service disruputions Archives - Waking up in Geelong https://wongm.com/tag/service-disruputions/ Marcus Wong. Gunzel. Engineering geek. History nerd. Fri, 16 Feb 2024 00:49:37 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 23299142 Melbourne’s mysterious ‘City Circle’ train https://wongm.com/2022/08/melbournes-mysterious-city-circle-train/ https://wongm.com/2022/08/melbournes-mysterious-city-circle-train/#comments Mon, 01 Aug 2022 21:30:00 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=19876 The other week fellow transport Philip Mallis raised an interesting question – would the average Melbournian know what a ‘City Circle’ train is, if they were told to catch one? Philip Mallis photo The back story The City Loop encircles the Melbourne CBD, with train services from different lines taking different routes around it at […]

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]]> The other week fellow transport Philip Mallis raised an interesting question – would the average Melbournian know what a ‘City Circle’ train is, if they were told to catch one?

Passenger information displays at Elizabeth Street entrance to Melbourne Central Station
Philip Mallis photo

The back story

The City Loop encircles the Melbourne CBD, with train services from different lines taking different routes around it at different times of day, before finally arriving at Flinders Street.

Redesigned 'Trains from Flinders Street to' screen on the platform at Flinders Street

And because the loop consists of four independent tunnels, train services can continue running on one line while another one is closed.

Rerailing work in the Northern Loop between Parliament and Melbourne Central stations

But what about passengers on the line which isn’t running through the City Loop?

Answer – they catch a “Train Replacement Train”.

Confusion abounds

These “train replacement trains” start at Flinders Street, then visit Southern Cross, Flagstaff, Melbourne Central and Parliament, before arriving back at Flinders Street.

Screens on the concourse at City Loop stations call this replacement service the “City Circle”.

Passenger information displays at Elizabeth Street entrance to Melbourne Central Station
Philip Mallis photo

But the screens at platform level call them a ‘Flinders Street’ train.

'Flinders Street' train on the PIDS at Parliament station platform 1

And the trains running these services just show ‘Special’ on the front.

X'Trapolis 78M arrives into Parliament station platform 1 with a 'City Circle' service to Flinders Street

While back at Flinders Street Station, it’s called a ‘City Loop’ train.

'City Loop' train on the PIDS at Flinders Street Station platform 3

Confused?

Enter the ‘City Circle’

With four independent tunnels in the City Loop looping around the CBD, each one needed a name.


MURLA diagram, undated

Based on which train lines they are connected to.

  • Northern Loop – serving the lines through North Melbourne,
  • Burnley Loop – serving the lines headed towards Burnley,
  • Caulfield Loop – serving the lines headed towards Caulfield, and finally
  • Clifton Hill Loop / City Circle – serving the lines towards Clifton Hill, along with a branch back to Flinders Street.

The Clifton Hill / City Circle name can be seen on tunnel walls.

Clifton Hill Loop / City Circle tunnel at Parliament station

And on emergency exit signage.

Glow in the dark 'Clifton Hill / City Circle Loop' signage at the Southern Cross portal

The most interesting feature of the Clifton Hill / City Circle tunnel is an underground junction, located just south of Parliament station – a popular spot for urban explorers before security was upgraded.

Trespassing in the City Loop, circa 2004
To avoid any unwanted attention I’m not going to link back to the original photographer

The other end of the tunnel is located beneath the Exhibition Street bridge.

City Circle Loop portal at Flinders Street

My only photo of the junction was taken hanging out of the open window of a Hitachi train, packing a high powered flashgun.

Junction of the City Circle and Clifton Hill tunnels in the underground loop

But I recently made a special expedition to the portal to capture it in use.

Headlights shining out of the City Circle Loop portal beneath the Exhibition Street bridge

And after a loud TOOT an X’Trapolis train emerged from underground.

X'Trapolis train emerges from the City Circle Loop portal beneath the Exhibition Street bridge

Headed up the ramp bound for Flinders Street Station.

X'Trapolis train emerges from the City Circle Loop portal bound for Flinders Street

Footnote: some photos from the past

Until August 1993 the ‘City Circle’ service operated full time to provide cross-CBD travel, until it was replaced by the newly-introduced free City Circle Tram service at ground level.

