To be accurate, the message wasn’t complete gibberish – but {"Colour": "#009639", "text": "Flinders Street"} – JSON formatted data for ‘Flinders Street’ and hex colour code for green ‘#009639‘.

Many people guessed that the cause of this bug is “colour” vs “color” spelling, with CSS requiring the use of the American ‘color’ spelling, but it’s actually a much more obscure bug…

The backstory

When first delivered back in the early-2000s, the fleet of Siemens trains in Melbourne were fitted with a low resolution LED matrix display to show the names of upcoming stations.

However two decades later this passenger information and communication system was approaching the end of life, so an upgraded system was installed in two stages – the first being the new hardware being installed, but operating the same as the previous system, but on the new high resolution LED displays.

And followed by stage two – a software change to show a dynamic route map to passengers.

But there was one problem – the Siemens trains are 3-car sets, coupled together to form a 6-car train in normal operation, with communication signals sent across the coupler.

But if an train with the updated dynamic route map software leads an unmodified train, the payload for other half of the train to display is JSON formatted, which an unmodified train doesn’t know how to handle, and so blindly spits out the gibberish to the passenger facing displays.

At least the data structure they chose wasn’t XML – or even worse, YAML.

A Twitter related footnote

I originally posted the above video to Twitter, went to bed, and realised a few days later it had 830,000 views, 21,000 likes 1,900 retweets and 83 comments against it.

I didn’t notice it at the time because I’m not a heathen who enables notifications on their phone.

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Rails out west

We start outside Footscray, where I captured a V/Line train sharing the suburban tracks on the way to the city.

In 2010 it was announced that Regional Rail Link would expand the cutting from four to six tracks, with V/Line trains from Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat moving onto their own tracks in stages between 2014 and 2015.

And a few kilometres away I found route 82 trams passing Highpoint Shopping Centre, where platform stops had recently been built.

A decade on the elderly Z3 class trams still ply the route, forcing intending passengers to climb a flight of stairs to board.

At Southern Cross Station I found The Southern Spirit – a luxury rail cruise train operated by Great Southern Rail around the east coast of Australia, using carriages normally seen on The Ghan.

The service ran in January 2010, January 2011 and February 2012 before being discontinued, however it was revived in 2019 as the Great Southern.

Late one night I found this pair of diesel locomotives making their way to Flemington Racecourse, Craigieburn and Williamstown – a driver training run to ensure that the train crew remained qualified on the routes.

Works trains continue to run over the Melbourne network, but now operated by Southern Shorthaul Railroad.

And at the Alstom Ballarat factory I found dozens of carriages wrapped in plastic – brand new X’Trapolis suburban trains waiting to be fitted out for use on the Melbourne network.

The final X’Trapolis train was delivered in 2020, leaving the Alstom Ballarat plant mothballed.

Building stuff

2011 saw work on the South Morang Rail Extension well underway, featuring the construction of 3.5km double track railway from Epping to South Morang, three new stations, and duplication of 5km of existing single track between Keon Park and Epping,

One night at Keon Park I captured a works train headed out to the works site.

Loaded with long lengths of freshly welded rail to form the new tracks.

Work on the project commenced in June 2010, with the extension to South Morang opening on April 2012.

On the road front, the $48.5 million Kororoit Creek Road duplication project was underway, including the removal of the level crossing at Altona North.

Work on the project was completed in December 2011.

And $200 million was being spent on the Anthony’s Cutting upgrade to the Western Freeway.

Requiring a massive cutting was excavated west of Bacchus Marsh.

The upgraded freeway opened to traffic in June 2011.

And screw ups

Down at Caroline Springs, work had started on the access road to the future railway station.

But that is as far as the project went for years – work on the station was paused until 2015, with the access road needing to be rebuilt to suit the updated plans.

One morning at Ascot Vale I was unable to reach the railway station – the pedestrian subway had flooded!

Thankfully newer stations in Melbourne don’t have the same problem – they keep the water off the tracks by pushing it back onto neighbouring streets.

