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rail corp will be calling me at 5pm today
NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.
They said they want to talk about mountain biking.
I believe the call will be about the email I sent them in regards to the large volume of bikes traveling on the train to ride the oaks.
Are there any thoughts or inquiries you would like me to raise with rail corp?
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yep. we need a section st aside for cyclists. A seat and a rack for each rider.
Station toilets open at Woodford and Glenbrook on weekends and public holidays would be a good start.
I think the guy in the house next to the trailhead justifiably gets seriously pissed about the smell after so many riders "go" close to his side fence.
(Pun intended)
For Railcorp. To;
.Generate some business
.Generate some positive PR
.Support the local communities
I hope they make the most of this.
Be interested in what they can say they could do. There is obviously just too little space in the carriages for the number of riders which is annoying for riders, but more importantly I think it is more an annoyance for passengers getting past and a possible safety issue.
As long as they allow riders on they need to meet these saftey requirments which means somehow catering for more bike space.
Unfortunately he has not called me back like he said he would, I do have his work number now so I will try to call him on Monday if he doesn't call me before then.
Cheers for the comments so far. The locked toilets is an issue that I hadn't thought to bring up but will do so as I know first hand how annoying it is.
A dedicated carriage for bikes and riders added on for Saturday/Sunday mornings - don't need seats for the short trip, just an open space
My young bloke and I met up with herzog and one of his mates at Glenbrook early one public holiday (Easter?) and there were hundreds of mountain bikers waiting with us on the platform.
This old sweet old gravelly-voiced pensioner was on the intercom to State Transit haranguing them on our behalf for locking everything. "There's hundreds of mountain bikers on the platform waiting for the train and they're all crossing their legs because the toilets are shut! Just WHEN are you going to get someone up here to open the TOILETS?!"
LOL!
+1 for a carriage with more room to put the bikes*
Their hanging system is really crap.
It blocks the door in between carriages, which is used quite a bit.
(*good to dream a bit)
til it is privatised to get anything done properly-then just pay the $$ to use!!!
That the shooters are complaining there's no room for them.
true empy. Should we be arguing for meat hooks to go up with the bikes???? I suppose they could have a dual purpose
to wash out mud or blood
Maybe the trains could have spotty mounts in the windows and stability racks. The shooters wouldn't even need to get of the train.
Tim, how did the meeting go?
maybe ask them to ensure that all the carriages are aligned to the platform when the train stops.
This was years ago , but I had to jump off from the carriage to the rail tracks at Woodford with my bike !
I was at the last carriage
If it's not too much hassle, would you please ask for Rail Corp to kindly run their trains on time.
Allie had a good point to make about this. More room for bikes also means more room for luggage, prams and wheelchairs. Which currently are not particularly well serviced on the intercity trains either.
That's a very good point... it is a train with a reasonably large number of travellers with suitcases and of course baby stuff like strollers, prams etc. More space would be a welcome addition.
Hi all,
I've raised the matter with Roza Sage (MP for Blue Mountains), and I'd like to present a summary of what would be good to have. My ideas so far:
- toilets open during daylight hours on weekends
- carriages with more open space for bikes
- a "Bike Train" that shuttles between Penrith and Katoomba or Mt Victoria. At present the trains run every hour! On weekends the North Shore line gets trains every 15 minutes. It would be feasible to run (say) a 4 carriage special bike train on the line, and one would come every 60 minutes - and still have the normal hourly train. The bike train would be single deck, with seats stripped out on one side.
- at least run extra trains for the Woodford to Glenbrook race
Comments welcome
Ray Rice
XC VP WSMTB
Yesterday on my lunch break I spoke with Ted from Rail Corp. He is currently drafting up a proposal to trial one dedicated carriage on weekends in the blue mountains line for bike users. The Plan is to apply for funding to run this trial. The idea is to convert one carriage by removing lower deck seats and mid level seats leaving only the top deck seats. The exterior will be painted so it is obvious which carriage it is. A bike rack system will be installed to help keep bikes level. He stressed that they are cash tight at the moment hence the reason there is no weekend staff and no open toilets.
He is hoping to have this trial up and running by spring and will liaise its timetable so we can make the most of it. If the trial is successful they can then apply for more funding to run more trains with a dedicated carriage.
He was a bit paranoid that they will not get the funding in time for spring.
He mentioned he had another contact he was planning to speak to from the northern beaches. He didn't mention a name.
Ideally the trial needs to be successful in not only commuting for oaks riders but those who are traveling from the city and return also.
Sounds like a win to me
Nice work Tim.
yeah nice one Tim.
I think something this is not only to meet current requirements but also to attract users to take advantage of the service.
excuse my ignorance but what is the point of removing the seats from the lower deck of a 2 level train? Last time I went down those stairs I had to duck and almost turn sideways, don't fancy my chances of getting a bike up and or down them with 10 or 15 other guys queued up behind me all waiting to get up the stairs and off at the same platform. Am I missing something?
Cudos to you and railcorp for trying to be proactive. Hope something comes of it.
I'm guessing they envisage a simple bike rack running down the length of the carriage that you put your front wheel in. Heavy braking and the domino effect will see many a mangled front wheel.
Would need to be a pretty ingenious racking system to safely carry numerous bikes. Interested to see what they some up with........
Sounds good Tim. If they are going to modify a carriage I would think they would be widening the stair well also. This of course involves some cost to modify as its not simply pulling out all the seats. I look forward to seeing this trial in action. This would mean I can then get the tandem on board.
