Another poor old broken down train this morning –and the rail equivalent of a towtruck finally arrives just west of Morningside station to attend to the train.
It’s becoming all too familiar.
And in Wellington today once again more problems – signal faults affecting services to Paraparaumu and resulting in bus replacements.
The trains I have been catching lately in both directions have definitely had much lower patronage than last year. Not all but some.
I’m sure of this because I’m amazed to now get a seat on the same scheduled train that last year, I had to fight to get even standing room on. Anecdotally, I have reported several conversations with commuters who have given up and swapped to buses or gone back to their cars.
We know it’s happened in Wellington because the council figures have shown the decreased fare revenues.
Both cities are going through serious pains while major improvements are made. Those improvements, when completed, will be wonderful and put us on the path to a modern rail service.
I gather from frustrated rail commuters I spoke to they didn’t quite realise how long those developments will take.
A surprising many seemed to think the shining new Newmarket station heralded the start of a smooth ride ahead, not realising that although new stations like Grafton were yet to be finished, we still have the same tired old trains and signal problems for quite some time yet.
I can understand commuters giving up – but I hope enough stay. We need to prove public transport works. However, something is going to have to be done about the delays.
This year, you have no idea when your train will arrive, if it will arrive or when it will reach its final destination.
That’s like the really really bad days of a few years ago. And it’s the stop-start saga that is driving people nuts.
On the Western line you can suddenly be halted at Kingdon St, at Newmarket station while drivers change (although this is pretty smooth) and then that frustrating wait outside Britomart for a berth.
As one commuter said today, it’s like being stuck in rush-hour traffic, which is the reason he had switched from a car to the train.
Commuters tell me they are catching earlier and earlier trains because of the delays and it’s affecting their daily routines.
The constant apologies over the PA system just don’t cut it anymore.
And the Western Line performance stats for January were 36.1% punctionality. Southern was only 73%.
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9 Responses to “Another Breakdown: How Long Can This Go On?”
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
The trains lately have been pretty ridiculous on the Western line. I’ve been back at uni for two weeks now and only had about 3 trains actually show up on time; I’ve had to start catching them earlier just to make sure I can get to classes on time. Hopefully they’ll get better, because the trains are much faster than catching the bus would be for me.
Werid I was on the 0743 out west this morning, was that the one that broke down? As it was held at Morningside but made its way to Mt Albert (over 45mins late) under its own power. Additionaly I thought it was due to a on-board incident at Morningside too and not a breakdown. The plot thickens. :S
The number of issues happening out west this year are just pathetic. Yesterday morning was the first time all year that my train was within 5 minutes of its scheduled time. At the rate we are going there will be no passengers left by June when the double tracking is finished.
Matt: One could say the same about buses in certain areas, and yet they still are packed to capacity! Methinks that there is a large group of people (due to various reasons, including fuel prices and the recession) who feel they have to take the bus or train regardless.
Hang on in there people
This is crazy, just crazy.
Is that the first instance of a DFT hauling an SA set? Soon to become a common occurrence.
Although seems like the needs for 6 car sets has gone.
What has happened to the 6 car set idea?
The first DFT loco is ready, but I think NZTA have delayed funding for putting the new passenger cars into service.
Not too certain about anything though.