All three modes of public transport in Melbourne - train, tram and bus

But City Circle trains still ran as required for operational reasons – I stumbled upon one at Flinders Street platform 1 back in 2005, advertised as a ‘City Circle’ service on the old CRT next train display system.

PIDS at Flinders Street Station displaying a City Circle train, headed anticlockwise around the City Loop

And took one for a ride in 2012, with the displays onboard the train calling it a ‘City Circle train’.

'City Circle train' on the internal PIDS of a Comeng train

So that’s great progress in the past decade – going from consistent ‘City Circle’ messaging towards passengers, to a mix of ‘City Circle, ‘Flinders Street’, and ‘Special’.

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]]> https://wongm.com/2022/08/melbournes-mysterious-city-circle-train/feed/ 14 19876 Cancelling public transport to inner Melbourne https://wongm.com/2021/09/cancelling-public-transport-to-inner-melbourne/ https://wongm.com/2021/09/cancelling-public-transport-to-inner-melbourne/#comments Mon, 20 Sep 2021 21:30:00 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=18623 On Saturday 18 September public transport in much of Melbourne was shutdown on the request of Victoria Police between 8am and 2pm, in an attempt to prevent anti-lockdown protesters attending a planned rally in the Melbourne CBD. The backstory The shutdown was announced at a Victoria Police press conference on Wednesday 15 September. Public transport […]

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]]> On Saturday 18 September public transport in much of Melbourne was shutdown on the request of Victoria Police between 8am and 2pm, in an attempt to prevent anti-lockdown protesters attending a planned rally in the Melbourne CBD.

The backstory

The shutdown was announced at a Victoria Police press conference on Wednesday 15 September.

Public transport in Melbourne will be suspended for six hours on Saturday as part of a large-scale police operation to stop a planned protest against the ongoing Covid lockdown in the city.

The Victoria Police commissioner, Shane Patton, said on Wednesday that public transport – including buses, trams and trains – would be suspended going into the Melbourne CBD between 8am and 2pm on Saturday in an effort to prevent “freedom” protesters gathering in the city after thousands gathered in late August.

“We have no problem with facilitating protest when there’s a place in time for that to occur. This weekend is not the place and time for that to occur,” Patton said.

“It’s really interesting that this whole cohort of people who are about freedom don’t seem to respect the freedoms of others and anyone coming in here places those freedoms at risk.”

Two thousand police officers will be on hand as part of the operation to stop the protest and bollards will be erected with traffic management points and roving patrols. Only essential workers with valid permits will be allowed into the city centre.

Public Transport Victoria began publicising the disruption that evening.

“Trains terminate at suburban stations” was the initial message from Metro Trains.

And “no trams in the city” the message from Yarra Trams.

But by Friday 17 the extent of the shutdown of public transport was made clear, when Public Transport Victoria published maps of the services that would be running.

At the request of Victoria Police, public transport will not run through the CBD on Saturday 18 September 2021.

This will impact all metropolitan and regional train services, trams and buses from 8am to 2pm with services expected to take some time to resume to regular timetable.

Major road closures on thoroughfares into the CBD will also be in place. Significant delays are expected on roads leading to the CBD. CBD access will only be granted at roadblocks to those travelling for essential work, healthcare or to attend a vaccination appointment.

Metropolitan train services will terminate at suburban stations, where can effectively turn around and continue to provide services away from the city.

Tram routes and bus routes that normally travel into or through the CBD will now terminate at stops, some distance outside the CBD boundary and turn around. Some tram and and bus routes will not run at all, while others will run to a reduced timetable.

No trains within 10 kilometres or so of the Melbourne CBD.

Trams terminating at the fringe of the inner city.

As were Transdev buses.

And alternative transport for the vast swathes of Melbourne beyond the CBD, left without public transport – nothing.

The Public Transport Users Association said the Victorian government needed to do more to minimise any disruption to workers relying on public transport.

Spokesperson Daniel Bowen said the impact on commuters would be severe.

