get the earlier train. On the way to the station another SMS comes through to say the 08:09 is cancelled - the week's looking ugly already.

We wait the obligatory two minutes in the yards while the PDP-11s choose a platform from the two available... 12 or 13, 13 or 12, 12 or 13... oh decisions, decisions...

My upcoming holiday will be more about the relief from the vagaries of the daily Connex train lottery than anything else!

17:38 - once again, we're here and the train's not. It arrives shortly after and gets going a few minutes late - a bit crowded but not too bad.