One man's perspective of the daily grind on board the Connex Melbourne metropolitan train system.
posted by Connex Whinger at 7:45 pm
An extract from my first post best sums up what this is all about.
"Perception is reality" was one of the many glib phrases my ex-boss used to regularly use. Well my reality is that I have never had a full week of the train that I want to catch running on time. Let me rephrase that somewhat inelegant sentence - I don't believe that of the ten scheduled trains that I would wish to catch in any given week, all ten have ever run as scheduled. Ever. In over four years of commuting on the Sandringham line, my perception is that at least one train per week is either delayed or cancelled.
That's probably a pretty bold call, so to turn my perception into reality, I plan to keep a diary for a while and we'll see how often Connex can deliver me a full week of reliable services. Yes, I know that's a little self-centred, but isn't that the whole point of blogging?
11 Comments:
Your lucky day. The 9.12 Flinders St train at Hughesdale seems to have been running late most of this week. Today it pulled out at 9.22, which is a little earlier than it has been for the past two days. Nicely crowded too, I noticed. The next one was due at 9.27, but arrived at 9.25 (my watch is dead accurate by 3AW news time). I had to run to catch it. It pulled out of Caulfield at 9.30, with the electronic display board saying it was scheduled at 9.33
3AW news time is not Connex time!
Not sure what time Connex runs to. Some rubbery concept from another dimension that bears little relevance to the world around them.
Who can be sure that it was actually the 9:33 train from Caulfield? In my experience the departure boards are often wrong. I have been at Richmond and seen the departure boards for the Sandringham Line change, change back again, several times within 5 minutes.
And yes I wouldn't put too much faith in 3AW time, many of the views expressed on that station are about 40 years out of date!
Hello again, I'm the first "anonymous". Logic says it was the 9.33. The previous, overloaded, train pulled out of Hughesdale at 9.22, which meant it had to be the one scheduled for 9.12. The only other possibility is that the one that left at 9.22 was in fact the 8.57am express from Caulfield to South Yarra, and the "early" 9.25 was really a late 9.12.
Still, looking on the bright side, I have to say that whatever train I was on -- early or late -- it was nice and empty, because (a) it was just 3 minutes behind the earlier one and possibly (b) it was arriving at stations before the passengers were expecting it.
Here's a query: why, when trains run late, are there no apologies or explanations fom drivers? The best one gets is an oh-so-sincere apology at Central, of all places. How is it they have the information and/or inclination to apologise but no other stations do?
anon 15:01; your query
Please clarify, otherwise my grammar is supposedly as good as yours...
Drivers have to drive the train, it the same as talking on a mobile. Although i have no idea, plus that would mean after each station the driver would have to apologise.
I know of a very nice tram driver, tells everything appropriate (ie faults/delays), rare to see though.
I don't know what you mean in your last two question but, premium stations have 'people' in them. They can either manually apologise, otherwise, it's the automated announcement system that does it.
The met,
You said it yourself:
"I have no idea"
Hi, it's the first Anonymous again. Met, you fool, drivers make announcements while they're driving all the time. Speaking on an intercom while you're following a preset course on rails is a world away from listening to a conversation from someone while you're dealing with intersections and other traffic.
Where should drivers make an explanation? After Hughesdale for starters, because that's my station. Then Caulfield. Then Richmond. From that point it doesn't really matter, because passengers simply board the first train that arrives and have no idea it's late.
So here's the deal. Train running 10 minutes late? Driver says, "Good morning passengers, apologies for the late-running train. The delay was caused by (insert lame excuse here.) Connex apologises, admits it is pathetic and hopes you can forgive them."
And hey Metro, no, your grammar isn't as good as mine.
Another point. I'm sick of being Anonymous. I've tried repeatedly today to start a user account so I can have a name too, but every username I put in is rejected. What does this mean?
Previous anon - just sign up for a blog and then you use that blogger name.
The every driver announces/slash apologises about delays, incedences and other stuff, will be the day i leave this site forever.
In other words, could happen, but wont.
Well let's hope its soon then.
Post a Comment
<< Home