Another day I was down at Yarraville station, where only a level crossing links the platforms. With trains running every 10 minutes the boom gates spend more time down than up, leaving passengers waiting and waiting, as the train they intend to catch prevents them from accessing the platform.

In the years since nothing has changed – there have been campaigns to reopen the pedestrian underpass, but the Level Crossing Removal Authority has no plans to touch the crossing.

And finally – the Siemens train braking saga. A spate of incidents in 2009 saw an investigation launched.

Since its introduction, the Siemens train has been involved in a relatively high number of reported overrun events when compared to other types of train operating on the network. The six platform overruns between 8 February and 3 March 2009 suggested that systemic issues remained unresolved and triggered this investigation.

The chosen fix – equipment to drop sand on the tracks.

The equipment was first trialled in March 2010, with installation across the fleet commencing in September 2010. By June 2011 the roll-out was complete, and speed restrictions removed.

A few buses

A decade ago bus routes still ran down Flinders Street in the Melbourne CBD.

Route 605 was one of them.

rerouted in 2017 to travel via Queen Street and Flagstaff station, as part of a package of changes made due to Metro Tunnel works at Domain Interchange.

And the other was route 238.

The route was discontinued in 2014, replaced by route 235, 237, 234 and 236 services between Fishermans Bend and the CBD.

And finally… ding ding!

In 2011 retired W class tram SW6.969 was converted into a bar and parked outside the Arts Centre.

It reappeared every summer as ‘Tram Bar’ until it was closed permanently in January 2015.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Mind the gap

This can be seen on Melbourne’s fleet of Siemens trains.

The carriages are linked by rubber intercarriage gangeways.

But they feature a gap between it and the platform.

But a recent change has been made – a new style of bellow.

New Hubner gangway bellows fitted to Siemens (703M-2502T-704M

Which closes the gap.

According to Metro Trains Melbourne.

Siemens trains are receiving significant upgrades, with new bellows now installed on 20 per cent of the fleet.

The bellows provide an “outer wall” that fills the gap between the train and the platform, making it safer for passengers and rail employees.

The story behind the rollout

In 2002 Martin Stewart fell into the gap, losing his lower right leg and right arm at Richmond station.

Martin Stewart warned everybody that a catastrophe like this was bound to happen. He didn’t anticipate that it would happen to him.

Mr Stewart, 39, has been blind since birth, but he had lived a normal life. He has a wife, Katrina, who is also blind, two small children and a job that he used to travel to every day by train.

“Public transport is critical for blind and vision-impaired people,” he said. But he had always known of its dangers. For years he lobbied the State Government and the railways on the risks to blind people of injury or death on a system that no longer had guards or platform staff.

Then, in February, Mr Stewart stepped into what he thought was an open carriage doorway and fell into the space between carriages and on to the tracks at Richmond station.

Despite the desperate attempts of an onlooker to flag down the driver, the train took off and dragged Mr Stewart 200 metres along the tracks. The train tore off his lower right leg, his right arm and the top of his left ear. It fractured his cheekbone and ribs and left him with painful friction burns down the front of his body.

Starting a crusade.

Mr Stewart is not seeking sympathy but he is determined to do everything he can to ensure he is the last blind person to suffer like this. In the 1980s he worked with an advocacy group, People in Equality, Not Institutions, that unsuccessfully fought the loss of train guards and conductors because of the safety implications for people with disabilities.

Maryanne Diamond, executive officer of Blind Citizens Australia, said the association got about a call a week from a blind person who had had an accident on the transport system. Most were not reported to authorities because they did not involve injury, she said, but some blind people now refused to travel by train because they felt unsafe on stations.

She wanted all stations fitted with tactile ground surface indicators – long narrow grooves that indicate direction and lines of raised dots that indicate hazard. “It helps blind people walk in a straight line and prevents them walking off the platform,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Connex trains could not comment on Mr Stewart’s case as it was being investigated by the Transport Accident Commission. She said the company knew of two deaths involving people with wheelchairs and seven other cases of minor injury involving people with disabilities. One involved a blind man and his guide dog who walked off the end of a platform. She said Connex was working with researchers and disability groups to improve the system.