This thread just reminds me why I don't often catch the train to Woodford.
Why would Railcorp modify a carriage at all for a trial?
It is only used by cyclists for the Glenbrook – Woodford section and then becomes useless to anyone for the rest of the trip.
What they really need is just 1 or 2 more cars.
They could direct riders to mostly use those cars and free up the others for the public in ‘cleaner’ clothes, but they wouldn’t have to be ‘cyclist only’.
Having the facilities open at the stations would be sensible and a service to the local residents.
The other thing they need to look at is checking tickets, if people don’t pay the fare then they can’t expect a better service.
Railcorp should be looking at having staff at the stations on weekends, even if someone just moved around between the two. They could direct people, assist with the large numbers of riders and bikes getting on and off, open the toilets and encourage ticket sales. This would also be a much better public relations exercise.
As I said in my first post this should be seen as am opportunity for Railcorp, not a problem.
The Blue Mountain Cars have a far smaller standing space than any other car in the greater Sydney network. Other Cars won't fit on the Blue Mountains Line due to station platform sizes. To use a different car would mean modifying all the stations and that won't happen. One trail is causing an already existing problem and they are now looking for a fix it. 2 extra cars won't fix the problem and asking for more space on trains would mean modifying alot more cars.
It's planned to have one modified carriage added to an existing run. This carriage will be most beneficial to cyclists but not limited to them. This trial will only be used on the weekend. Regular commuters will not be affected.
I will send an email to Ted raising the concerns about this trial. It's better to get it right the first time to have a success.
From the description it sounded like Ted was envisaging the bikes stay on the bottom level and the seats on the top level. If that's the case I can see issues with that, I for one wouldn't be keen to leave my bike out of sight.
Can they run a system like this where there's a row of seats and a row of racks
I'll pass this picture on. Do you have a link of where this pic was from and/or information on this train i.e. country of origin, etc...
I just googled it to find the image, the link is http://cyclingsomerset.blogspot.com.au/ and reference is that this is "MBTA's Bike Train".
Looks like this is the real source:
http://www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/bikes/
I Like the look of that train and i think it work well for the Inter's.
Another suggestion would be more extensive use of the old Mavic Meat hooks already in place, simply hang the bikes - provided height isn’t an issue. I think one up, one down would work fairly well. That way the hooks would be relatively unobtrusive (people could easily walk through the carriage), easy to make and easy to install. All resulting in less investment on City Rail’s part.
Assuming they are not going to shunt anything on / off a normal train, that means pretty much just one service a day with said carriage. OK for a pilot project perhaps, but limited as an answer to the problem.
Assuming the carriage was on the 8.23 am out of Glenbrook on a Sunday morning, it would be at Mt Vic at 9.40 (it terminates there). Not sure what the turn around arrangements are, but lets assume its the 11.06 heading back down, which would be back through Glenbrook at 12.22 for riders heading back to the City via the train (OK for W2G, but not for doing Ando's unless you're very quick).
That gets back to Central at 1.31, and probably become something like the 2.18 pm outbound service, getting to Glenbrook at 3.23 pm. I haven't lined up at Glenbrook in the arvo, but I'd imagine that in anything but high summer, that's unlikely to have many riders wanting to get on.
Even a small shuttle train with dedicated carriages on Saturdays and Sundays to run between say Penrith and Wentworth Falls (or wherever there are points where it can cross over) would struggle to get a useful turnaround.
In my view they would need to go with 4-5 carriages that can be used 1 per train across the high usage Sat & Sun morning services to make it worthwhile.
Trial, not Pilot is the Key word.
Only One Carriage and yes, this would mean only one service in the morning. The purpose of the Trial is to determine if its worth funding for more carriages on the other services or to scrap the idea completely. This means that when the trial takes off we will need to spread the word and recommend riders test out this carriage(we will be informed of the timetable so we know which train to catch). I would imagine they will be wanting feedback on the Trial.
At this stage I should remind everyone that its only in the proposal stage and they may get rejected before a trial even gets up and running.
Just found that via Google Image:
http://www.sydneycyclist.com/forum/topics/the-do...
BUT I think that the area just before the wagon splits in two levels, is big enough to store enough bikes and won't suck off too much seats in a wagon. And because it's right next to the exit door (they could knock down the partition wall), it will be easy to access and avoid going true stairs. Hanging them will increase the amount of bikes storage and make the floor space usable for something else like luggages… or even a space for wheelchairs (i remember that guy that couldn't enter the area I'm talking about, because his (modern) wheelchair was too wide to pass; so he enjoyed 1h of noise in that area next to the exit).
That's the link I had sent to rail-corp in my original email. (along with a good story).
I have also sent a follow up email with concerns raised.
Having Caught Inters to School for 6 years ive seen the inside of a few with interesting mods, there are some that are set up for disabled people; having wider doors and two rows of seats removed on the entry level..
Why not remove all 3 set of seats on both sides and be done with it? Easy room for 10-15 bikes that way.
http://pixti.me/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/india...
do you really need all those racks and a seat for 7 stops (11 stops to wenty) ... surely we could make do with a gutted red rattler and several poles to both hold up the roof and allow a few riders to grab on to something.
If large numbers of people where on the train from further a field than yeah OK I could see the racks and seats as being more practical but 7 to 11 stops for the vast majority of riders.
If this was aimed at facilitating an increase in active transport usage in the mountains or anywhere in NSW then yeah some of those mods would be cool ... but I think we're kinda miles from there right now.