Sydney, Australia Train Photos

[Eisenbahn]

I was in Sydney for a couple of days this week and took some photos of the rail network. I posted 10 in the  Forum Gallery "Australian Prototypes".

Unlike Queensland(3ft6) and Victoria(5ft3) , New South Wales is a standard gauge state. It's Sydney passenger network runs 4 car EMUs as 8 cars.

There is a small amount of Light Rail and a separate monorail outside the public transport ticket system.

 

 

[marknewton]

It's Sydney passenger network runs 4 car EMUs as 8 cars.

The A-sets, or "Waratahs", shown in your seventh photo run in a permanent 8-car block. They have only two crew cabs, in the 1st and 8th cars. We're told that when the new timetable is introduced in October we'll go back to running 4-car sets out of peak hours and on weekends. Yay! :)

 

There is a small amount of Light Rail and a separate monorail outside the public transport ticket system.

The monorail is due to close in June 2013 and be demolished, so now's the time to see it.

 

Nice photos, BTW. (I must spend too much time around trains and trams - I know where every photo was taken! :) )

 

Cheers.

 

Mark.

Edited January 26, 2013 by marknewton

[Nick_Burman]

The A-sets, or "Waratahs", shown in your seventh photo run in a permanent 8-car block. They have only two crew cabs, in the 1st and 8th cars. We're told that when the new timetable is introduced in October we'll go back to running 4-car sets out of peak hours and on weekends. Yay! :)

 

The monorail is due to close in June 2013 and be demolished, so now's the time to see it.

 

Nice photos, BTW. (I must spend too much time around trains and trams - I know where every photo was taken! :) )

 

Cheers.

 

Mark.

 

Mark,

 

Why are they going to demolish the monorail? AFAIK it's a major tourist attraction...

 

Cheers NB

[marknewton]

Why are they going to demolish the monorail? AFAIK it's a major tourist attraction...

 

Nick, to some extent that's why it's going - it's long been seen as nothing more than a tourist ride.

 

The current NSW state government has grandiose plans for the redevelopment of the Darling Harbour tourist precinct, and the monorail is in the way, supposedly. The company that originally supplied the thing, Von Roll, no longer support their product, so there are no spare parts available without cannibalising existing equipment - which they have been doing for a while now. The cars damaged in the 2010 collision at Darling Park have been stripped of all usable parts to keep the remainder of the fleet running.

 

There are also political considerations. The monorail is regarded by conservatives as a monument to the previous Labor government, so there's another reason for it to go.

 

Me, I won't be sorry to see it gone. It's slow, crowded, and doesn't really go anywhere an Sydney resident wants to go.

 

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects-monorail-removal-project

 

All the best,

 

Mark

[Eisenbahn]

Hi Mark,

 

1. I was so used to seeing Sydney operate as twin 4 car sets on visits prior to 2011 and on the few trains I saw last week that I didn’t note the Waratah I photographed came through as an 8 car set.
2. I suppose an 8 car EMU has lower manufacture cost, maintenance cost and lower operating cost compared with two 4car EMUs.
3. I notice in the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CityRail_A_set  that the Waratahs have 98 video cameras including external cameras for a platform view. I wondered if this was a stepping stone towards abolishing the position of guard.
4. I wondered  the same about the proposed October 2013 Timetable if it meant that 4 car sets would then  only go out solo and if the State Rail Authority would argue that, as there was no trailing  4 car set there was no need for a person with train skills to  ride in it.
5. I see the Waratahs have a Japanese connection. The motors are Hitachi.

 

 

Hi Nick

 

Here are a couple of extra Sydney Monorail photos. On the original photo I posted you can see an F and an A on the side of the car. This continues as FAREWELL SYDNEY.  The monorail announces its own demise!

 

You can see that this is a much smaller unit that the one in KL I photographed and posted earlier and which you are getting in Brazil.

 

 

Cheers….Eisenbahn

[marknewton]

I suppose an 8 car EMU has lower manufacture cost, maintenance cost and lower operating cost compared with two 4car EMUs.

 

I'd think so too - two cabs instead of four, etc.

 

I notice in the Wikipedia article that the Waratahs have 98 video cameras including external cameras for a platform view. I wondered if this was a stepping stone towards abolishing the position of guard.

 

Yes, it definitely is. 

 

I wondered  the same about the proposed October 2013 Timetable if it meant that 4 car sets would then only go out solo and if the State Rail Authority would argue that, as there was no trailing  4 car set there was no need for a person with train skills to  ride in it.

 

At present none of our trains are configured for one-person operation, so even a four-car train runs with a guard and driver. I spent most of today on a four-car Oscar diagram. If the timetable re-introduces four-car trains during offpeak and weekends, the guard will still be required for "division and amalgamation", which is our fancy name for coupling and uncoupling the trains to make up four or eight cars.

 

I see the Waratahs have a Japanese connection. The motors are Hitachi.

 

They do, and so do all of our other EMUs. The S-sets and various derivatives have Mitsubishi master controllers and traction equipment, Tangaras have Nippon Sharyo bogies:

 

 

 

(Sorry about the crappy quality of the photo, I only had the iPod with me!)

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited February 8, 2013 by marknewton