A government spokesman said yesterday: “Obviously this is a terrible tragedy. The government has already raised the issue with Connex and is investigating whether anything can be done to make sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen in the future.

“Government representatives will also be meeting friends of Mr Stewart next week to discuss the issue further.”

But the government forgot all about the gap during the design of the new High Capacity Metro Train fleet.

A similar concertina gangway provided between the two carriages.

With a gap so big that the mockup train required a piece of plywood from falling into the gap.

A flaw replicated on the first HCMT set to emerge from the factory.

But advocacy group Blind Citizens Australia didn’t forget.

In June 2019, the Victorian government will begin the roll-out of 65 new high capacity trains on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines, with plans to introduce more if they prove successful. BCA and other organisations were consulted during the procurement process, and as a result, we recognised four critical design flaws in a prototype train.

We’re very pleased to report that those flaws won’t appear in the new trains when they’re introduced next year. BCA was represented by Martin Stewart, who energetically and eloquently lobbied for the correction of the errors he discovered. This consultation process has resulted in a historic advocacy victory, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Martin.

In the prototype, Martin discovered a large gap between each of the train’s carriages. This was an error that could cause serious injury or death.

To fill that gap, Martin had to get personal. At one meeting, frustrated by slow progress and determined to defend his community from the trauma he’d suffered, he deliberately removed his artificial leg. “I said this will be the result. And then I touched my arm. Here’s another one.”

Martin’s dramatic approach certainly did have an impact. At a recent stakeholder meeting, Michael Dunn, Assistant Director of governance and reporting for the project, announced that all the new high capacity trains would have “gangway gap barriers” built in, to prevent passengers from falling between carriages.

Dunn also told Martin that this protective feature would be included in all future Melbourne trains. That moment was the absolution he’d waited 16 years to find. “Yesterday was the most satisfying advocacy day that I have ever had,” he told us after that meeting.

The end result – gap filling panels progressively fitted to the new HCMT sets.

And the improved bellows being added to the Siemens train fleet.

But work still to come

X’Trapolis train from the 2000s also have rubber gangway bellows between carriages, but only leave a small gap.

But the Comeng trains from the 1980s that form the bulk of Melbourne’s fleet of suburban trains were built with open walkways between carriages.

But with doors either side.

In 2017 work started on the Comeng Life Extension project, which saw the trains patched up for a few more years of service.

One of the upgrades was enclosed gangways between carriages – supposedly to prevent train surfers gaining access to the carriage roof.

But these gangways still leave a gap between the carriage and the platform.

A flaw that I don’t see being addressed in the short time these trains have left in service.

Footnote: going backwards on the Washington Metro

In 2017 the Washington Metro introduced new trains that lacked the safety barriers that their previous trains had, with predictable results.

For years, David Kosub lived in fear of falling onto the train tracks during his daily Metro commute.

Then, it finally happened.

He was attempting to board a Red Line train — one of Metro’s new 7000-series trains — when he stepped into the gap between two rail cars, falling onto the tracks and finding himself wedged between “giant metal behemoths.”

Kosub believes the reason he fell between the train cars was because Metro used a new, untested design on the new fleet of 7000-series trains.

On older trains, all the gaps between cars feature a simple chain barrier that is meant to protect riders from mistaking the empty space for a doorway into the train.

On the new trains, some of those barriers are guarded by a pair of rubber shields that are recessed from the edge of the platform and feature a nine-inch gap in the middle — just enough space to create what Kosub called “a David-sized hole, just perfectly sized for me to slip right through.”

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Building everywhere

The new footbridge at Footscray station was finally finished.

But the ‘roof’ was anything but – perforated panels let water through every time it rained!

In 2013 the bridge was partially demolished to make room for Regional Rail Link.

