Tag: Train

Retraction and Apologies

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When Wrong – One Apologies Promptly

 

I caught the update to the train incident that was reported in the NZ Herald on Monday and subsequent reaction in Talking Auckland soon afterwards.

This is the update from Stuff:

Rail operator backtracks for mum

 

After Transdev and Auckland Transport viewed Colour CCTV footage there was more to the saga than meets the eye originally when reported from the black and white CCTV footage at Takanini Station.

As a result of this update and the respective Talking Auckland Post on Monday (now fully retracted) I do offer a full and utter apology to Ms Johnson and her children.

In light of the issue, further measures will be put into place to make sure this kind of incident does not occur again at Talking Auckland. In saying that there is always a risk when doing “second-hand” reporting from a Main Stream Media source into a blog post. However, utmost professionalism will occur when running commentary on such emotive issues.

 

In saying this I need not remind Auckland that the rail network is a very dangerous place and can kill. The case of the dad running to the train as it was departing from Ranui Station last year resulting in the accident and eventual death as he slipped from the platform, underneath the train and was effectively run over in front of his family and other passengers is that STARK reminder of what happens when something can go so utterly wrong.

So please in light of all of this: Please be at the platform 5 minutes before the scheduled departure of the train with your ticket ready or AT-HOP card tagged on.

 

As for Te Mahia Station – lobbying continues for it to be fully closed!

 

 

Auckland’s Electrics – Marked Improvement?

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I Agree With Matt L’s Analysis on our new EMUs

 

Matt L from Auckland Transport Blog wrote up a post on his self-analysis on the speeds of our new incoming Electric passenger trains. I agree with his post and thus endorse and/or recommend his post over at Transport Blog. My sole comment on his post at the moment is that for the Southern and Eastern Lines at least, slicing upwards of 7-minutes of the total journey time from Britomart to Papakura will be a good attractor to rail passengers on the rolling stock and speed side. However we still have infrastructure and customer service aspects to work on with our rail system (and Auckland Transport as well) but separate posts and debates for those.

So from Transport Blog – an intro to Matt’s post on the EMU speeds:

Source: Auckland Transport Blog

 

Our EMU speeds

By Matt L, on January 16th, 2013

This year the first of our new electric trains will arrive and one of big benefits of them will be that they have faster acceleration than the clunky diesel trains we have now but the question is just how much faster they will be. For some reason it is something that Auckland Transport have been pretty reluctant to actually talk much about which I am guessing is due to them not wanting to get peoples expectations up. We however are not AT and are free to talk and speculate all we like so with that in mind, some time ago I built a model to try and work things out. I actually blogged about it back then but at the time I had only showed the western line, with this post I thought I would look at the whole network. Before I go into the results, for those that are interested, here is an explanation as to how I have worked the times out:

First I have worked out the distance between each station and for each leg of the journey I have assigned a maximum speed that the trains can travel and I have kept most of the network at 80kph with the inner sections at 60kph. When the EMUs were announced AT said that they would be able accelerate and brake at 1m/s². Based on that I then worked out how long, both in time and distance it would take to reach the top speed and slow back down again for each section of track. For those interested it takes 22 seconds and 247 metres to reach, or slow down from 80kph based on that acceleration of 1m/s². The next step was to work out how long the train would travel at top speed. To do that I subtracted the acceleration and braking distance off the distance between stations and worked long it would take. For each station I then added in a dwell time to represent how long it would spend on the platform. To be conservative i generally used 45 second however for busier stations I used 1 minute. I then added the time spent accelerating, braking, at top speed and the dwell time together. Lastly to try and be conservative I added in a multiplier of an extra 20% to account for things like slow drivers, corners and junctions which that then gave me an overall result for each station.

Here are the results verses the current times for each line, I have left out Te Mahia and Westfield as based on the draft RPTP they are likely to close, I have however added in the Parnell station. For the Western line I have added in the time allocated for the driver to change ends at Newmarket together with the travel time. You may also notice some of the times look longer than current. That is because AT obviously round the times up or down to get to an exact minute.

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You can read the rest including the graphics over at his post.

 

Just a note on station dwell times as it has been mentioned: 30 seconds is the official Station Dwell Time (the time a train is stopped at a station to exchange passengers) set by Auckland Transport for all intermediary stations (those between the origin station and final destination station) except for Western Line services at Newmarket in which the Dwell Time is 3-minutes to allow the driver to change ends. There are also Marked Stations as well (Otahuhu, Newmarket, New Lynn and Glen Innes being examples) in which a train can not depart from that station until that marked time – it shows as a BOLD time on your paper timetables for each line.

 

Excellent work Matt.

THE RAIL EFFICIENCY PROGRAM #3

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How to get Better Resilience out of the Rail Network

 

A Rail Efficiency Program Series

 

THE ALL-ENCOMPASSING RAIL EFFICIENCY PROGRAM – PART ONE

 

New or rebuilt cross overs at major stations

 

So how can we get better resilience out of the Auckland (Metro) Rail Network? For starters we give our passenger trains extra flexibility in being more able to “run-around” a problem section on the rail network. Those who travel on Auckland’s rail network (whether frequently or infrequently) would have somewhere along the line being stuck on a train due to another one breaking down somewhere or just plain getting in the road usually to being late. Unlike buses however who have somewhat more flexibility to go or run-around the a road situation (breakdown or accident), trains are confined to the double piece of parallel steel they run on (as well as rail operating procedures dictating setting a train backwards or other non-normal movement) and can not per-se run-around a broken down train that easy.