“It’s unprecedented to shut down the entire inner part of the public transport network, not just in the CBD, but also the inner suburbs,” Mr Bowen said.

“The shuttle buses they’re putting on won’t stop at intermediate points along the route to the city, so there’s going to be lots of areas in inner suburban Melbourne and around the CBD that will just have no transport options.”

The only public transport operating to the CBD was a half-hourly shuttle bus service, running express from the suburbs to a CBD drop-off point.

Those people undertaking authorised travel with permits are urged to allow plenty of extra time for their journeys. They must carry identification and proof of their reason for travel, such as an authorised worker permit, or vaccination booking confirmation.

As a last resort for authorised travellers, two shuttle buses per hour will run from the nine suburban railway station termination points (see list below) to key drop-off points in and around the CBD. Passengers will be required to complete their journey by walking to their location from the CBD drop off points.

Victoria Police officers and PSOs will be checking proof of reasons for travel prior to allowing people to board shuttle buses.

On the day

On the morning of Saturday 18 September I went for a walk down to Sunshine station, to see how things were going. On the station concourse there was no signage informing passengers of the service disruption – just two blank lines on the next train display, where citybound services would normally be listed.

No signage at Sunshine station informing passengers of the service disruption towards the city

A Watergardens-bound train departed the ‘wrong’ way out of platform 1, proceeding through a crossover to get back onto the left hand track.

Alstom Comeng 565M departs Sunshine platform 1 on the up

A pair of Protective Services Officers were twiddling their thumbs down on the station platform for the next train to terminate.

Protective Services Officers waiting at Sunshine station for the next terminating train to arrive

Down in the station car park was a Victoria Police car.

Victoria Police car parked among the replacement buses at Sunshine station

And at the rail replacement bus stop were another six Protective Services Officers, checking the credentials of passengers intending to board the shuttle bus to the CBD.

Protective Services Officers at Sunshine station, checking the credentials of passengers intending to board the 'Authorised Worker Shuttle' bus to the CBD.

Eventually a bus turned up.

Protective Services Officers at Sunshine station, checking the credentials of passengers intending to board the 'Authorised Worker Shuttle' bus to the CBD.

With ‘Authorised Worker Shuttle’ and ‘Express between Flagstaff and Sunshine’ signs on the front windscreen.

'Authorised Worker Shuttle' signage in the windscreen of a rail replacement bus

A few minutes later it departed for the city, with about a dozen passengers onboard.

Donric Group bus BS03IZ on an 'Authorised Worker Shuttle' on Hampshire Road, Sunshine

The shuttle buses continuing to run until 2pm, when normal services started running to the CBD again.

So did it work?

It appears the shutdown of public transport didn’t make any difference to the protest – they moved their rally to outside of the CBD!

Anti-lockdown demonstrators met in Richmond at around 12:00pm on Saturday, ignoring authorities’ pleas for them to stay home.

Police surrounded the protesters on Bridge Road, where multiple people were arrested.

The several-hundred-strong crowd then moved down Burnley Street, with police appearing to use capsicum spray on some members.

Authorities said 235 people were arrested in the protests, 193 for breaching CHO directions and several others for a range of offences including assault police, riotous behaviour, weapon and drug offences.

Footnote: how were the termination points chosen?

Trams and trains aren’t like a car – you can’t just pull up anywhere, do a u-turn, and head back the way you came – you need to change tracks.

In the case of trams, there are crossovers all over Melbourne, giving trams the flexibility to terminate and return at places that aren’t the usual end of the line.

Driver of Z3.150 on route 5 throws the points at the Swanston and A'Beckett Street crossover

But for trains it is trickier – as well as crossovers, trains also require a signalling configuration that permits a train to proceed along the ‘wrong’ track towards the crossover, and a safe location for the train driver to change ends from the front to rear cab.

Life extension EDI Comeng 543M traverses the crossover, departing Sunshine platform 1 with a down Sunbury service

This is why the Glen Waverley line had to terminate at Darling instead of Burnley, Craigieburn trains could not terminate at Kensington, Sunbury trains could not terminate at West Footscray, and Werribee trains could not terminate at Footscray.

Sources

Public Transport Victoria disruption notification:

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