The Olympic Doughnut stall hiding in the shadows fared better.

Construction worked around the van until it relocated to a brand new store in 2014, remaining in business until the retirement of owner Nick Tsiligiris in 2017.

At the corner of Royal Parade and Flemington Road in Parkville, demolition of the former Royal Dental Hospital commended.

Abandoned since 2003 when the hospital moved around the corner to Carlton.

The site is now occupied by the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Construction of the 717 Bourke Street office tower in Docklands were underway, with a new footbridge over Wurundjeri Way connecting it to Southern Cross Station.

TV station GTV9 moved their Melbourne studio from Richmond to the completed building in 2011.

Scenes that are gone

The skyline of Southbank hit pause between the completion of Eureka Tower in 2006, and Prima Pearl in 2014.

But today the even taller Australia 108 dominates the scene.

Back in 2010 V/Line trains to Geelong used the Werribee line tracks.

Since 2015 they have travelled via the new Melbourne suburbs of Wyndham Vale and Tarneit, follow the completion of Regional Rail Link.

While trains to Bendigo shared the Sunbury line tracks as far as Sunshine, passing through the Anderson Road level crossing at Albion.

The level crossing having been replaced by a road under rail bridge in 2014.

Changing of the trains

Hitachi trains were still clunking their way around Melbourne, like this one arriving into the old West Footscray station.

But brand new X’Trapolis trains were entering service, ready to replace them.

Meanwhile the Siemens trains fleet couldn’t stay out of trouble – another spate of braking issues saw additional restrictions applied to the fleet.

The issue finally resolved in 2011 following the installation of sanding gear to the trains.

Melbourne was also in the middle of the change from Metcard to Myki, but the reliability of the new technology left something to be desired.

Metcard being finally switched off in December 2012.

Rail freight

QR National was running colourful freight trains into Melbourne with their fleet of diesel locomotives.

The company rebranded itself as Aurizon in 2012, and quit intermodal rail freight in 2017, to instead focus on coal haulage.

Meanwhile rival freight operator Pacific National was busy clearing their yards of life expired freight wagons.

Cutting them up to take advantage of high scrap metal prices.

And track maintenance

When Metro Trains Melbourne took over the operation of Melbourne’s rail network, they made some big promises – improved track maintenance being one of them.

They ordered some shiny new spoil containers to help in the task rebuilding Melbourne’s tracks.

Replacing rotten timber sleepers with sturdier concrete ones.

But given how run down the network was, it made little difference – Metro had ‘inherited a dog’.

Down at Flinders Street Station the wheels were turning slowly – it took six weeks to repair a storm damaged ceiling.

But progress at Southern Cross Station was even slower – the $5 million in repairs was yet to start.

The only upside – the ‘temporary’ CRT next train displays were finally being removed, years after the station had been ‘officially’ opened.

The joys of a public-private partnership!

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

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Rolling out a new look

The government released a flashy video alongside the media release, featuring an X’Trapolis train bearing the new Metro corporate image.

Back in 2009 X’Trapolis trains were the newest in the Melbourne suburban fleet, following a hurried order for 20 new trains to cater for an explosion in patronage.

But for the launch of Metro Trains Melbourne on 30 November none of the new trains were ready to carry passengers, so one of the older X’Trapolis trains was rebranded, with a design looking much like the train featured in the animation.

But it wasn’t a full repaint, but a change of stickers – goodbye Connex logo, hello Metro Trains Melbourne.

The same process followed with the rest of the fleet – the first Siemens train to receive the Metro livery appearing a week later, with the fractal design and large ‘METRO’ text fitting easily onto the flat carriage sides.

But that design wouldn’t fit over the fluted sides of the older Comeng trains, so a cut back version was devised – which didn’t appear until April 2010.

But if in doubt – rebrand again!

Following the launch of Public Transport Victoria in 2012, the Metro Trains Melbourne brand was taken off the side of trains, replaced by new PTV logos – resulting in three layers of branding visible.

