On the other hand meanwhile, PTA had recently brought its last batch of Volgren Optimus-bodied Volvo B8RLEA’s in July 2018 being the last numbered #3102 and most of the 950 peak trips will be operated by articulated buses.
Interesting article about Melbourne’s tram route numbering system. A friend referred it to me on Facebook.
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Newcastle will be the second regional city after Gold Coast, and the second NSW city after Sydney, to have a light rail service.
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Hopefully, the planning/construction of Newcastle’s light rail won’t be an utter disaster, like Sydney’s has been…
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More trams, at least not on the roads as much as the old ones (i.e. what comes to mind when thinking of Melbourne).
Canberra’s is still not finished, the ACT Government are saying it’ll be up and running by 27 April…
… but given what’s been seen of some shoddy construction (like wiring not being buried the depth required by the relevant Australian Standard), who knows:
Already been and gone. Services about to begin.
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Yes, it has gone pretty smoothly compared the the chaos in Sydney.
As a Novocastrian, I look forward to trying it out, even though I have no real need to use it.
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It doesn’t look to make much sense - with such a short line length a dedicated bus corridor would have been more fitting, and you could then filter out some of the buses into the rest of the city rather than just a narrow strip.
Looking at a map and not knowing anything at all about Newcastle, extending it to go through to the University via Hunter Stadium would make sense to me.
The Gold Coast line is a good length, and Canberra’s seems good enough but hopefully the second stage is fairly close behind to make it a more complete network.
Thats the intention - but no indication of when (or how)
The Newcastle one is really just a replacement for the heavy rail line that was removed 6 years or so ago.
Extending it to Hunter Stadium or the Uni will be too expensive and is already serviced by both heavy rail and buses.
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The names for the Metro Tunnel borers were announced today. Joan Kirner, Millie Peacock, Meg Lanning and Alice Appleford
According to a report on Nine News Sydney tonight, Sydney Trains have been rated 2nd worst overall among the 5 mainland state capitals. Melbourne is apparently the worst.
Do Sydneysiders and Melbournians here agree?
I’m honestly surprised that Sydney Trains were only rated the second worst of the five mainland capitals!
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Yes, i did wonder how Melbourne’s was rated worse.
I don’t think Melbourne trains is the worst. It should be Adelaide, as diesel railcars still run on some lines and frequencies are low.
Melbourne rail lines have their own shortfalls of course (overpacked trains, single track sections, not enough car parking spaces etc.) but they are being improved over time.
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Yes. Actually, Sydney public transport in general is shit.
I’ve had to take buses since having my car written off, and some of the drivers are hopeless. Missing stops, riding the kerb, driving the bus like it’s a V8 Supercar, driving over every pothole - how the hell did these guys get employment? I nearly threw up this afternoon coming home from work.
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I can agree with Melbourne trains being notoriously bad, but I’m quite amazed that you guys are saying Sydney and Adelaide are worse :o
Sydney’s train network is definitely better than Melbourne’s. No level crossings, comprehensively covers the suburban area (still with a few dead spots though), a good level of express services, and the trains are very clean in comparison. The problem is the current timetable which causes these huge blowouts when a mouse causes a signal failure or whatever.
The SEQ train network is OK. Found it very reasonable (other than the price of tickets!)
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I’ve only had very small experiences with the Sydney/Brisbane networks - but only by process of elimination could I see Melbourne’s being last - it’s not terrible by any measure, and certainly nothing I saw of Syd/Bris would make me think there’s a huge gulf.
I found Sydney/Brisbane to both be very expensive.
There’s lots they could do better, especially off-peak service regularity - but then there’s bonuses like all-night transport on weekends. Plus, the whole fleet is fairly well airconditioned, which I don’t think is the case in Sydney still?
Yep, Sydney still have the un-airconditioned S Sets but I think they will be gone soon.
As someone from Melbourne, i’ve always found the interior of the K Sets and C Sets interesting. I’ve never been to Sydney but based on pictures i’ve seen, the seats look quite comfortable. They almost look as though they are leather. It amazes me how those seats are kept in such good condition. Another thing i’ve noticed is that the interior lighting looks really dull, especially in the upper deck.
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