Edited 22 Feb 2014 13:39, 7 years ago, edited by justapassenger

@Steamed - do not put words in my mouth.

I do not support full-length expresses, only semi-fast services stopping at both Seafords, Noarlunga, both HCs, maybe Brighton (not if it overtakes a stopper there), Oaklands and Showgrounds. Once a full EMU service is running and if DPTI decides to start doing regular maintenance (rather than letting TSRs bloom like flowers for 20+ years between full rebuilds) these should be able to get Seaford-Adelaide done with those stops inside 35-40 minutes.

I don't support any services starting/terminating at Noarlunga, for the Seaford extension to be of any utility it needs to have a reliable service - i.e. a service where users can rely on every train going all the way to Seaford. As Ian points out, only 10% of journeys from Seaford go to the city so it needs a reliable service to capture as much of that 10% (still a very sizeable number) as possible.

The importance of a reliable service is also why I oppose a skip-stop timetable, a simpler timetable where services either stop or don't stop through the inner suburbs will be easier to rely on that faffing about with timetables to tell if a simple Seacliff-Edwardstown journey (my cousin's school commute) will require changing trains or not.

Ian's point about the time lost waiting for a faster train is valid, however I would suggest this is more than balanced by the attraction/"prestige" of having faster peak trains on offer for the high usage stations and an acceleration of off-peak Seaford trains once Tonsley resumes. Remember that the peak flow will not get any extra benefits on the road, the SExy already flows the right way in the peaks and duplicating it won't do anything about the Darlington-Keswick gridlock.

It would have been for this reason that "faster" was the first of the big four selling points in the rail revitalisation advertising…

I also agree that the senior leadership of the department needs to be cleaned out - regardless of the election result. Rod Hook and Luigi Rossi have done some good stuff, but there has simply been way too many instances of gross incompetence (good engineers promoted to major project management positions well beyond their skill sets) for their positions to be remotely tenable. Offering up Emma Thomas as the sacrificial lamb was a fair result with regards to the failures of the EMU procurement, but Hook and Rossi need to be held accountable for the equally disastrous delays on the big ticket infrastructure projects.

Edited 22 Feb 2014 13:38, 7 years ago, edited by justapassenger

@Steamed - do not put words in my mouth.

I do not support full-length expresses, only semi-fast services stopping at both Seafords, Noarlunga, both HCs, maybe Brighton (not if it overtakes a stopper there), Oaklands and Showgrounds. Once a full EMU service is running and if DPTI decides to start doing regular maintenance (rather than letting TSRs bloom like flowers for 20+ years between full rebuilds) these should be able to get Seaford-Adelaide done with those stops inside 35-40 minutes.

I don't support any services starting/terminating at Noarlunga, for the Seaford extension to be of any utility it needs to have a reliable service - i.e. a service where users can rely on every train going all the way to Seaford. As Ian points out, only 10% of journeys from Seaford go to the city so it needs a reliable service to capture as much of that 10% (still a very sizeable number) as possible.

The importance of a reliable service is also why I oppose a skip-stop timetable, a simpler timetable where services either stop or don't stop through the inner suburbs will be easier to rely on that faffing about with timetables to tell if a simple Seacliff-Edwardstown journey (my cousin's school commute) will require changing trains or not.

Ian's point about the time lost waiting for a faster train is valid, however I would suggest this is more than balanced by the attraction/"prestige" of having faster peak trains on offer for the high usage stations and an acceleration of off-peak Seaford trains once Tonsley resumes. Remember that the peak flow will not get any extra benefits on the road, the SExy already flows the right way in the peaks and duplicating it won't do anything about the Darlington-Keswick gridlock.

It would have been for this reason that "faster" was the first of the big four selling points in the rail revitalisation advertising…