Feedback from the workshops

In the years that followed, more X’Trapolis trains continued to be delivered – each one being painted plain white at the factory, with Metro stickers applied over the top.

Until July 2018 when a new X’Trapolis train emerged from the Alstom workshops at Ballarat, with a smaller Metro logo on the side.

But why was it changed? Take a look at the side of the side of an X’Trapolis train, when coupled to a classmate.

The previous version of the livery required four different types of door sticker to be kept in stock:

• ME (left side, left door)
• ET (left side, right door)
• TR (right side, left door)
• RO (right side, right door)

While the new design only needs one kind – plain blue. I wonder who made this clever observation?

Siemens train footnote

The Metro livery applied to the Siemens trains went through a far less noticeable evolution. Can you spot it?

The answer: the train to the left has the early version with one piece stickers, with the train on the right has stickers that avoid the seams in the stainless steel panels.

Presumably the stickers over the seam was would bubble up over time and eventually come loose, hence the change to a more secure two piece design.

And finally – level crossings

There is one that that features prominently in the government’s flashy video from 2009 – single track railways.

And level crossings!

Daniel Andrews took a ‘Level Crossing Removal Project’ policy to the 2014 State Election, with much work done since, but progress on duplicating single track railways is only happening on a sporadic basis.

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The ‘Rolling Stock Module’ of the 2017 Franchise Agreement between Public Transport Victoria and Metro Trains Melbourne describes how the ‘Mean Distance Between Failure’ is calculated:

MDBF = D/F

where:

• MDBF is the Mean Distance Between Failure (in kilometres);
• D is the total Franchise Rolling Stock Type fleet kilometres in the Relevant Month; and
• F is the number of failures in the items of a Franchise Rolling Stock Type in service in the Relevant Month.

As well as the definition of failure.

6. The definition of a ‘failure’ for the purpose of calculating MDBF is described below:

(a) A failure is the random stopping of the capability of the equipment to carry out its function, requiring an unplanned, immediate or deferred maintenance action.
(b) Failures that result in an item being unable carry out its function for a period of five minutes or greater are taken into account for this metric.
(c) Failures that are able to be rectified in under five minutes are not taken into account for this metric.
(d) If a failure lasting for a period of five minutes or greater occurs, but no fault is found, it is still recorded as a failure.
(e) Each failure situation that lasts for a period of five minutes or greater is recorded as a separate incident even if the cause of the failure is unchanged ie, if a failure on train xyz occurs at 0900 due to ‘Q’, and is rectified, then fails again at 1100 due to ‘Q’ or any other cause, this will be recorded as two failures.
(f) Failures lasting for a period of five minutes or greater and that are caused by collisions or vandalism are not taken into account for this metric.

As well as what is not considered a failure.

To avoid doubt, minor faults such as blown globes, fuses, and tripped circuit breakers etc. are not considered for this metric unless the incident result in the item being unable to carry out its function for a period of five minutes or greater.
(a) If a minor fault occurs, which does not force a train from service, but the defect precludes the train from a timely commencement of its next scheduled service run, that fault will be considered a failure disrupting service for a period of five minutes or greater and recorded as such.
(b) Delays resulting from non-maintenance sources, such as level crossing incidents, network incidents, driver errors or the like will not be considered for this metric.

As well as the reliability target that Metro Trains Melbourne will be measured against.

• X’Trapolis target: 52,000 km per Service Affecting Failure (SAF)
• Siemens target: 40,000 km per SAF
• Comeng target: 19,000 km per SAF

Which looks like this is graph form.

It takes around an hour for a suburban train to travel the 58 kilometres between Flinders Street to Pakenham – assuming a train running between the two points all day long, that is 1,392 kilometres per day, which gives the following overly pessimistic ‘days between failure’ graph – in reality the time between faults would be at least twice this, given turnaround times and the nights that trains don’t run.