Why? Because our rail network does not have enough of what is called “cross-overs” spread throughout the network to enable trains to run-around a section of track that has an issue on it in a relatively easy manner. A cross-over being a set of “points” that allow a train to change from one set of parallel running tracks to another (and possibly back again) while still going in the same direction. The current North Island Main Trunk Line, North Auckland Line, and the Manukau Line all have “double track/mains” and crossovers spread across them rather sparsely. Currently the main cross-overs are at the following places (starting from the south ): Papakura, Wiri-Puhinui, Otahuhu, Westfield, Tamaki, Auckland-Britomart-Parnell-Newmarket section, Penrose-Southdown, Onehunga (actually a single line with a passing loop), Grafton, Morningside, Avondale, New Lynn, Henderson and Swanson. Now in saying that, not all cross-overs are “dual” cross-overs which means one’s crossing over options are limited – especially if long distances are in effect or the fact the cross-overs are not even commissioned (New Lynn) yet. The diagram below might shed some light on things a bit better:

 

Cross Over Diagram

Cross Over Diagram

Click to enlarge (1745 x 1016 resolution)

 

As I said earlier, not all our cross-overs currently are dual cross-overs which basically means the Auckland Rail Network is compounded by long distances before a train can “cross-over” and “run-around” something like a disable train (passenger or freight – it doesn’t matter as both are a pain). Now from experience, those long distances between cross-overs and even longer distances between dual-crossovers (No# 8-13) mean when a train is disabled on the main line here come long delays and cancellations owing to the lack of resilience in our rail network for trains to run around the disabled train.

With frequencies looking to step up to 6-trains per hour (so once every ten minutes) and the signalling system able to go right up to 12-trains per hour (every five minutes) both pre and post-City Rail Link, if the current existing infrastructure stays as is (including the limited third main being built which is for freight trains anyhow) then the problems on the rail network are going to really compound if something happens like a disabled train blocking a section of track. And if my Post-CRL Operational Proposal was ever decided to be used by Auckland Transport which had train frequencies stepping up to 18-trains per hour (every 3:20 minutes) in some sections without the extra resilience built-in – well you can think of delays and cancellations if a disabled train blocked a section of track.

So what first in investing in our current existing rail infrastructure to get extra resilience out of it pre-City Rail Link. Well that would be: New or rebuilt cross overs at major stations (basically all stations that act as Fare Boundary stations on the rail network)

 

So that basically means building new or rebuilding existing and subsequently using dual cross-overs (#10 and #11 for the purpose of this exercise) at all fare-boundary stations. The rail map below shows where the first run of dual cross overs will be:

auckland_rail_network_map fare boundary cross overs

Click for full resolution.

 

As you can see there is a bit of work to do in part one (crossovers at major stations) in either building or rebuilding cross-overs to #8-#13 specification to allow more resilience in the train network for when something goes wrong. You can also see (and if comparing to Google Maps) that the distances between the Cross-Overs once even built is still some distance in some parts of the network. Manurewa to Papakura is 9-minutes both ways and it is about the same if not slightly longer for New Lynn to Henderson, while Glen Innes to Westfield is 11-minutes regardless of the Tamaki Loop between Panmure and Glen Innes. However getting these cross-overs in at the major stations plus any rebuilds (Blue X’s) will offer much more resilience than currently available.

 

Cost

Now to build a new set or rebuild an existing set of cross-overs for Part One of the All-Encompassing Rail Efficiency Program (AE-REP), re-wire the overhead wires, and change the signalling (which includes changing what train drivers call a Signal and Interlocking Diagram that they have with them (now if I got that diagram’s name wrong let me know sooner rather than later and I shall correct it)) would most likely require a budget of $2-3m per crossover package (now I will go ask someone in the know to get a definitive figure and post back here ASAP). So at $3m times (not including Swanson, Britomart, the Tamaki Loop, Grafton or Papakura) 19 equals a conservative cost of around $57 million which for rail is a significant investment (but chump change for a road or motorway).

 

Justification for $57m?

The extra resilience allowing better reliability and punctuality of existing and future services when we eventually step up to 6-TPH (10 minute frequencies) – especially when a train disablement (passenger or freight) happens out on the Auckland rail network.

 

What Next?

For starters asking someone in the know on the cost of building crossovers as mentioned in this so I can run some numbers. Once the number have been ran a few times then I will draw up a “rolling” proposal (so a proposal that will have various versions as the AE-REP is worked on and written) and begin the advocacy process to the Auckland Council Transport Committee and by virtue of extension – Auckland Transport and Kiwi Rail.

However despite the advocacy nothing is a given until the cheque is physically signed (even then that is a certainty with Kiwi Rail and Newmarket junction being an example) – but advocate we must if we wish to continue to push for a Better Auckland Transport (System).