Perth Public Transport

[Girlyman]

I just read the article about this on the West website. How stupid can people be? The opposition complaining that the government hasn't ordered enough trains when they opposed the investment in the first place. It really does make the blood boil!

Has the government made any indication that it might order some more trains on top of the 15 coming in a year?

[Brisbaner21]

Originally Posted by Direwolf

Now imagine in the coming years how much of a decrease in the traffic you will see hopefully with a large increase in ridership.

[BroadGauge]

How full do trains on the Clarkson/Joondalup line get in peak? Is there any overcrowding?

[Perth4life]

atm there is and as usual for that line people are whinging.

[Girlyman]

In retrospect its a pity they didn't make the platforms longer in the William st station. 9 car sets would allleviate some of the problems with overcrowding on the trians. Although in my opinion it would be better to have smaller trains running more frequently. Hopefully these new trains will allow them to have 4 min fequencies during peak.

[Cruise]

do you guys have double decker trains?

if not, they could be a better solution than making platforms longer.

[Direwolf]

No the trains above are the biggest available in Perth, The B series a 3 cars long with a single deck and can be joined for 6 cars. I think they have a max speed of 130km/h compared to the old A series which had 100km/hr. 31 of these B series sets were bought (93 railcars) for total 189 railcars in the network.

I'm not sure larger capacity from double decker trains is better as more frequent trains may be quicker due to moving people on and off trains being a bottle neck.

[nazor]

Originally Posted by Cruise Control

do you guys have double decker trains?

if not, they could be a better solution than making platforms longer.

people might get electrocuted ....

[Cruise]

Originally Posted by nazor

people might get electrocuted ....

Hmmmmm...... try thinking a little bit ok?

[PerthCity]

I hope the capacity problems on the Northern line don't turn some people away from train travel for good. If people are being left on the platforms, then soon enough they will grab their car and head down the freeway, and it will probably take them the same time, and without being made uncomfortable on an over packed train.

[Bullswool]

Ah well, they might go back to the train in a few years when the capacity has increased and they see plenty of space on the trains speeding past them.

[Laing]

Traffic is so foul in Perth now. Leach highway looks like Bangkok. The air seems to be constantly brown. This train can't come soon enough.

[Laing]

My post sounds like a crap postmodern poem.

[Bullswool]

I'm not sure about the traffic, but I don't know if its the weather but i noticed a fair bit of smog around booragoon today. Not a good thing :S

[Girlyman]

Originally Posted by Cruise Control

Hmmmmm...... try thinking a little bit ok?

Haha lighten up CC. It was a pretty funny comment!

[sandstorm6299]

I have a question about the electrification of the trains. Instead of overhead wires, why wasn't the use of a 3rd rail used to bring power to the trains used instead? This way we wouldn't have problems with wires snapping or falling, or the complaints of "unsightly" wires.

Is it only because it was a safety issue? I'm sure many countries out there have used this system, and all seems fine.

[Perth4life]

third rail is far less safe, it is used mainly on subway systems around the world, we don't have a subway, if we had 3rd rail we would have problems with people dieing instead of wires snapping.

I don't see anyone complaining about "unsightly" wires, the duck incident was a one off, also the time to convert it to 3rd rail would take forever and don't forget how much people here love to whinge about costs.

[Girlyman]

The only people dying are dumbass taggers anyway. No loss to the world.

[tuckerbox]

Originally Posted by Cruise Control

do you guys have double decker trains?

if not, they could be a better solution than making platforms longer.

Yes an interesting argument-- In my opinion, like the Joondalup line it wont be long before overcrowding comes a problem. just look at the rate of housing growth around Mandurah and unlike Joondalup a lot of potential passengers from heavily populated South West.
Double Deck seems to work well in Sydney but Passenger entry and exit is a bit slower than ours at Stations.Thats the secret-- get them off and on as fast as possible to maintain timetable.

[Ipggi]

Well double deckers are never going to happen in Perth because local lines are narrow gauge and they couldn't support the bulk.

Double deckers are usually more suitable for intercity commutes rather then local stops. Sydney is an odd example, but Sydney's system is bottled neck because in part because of these trains, specially underground where it's preferable to have smaller more frequent service of trains rather then overcrowded platforms.

I think in the long term future they will just have to build another 2x tracks that would be used for Limited Express services that wouldn't interfere with local all-stop services. Even if it means reclaiming a couple of the freeway lanes (that would obviously be relaid).