Comeng trains entered service back in the 1980s and are now approaching 40 years of age, so the fact that they are the least reliable isn’t surprising.

But the difference between the Siemens and X’Trapolis trains is interesting.

The first Siemens train entered serivce in 2002, as did the first X’Trapolis train.

But between 2009 and today, the X’Trapolis fleet has doubled in size, as a steady stream of new trains are built and delivered.

So are the X’Trapolis actually more reliable than a Siemens train of the same age, or does the younger age of the overall X’Trapolis fleet led to a more ambitious reliability target?

Footnote

Apparently the fleet of X’Trapolis trains are even more reliable than the current targets call for – travelling twice as far between failure, which is something around 100,000 kilometres or more, or two months in everyday operation.

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Eurotram

The first example of a foreign tram on trial in Melbourne was the Bombardier manufactured Eurotram in 2003.

Photo by Jcornelius, via Wikimedia Commons

Normally used on the Porto Metro system in Portugal, Porto tram number 018 spent a few months in Melbourne during 2003, where it spent seven days running shuttles to the Australian Open tennis, and three days transferring Grand Prix patrons to and from Albert Park.

Combino Plus

In 2007 Siemens decided to send one of their Combino Plus trams to Melbourne.

Photo by Jcornelius, via Wikimedia Commons

More at home on the Metro Transportes Sul do Tejo network in the Almada and Seixal municipalities of Portugal, tram number C008 spent March to June 2007 running route 16 services, as well as running shuttles to the Grand Prix at Albert Park.

Flexity Classic

Bombardier appears to be a company keen to demonstrate their trams in Melbourne, because in 2007 they let us take a Flexity Classic for a spin.

However for this demonstration, the tram didn’t have far to travel – newly built tram #111 was delivered by ship to Appleton Dock then spent a few days running around the streets of Melbourne minus passengers, before being sent by road to Adelaide, where it entered service on the Glenelg Tram.

Why?

So why would a private company spend millions of dollars loading trams onto ships, and send them to Melbourne so that we can give them a test drive? The simple answer – because they wanted us to buy them!

To understand this, we need to go back to the early-2000s. Melbourne’s tram network had just been chopped in half and franchised to a pair of private operators, who were obligated under their contract with the government to purchase new low floor trams. Yarra Trams opted for Alstom Citadis trams from France, while M>Tram went for the Siemens Combino trams from Germany, leaving major tram manufacturer Bombardier on the outside.

In the years that followed, patronage on the Melbourne tram network grew, but the government didn’t have a real plan to expand the fleet – but the global rolling stock manufacturers were ready for the day when a tender for new trams arrived at their door, so tried to keep their relationship with Melbourne warm.

Eventually that day came in July 2009, when the Victorian Government called for expressions of interest for the manufacture and supply of 50 new trams. In October 2009 manufacturers Alstom and Bombardier were shortlisted to bid for the contract, based on their experience overseas and their local manufacturing capabilities, with Siemens being left on the outer.

Bombardier won the bid in September 2010 with their variant of the Flexity Swift tram, with the first E class tram finally making it onto Melbourne streets in 2013.

A few more photos

Vicsig has photos of the Eurotram in Melbourne, as well as the visiting Combino Plus.

As for the Adelaide Flexity tram running around Melbourne – photos:

• a few glances on La Trobe Street by Peter Bruce,
• cruising the streets and at the terminus by Kym Smith.

While the Bombardier Eurotram also visited Sydney in 2002 – photos by Matthew Geier.

And a reverse example

Before it was delivered to Melbourne, Siemens sent a D2 class Combino tram to the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, where it was used during January 2004 on a temporary track to demonstrate the concept of light rail. Unfortunately for Siemens, the demonstration didn’t sway the city of Kaohsiung, who decide to purchase trams from Spanish firm CAF.

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The story starts in mid-December 2014, when a number of Siemens trains were pulled from service following explosions beneath the floor – capacitors located in the static inverter unit under the train were experiencing violent failures, resulting in the metal cabinet door being blown off.

