Yes, there’s still some of the grey sweatboxes around in Sydney, but are only used as back ups now and meant to be fully decommissioned by middle of this year i think.
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No. Last night i had to wait 30 minutes for a train.
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Last Friday I had to wait for 55 mins for a train at Helensvale due to the Friday timetable, there was around 400 people waiting for the train and this was right on school home time!
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Except on a Saturday or Sunday when they basically only run once every half hour save for the airport…
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Melbourne has to be worst because of their face to face seating policy.
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NSW is supposed to be getting some of those trains with fixed seating, which also means some people will have to face the reverse to the direction of travel.
That would be enough to put me off train travel… sitting backwards AND facing someone.
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I personally don’t see the big problem surrounding this.
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This again??
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I bet they’ll find an excuse to keep them in service. Like how a lot of schools still use the DER laptops, even though they’re shit and way past their use by date. #IworkforNSW
Shouldn’t be a problem, most people are looking at a screen nowadays. 
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How is that a problem?
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Even though they really should’ve been retired about 20 years ago, sadly I also wouldn’t be overly surprised if the NSW Government somehow finds an excuse to keep the old S-set “sweatbox” trains in use and won’t actually retire them for good until they’re in the news for literally coming to a grinding halt mid-way through journeys! 
The Lenovo Touchpad probably would’ve been an average laptop when they were first introduced, so I can’t imagine how bad using them would be now especially if they’re still running nearly decade old Windows 7 software! 
I know not everyone would be in the mood to interact with their fellow passengers at any given moment on public transport, but that’s still pretty sad IMO!
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it’s no different to 20, 30, 40 years ago when everyone had their heads in a newspaper or a book, just now it’s on their phones. I’m old enough to remember buying The Herald to read on the train on my way home 
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So you’d just talk to random other people on the train, or just sit there silently waiting just in case?
…or maybe even looking out the window as the journey progresses?
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I’m all for looking out the window - but I’d still have my headphones in listening to something, so I wouldn’t be any more likely to be interacting with anyone else.
Looking at a phone isn’t much different to just looking at a see-through wall.
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- List item
That’s what I usually do… with headphones on… as my train trips are usually Newcastle to Sydney and back (2 hours 40 mins each way).
I always prefer the upper deck, left hand side of the aisle (as long as it doesn’t put me in the summer sun), forward facing and on the left hand edge of the window.
When boarding at Central or Newcastle Interchange I like to get there a bit early in order to get the best seat.
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I think the issue with Melbourne is not the Trains, or Lateness or so forth. It is the fact the infrastruce works they have had for the past 4 or 5 years. Yes, It is a good thing for Melbourne but sadly us humans have a here or now culture.
We all know New Zealand is a state of Australia and we do, in fact, actually have the worst train system in the Commonwealth.
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