Summary 1-5 August

The weekly summary is now getting pretty big and it was at odds with the rest of the blog which shows most recent entries first. So as of this week I've reversed the table so the most recent entries are at the top. If nothing else, it's consistent and it saves having to scroll down a fair way to see the latest results.

A decidedly orange flavour to the week with most morning trains either arriving at Ripponlea late or getting away pretty much on time then waiting in the yards. Curiously, all the reds since I got back from holiday have been on a Wednesday evening - can't think of any reason that would be. There's no doubt that things have slipped a bit backwards after their fairly good week of 18-22 July.

Anyway, the summary so far is 59% on time, 24% two to six minutes late and 17% more than six minutes late or cancelled.

Mon 01/08	Tue 02/08	Wed 03/08	Thu 04/08	Fri 05/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	09:24
17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38	N/A
Mon 25/07	Tue 26/07	Wed 27/07	Thu 28/07	Fri 29/07
N/A	N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14
N/A	N/A	17:27	11:42	18:24
Mon 18/07	Tue 19/07	Wed 20/07	Thu 21/07	Fri 22/07
06:59	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	18:12	17:38	17:38	16:27
Mon 11/07	Tue 12/07	Wed 15/07	Thu 14/07	Fri 15/07
07:14	06:59	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	17:38	18:50	18:01
Mon 06/06	Tue 07/06	Wed 08/06	Thu 09/06	Fri 10/06
07:14	07:14	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 30/05	Tue 31/05	Wed 01/06	Thu 02/06	Fri 03/06
08:39	07:14	07:14	06:59	05:40
17:49	17:49	18:12	18:24	18:12
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
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 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 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 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 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 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 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

Fri 5 August - A late start...

Up half the night with a migraine so late in today. Opt for the 09:24 and it comes in a minute or so late. Just to make sure we're delayed, we stop for about three minutes in the yards then another minute or so half-way along the platform.

Can't even contemplate a train at 20:15 or so, so home in a taxi.

Thu 4 August - It's raining...

The 07:14 pulls up three minutes late this morning. It is raining so I suppose that makes a difference somehow. We manage to lose a couple more minutes on the way to pull in about five minutes late.

17:38 for the return trip, it runs on time.

Wed 3 August - Good again? Yes and no...

The 07:14 is back to its reliable self this morning. On time and no waiting in the yards.

But the 17:49 compensates for that! The familiar routine plays out... standing on the platform, the clock clicks over to 17:49, no sign of the train, no announcement, heads straining in both directions trying in vain to spot the missing train. Eventually it rolls in about four or five minutes late, just a straight announcement that the train's there, no acknowledgement that it's late nor any form of apology. Is it that hard to simply tell people where their train is? What is wrong with these people that they are so contemptuous of their customers?

We get home about seven minutes after the scheduled time, so the train is officially late.

Tue 2 August - Orange please...

Seems that Connex has decided it likes the colour orange. We're running nicely, albeit on one of the old 1970s trains, when we pull to a stop just outside Flinders Street station. We wait a couple of minutes then we go. There's no obvious reason for this, ie nothing comes out eastbound. It's conceivable that platforms 8 and 9 were both in use and both trains headed west I suppose. Or maybe they just like to be graded as delivering a slightly late service!

17:38 for the homeward journey. On time, but very crowded for some reason...

Mon 1 August - 07:14 to Richmond...

"Trains departing platform 1 are the 07:14 Richmond, departing in three minutes... " the little box with the green button tells me.

Oh really? Since when has there been a service just to Richmond?

Ask the guys, it's news to them. Since my ears are blocked from this cold that I can't shake, it's always possible I misheard. But he checks and he hears the same thing. While we stand there, pondering what the problem might be, the main platform announcement tells us that the train that's coming in on platform 1 is going to Richmond.

The train arrives and the display shows it to be a Flinders Street train. We'll see... My tip is that it's a fault in those pesky PDP-11s.

We pull into Richmond and people pile in as usual, but the train sits for a minute or so and you start to wonder... Anyway we make it to Flinders Street without incident, so just a glitch in the system somewhere. We pull in to platform 12 a couple of minutes late - perhaps the fact that platform 12 is so far away from the rest of the station it seems to the PDP-11s that it’s closer to Richmond?

Home on the 17:38. We end up about three minutes late for no obvious reason.