The Age went into further detail about the problem:

An instruction notice written after Tuesday’s crisis meeting states: “As we have no capacitors on stock, we are allowed to cannibalise units where the capacitance check reveals a faulty capacitor, but we are not allowed to take any capacitors from a unit which had a reported explosion!”

Defective train units have been taken to the Newport workshop for repair.

Metro said just three of its fleet of 36 Siemens trains had been found to have an electrical fault forcing its removal, and the rest were running fine.

“We are confident the capacitors on the remainder of the Siemens fleet are operating without fault,” spokeswoman Larisa Tait said.

“We will continue to inspect and test all capacitors on Siemens trains during routine maintenance exams, which occur every six to eight weeks. We are confident we will pick up any capacitor faults before they occur and certainly before they fail.”

The article also featured CCTV footage showing a static inverter exploding beneath a parked Siemens train – presumably sent to the newspaper by a source wanting to force the hand of Metro Trains.

With each Siemens train having one static inverter located beneath the middle ‘T’ carriage, Metro installed tie-down straps to every one of the 72 trains in the Siemens fleet as a temporary fix.

Fast forward to close of business on 6 January 2015 and the Locomotive Division of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) got involved, issuing a circular to their members.

Industrial action on the train network tomorrow… @3AW693 pic.twitter.com/d7VRoRaEAE

— Ashleigh Brown (@AshBrown_) January 6, 2015

The circular read:

Siemens trains – exploding static inverters

As a result of Metro Trains failure to ensure that there is no imminent threat to drivers safety by providing a physical barrier to prevent serious injury or death by the force and flames of the exploding static inverters on Siemens trains the following will apply:

No driver is to attend a Siemens train with the pantographs raised.

This includes but is not limited to the following tasks – train preparation, stabling of trains, changing of ends at rail level, etc, etc.

Any driver that is threatened or coerced by management to place themselves in harm’s way should contact the Union immediately.

The union directive was a virtual black ban on the Siemens trains – before entering service each train has to be inspected at ground level by the train driver, and a ban on this practice effectively welded the entire fleet of 72 Siemens trains to the tracks for the foreseeable future.

Metro Trains considered the actions of the union as “unprotected industrial action” and took the RTBU to a late night Fair Work Commission hearing – chaos on the rail network as averted when the union agreed to withdraw their circular to drivers, and Metro agreed to start addressing the safety concerns.

So what was the agreed resolution to the issue of exploding capacitors?

The agreement stipulates Metro must “implement additional mitigation, such as a fire blanket or similar” to address exploding static inverters on its Siemens trains within a week from Wednesday.

Metro and the union must meet daily to monitor progress on the directives.

Said fire blankets have since started appearing in static inverter cabinets, but it does raise the question – what is the long-term fix for the issue?

Spotted at Bunnings

If you are having problems at home with your static inverter exploding, you can take a leaf out of the gospel according to Metro Trains Melbourne, and pick up your own pack of ‘Grunt’ brand tie down straps.

Only $24.98 from Bunnings – enough to fit out a 6-car Siemens train.

The bigger story

Metro Trains cutting corners on safety isn’t anything new – trains without working headlights, broken passenger intercoms and ‘temporary’ fixes to flawed rails are all ways that the company has tried to save money by taking shortcuts. Combine that with their station skipping to avoid fines tactics, and intimidation of injured staff, they are a company that is happy to milk the Victorian taxpayer for everything possible while screwing over both passengers and staff.

As for the relationship between Metro Trains and the RTBU Locomotive Division, I’m betting that it is going to become more explosive than the static inverters in the coming months – the current enterprise bargaining agreement comes to an end in the middle of 2015, and the union doesn’t seem to be afraid of beating Metro around the head in the court of public opinion in order to get what they want.

Footnote

The exact number of static inverter explosions is so far unknown, but on 3 December 2014 a small electrical fire broke out underneath a train during peak hour at Yarraville – a Siemens train was involved. Related?

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